Baltimore is going purple with ube. Here’s where to find the yummy yam.

Scroll through social media lately, and you’ll probably notice something new popping up on menus: ube. The color alone stops you mid-scroll as that vibrant purple looks as if it was designed to be posted online.

If you’re wondering what ube is, you’re not alone. Until recently, I also didn’t know about this delightful purple yam from the Philippines, traditionally used in desserts. It has a naturally sweet flavor that sits somewhere between vanilla and pistachio, with a creamy quality that works especially well in pastries, ice cream, syrups and drinks.

I first noticed ube popping up on Instagram at The Duchess in Hampden. Around the same time, I started seeing it show up in bigger places, too — most notably when Starbucks added an ube drink to its spring menu. But if I’m going to chase a trend, I’d much rather support local restaurants than a national chain.

Here’s where the ingredient (and one violet doppelganger) is already appearing on menus in Baltimore.

The Duchess

• 1000–1002 W. 36th St.

I personally think of The Duchess as a modern English tavern: comfortable, relaxed and a little eclectic. For brunch, they serve an ube mochi waffle topped with haupia and macadamia nuts. The waffle has a chewy mochi texture, while the coconut-based haupia and nuts add richness without making the dish overly sweet. The waffles are available during brunch, which is served Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you’re visiting for dinner instead, you can still get your ube fix with the restaurant’s ube flan dessert.

Kneads Bakeshop & Café

• 506 S Central Ave.

Kneads Bakeshop & Café is one of Baltimore’s most visually striking bakeries, with a bright, airy space that feels more like a bakery hall than a traditional cafe. Guests at the Harbor East spot can sit down for full service, grab pastries to go, or order downstairs and settle in upstairs with coffee. Their contribution to the trend is an ube-dipped doughnut with a vibrant lavender glaze that immediately catches your eye in the pastry case.

Mama Rosa Grill

• 3321 Annapolis Road, Suite F

If you really want to experience ube in its traditional context, head to Mama Rosa Grill in Patapsco Plaza. The Filipino restaurant serves halo-halo, a beloved shaved-ice dessert layered with banana cookies, jackfruit, sweet potato, sweet white and red beans, ube tapioca, leche flan, crispy pinipig and milk, all topped with a scoop of ube ice cream. The dessert is colorful, refreshing and full of different textures. The Cherry Hill restaurant is also connected to a Filipino grocery store where you can explore even more ube products — from ice cream to pastries and packaged snacks.

Theo’s Rolls & Bowls

• 1065 S. Charles St., Suite 123

Inside Cross Street Market in Federal Hill, Theo’s Rolls & Bowls offers the ube coffee, a traditional phin-drip Vietnamese coffee made with condensed milk and topped with a non-dairy ube cream. The drink blends bold coffee flavor with the sweet character of purple yams. It can be customized with additions like tapioca boba, strawberry popping boba, rainbow jelly, Biscoff cookie crumbles or Oreo crumbs. You order from a digital kiosk, which makes it easy to scroll through the options and build the beverage exactly the way you want.

Ovenbird Bakery

• 3925 Gough St., Suite #2

Ube appears in a more understated way at Ovenbird Bakery in Brewers Hill. The small neighborhood bakeshop offers a house-made ube syrup that can be added to coffees and lattes, bringing both the flavor and the gorgeous purple color to the drink. Known for its naturally leavened breads and carefully crafted pastries, Ovenbird keeps things simple, letting the ingredients speak for themselves.

Café Dear Leon

• 2929 O’Donnell St.

At Café Dear Leon in Canton, purple shows up in a slightly different form. The cafe’s Yaki-Imo flat white, which can be served hot or iced, features roasted Japanese sweet potato blended with hojicha and honey. Despite the name, there’s no coffee in the drink — the toasted hojicha tea provides the base. While it isn’t made with ube, Japanese sweet potato has a similar purple hue, making it an interesting visual counterpart to the ingredient that started my adventures into ube land.