Chocolate and horchata join forces under the roof of CocoAndre in the Bishops Art District. Truffles here melt in the mouth to reveal fruity, milky and even liquor-infused fillings. Indulge in a couple of café-con-leche truffles, which break open to a creamy, coffee-flavored chocolate filling, or a more adventurous pear-ginger variety, stuffed with a pear ganache and tiled in crystallized ginger. Other funky chocolate flavors like strawberry passion fruit and rosemary ginger are sure to please. Inspired by her Mexican heritage, owner Andrea Pedraza also has an horchata menu with nine varieties of seasonal dishes. Wash your chocolate down with a creamy mazapan horchata, which has a light toasted nutty flavor. Coco Andre is closing its storefront sometime in the next year and transitioning to a new business models, so stop by while you can.

Dallas' first all-vegetarian buffet is inside a temple, which makes it a little hard to locate at first. Named after a sacred city in India, Kalachandji's is the first in Dallas to serve fully vegetarian fare. The menu rotates daily, but visitor favorites are always present. Help yourself to a few servings of fresh basmati rice, which mixes well with any of the seven-plus curries on the menu. Scoop it into a disk of papadum, a crispy Indian lentil snack that's slightly puffier than a potato chip and dotted with toasted fennel seeds. Cleanse the palate between trips to the buffet line with the signature lemonade, which offers bursts of tangy tamarind flavor in between sips. The most enjoyable part, though, might be lingering over your food in the courtyard — maybe under the giant tree in the center. Warm lights treat the eyes, water sounds soothe the ears and flavor-packed food tingles the palate. It's truly an all-around sensory experience.

You won't find your typical Indian food at Windmills, a high-end restaurant and brewery in The Colony. With its flagship location in the Indian city of Bangalore, Windmills expanded its award-winning food overseas in 2021. The Colony branch has retained much of the culinary creativity from the original India location, but almost everything — from starters to desserts — comes fried, fattened and Tex-ified. Start with a plate of Texas-fried cheese curds served with a mint-yogurt dipping sauce. The guava chicken plate comes with tandoori chicken that's been marinated in a tropical guava dressing. It's paired with a sweet-and-spicy guava mayo on the side. Entrees like a Texas bourbon rib-eye and grilled pork chops all come with subtle Indian twists on the classic recipe. The live music on weekend nights spruces up the dining experience here, as does the freshly brewed beer. Grab a reservation, a beer and the willingness to explore a cuisine you didn't know existed.

Brown sugar milk, golden fruit teas and a creamy taro slush are just some of the specialty drinks you can find on Tea Daddy's menu. But what sets the hidden gem apart from Texas' over-saturated boba scene is not so much the drinks themselves; it's more what happens at the bottom of the cup. Tea Daddy makes all of its boba fresh in-house so that it's scooped hot into your drink. And while hot boba and iced drinks don't seem like a particularly enthralling combination, Tea Daddy has proven otherwise. The tea shop's iced, lightly sweetened teas provide a perfect background for hot, sugary tapioca pearls to melt inside. Order your beverage topped with a salted egg cream or cheese foam, both of which float on top and set the stage for an even creamier drink. Enjoy your boba in-store, then grab a few signature Tea Daddy egg tarts or tiramisu cakes for the road. Neither the food nor the drinks disappoint.

The name of this hidden gem in Dallas' Mockingbird Station is the first hint of what might be the creamiest soft serve in the state of Texas. Pure Milk & Honey gets its name from the two star ingredients in its ice cream. Organic Texas milk sourced from a local dairy farm is sweetened with natural honey and churned fresh in-house. The result is a thick, ultra-creamy soft serve that melts on the tongue almost instantaneously. But the texture is just the first part of the allure. Standard flavors such as a honey lavender and creamy milk chocolate soft serve compete with seasonal flavors like a buttery roasted pecan. Get your ice cream swirled in a cup, lick it from a cone or even order it sandwiched between layers of Pure Milk & Honey's signature honey ice cream cake. Any way you eat it, the texture is just as divine.

You can't have tacos without good ice cream, and you can't have ice cream without good tacos. That's what Casa Del Bro will tell you. Tacos here are rightfully lauded. Chile verde carnitas and spicy chicken tinga come topped with pineapple habanero or creamy jalapeño ranch. The menu is completely customizable with other entree options like burritos, quesadillas and nachos. But our biggest advice here: don't fill yourself with mains. It's what comes after that merits this place a spot on our list: some of the creamiest ice cream we've tried. Even the usual varirties like chocolate and vanilla are packed with fresh ingredients and flavors. Sink your tongue into house specials like a cookie butter flavor, made with a marshmallow-flavored cream base and studded with globs of gooey cookie butter. A Mexican chocolate comes with a spicy cinnamon flavor buried underneath. Come early, as they run out early. And we know why.

Sample Spanish delicacies like seared prawns, seafood paellas and ham croquettes — among others — right in the heart of Dallas. Located in the Bishops Art District, Sketches of Spain has made it its mission to bring authentic Spanish tapas and snacks to North Texas. Try the patatas bravas: a plate of crispy potato wedges garnished with a drizzle of spicy mayo. Piquillo peppers come stuffed with salted cod cream and drenched in a creamy tomato purée. A zucchini platter offers sautéed vegetables and seafood encased inside four blistered zucchini cups floating in a plate of tomato sauce. The local tapas bar also sells family-style paellas, priced by-the-head. Bring a big appetite, a group to share and some time to sample some of everything on the menu ... tapa-style.

Tracy Dowd of Garland looks to have mastered the fine art of pie crust-ing at her hole-in-the-wall bakery Piefalootin. Six-plus years of selling pies from her home and now her own bakery has led to the creation of drool-worthy pies with crust-to-filling ratios that don't disappoint. Over 23 different varieties of pie come in mildly clever names like the Chocolate EuphOREO, which is stacked high with layers of Oreo cookies buried under whipped chocolate cream. The Cinco de PIE-yo is served with the same chocolate cream but scooped atop a bed of spicy cinnamon-flavored brownies. A dollop of cayenne whipped cream on top gives it an extra kick at the end. Cherry, apple and peach fruit pies are available, too, depending on what's in season. Buy a couple of slices for $8 each or try your sampling luck with a "pie flight" of three different flavors for $16. Once you get down to the ultra-buttery, flake-in-the-mouth pie crusts, you'll understand the hype.

Asian Mint's Thai-fusion menu has earned it multiple recognitions among Dallas's culinary critics, local Yelp Elites and just everyday Thai-food enthusiasts since the restaurant opened in 2004. Customer favorites like the crispy-noodle kao soy are accompanied by comfort Thai dishes like the pad kee mow, drenched in a savory basil stir-fry sauce. Being born and raised in Thailand only makes chef Nikky Phinyawatana more credible. Four different iterations of the classic pad thai are a testament to the culinary creativity here. A crispy pad Thai comes with fried wonton strips soaked in Asian Mint's house-made tamarind sauce and topped with crushed peanuts. The focal point of the pad Thai woon sen is a base of clear glass noodles. Fried rices, hot curries and Thai-inspired salads add to the allure. Asian mint boasts fresh ingredients, large portions and diet-conscious menu options at all five of its locations.

Loved for its hand-pulled noodles, fresh buns and authentic Chinese cooking, Royal China has been a favorite on Dallas' food map since opening in the '70s. Not to be missed here are the homemade dumplings. Rice dumpling pockets come stuffed with shrimp, celery, jicama, chicken and pork among other ingredients. Steamed dumplings come with a beautifully chewy wrapper, which breaks into generous fillings of fresh meats and vegetables. A pan-seared option features a slight crispiness on the outer layer. Dumpling enthusiasts shouldn't leave without trying the soup dumplings, which burst open to reveal a pork soup broth inside. Owner and chef Buck Kao moved to America from Taiwan in 1974 and has since made it his mission to bring authentic Taiwanese recipes (and dumplings) to Dallas.