This summer has been an extraordinary excuse to indulge in all things frozen, especially given that Bella Gelateria, Earnest Ice Cream and Rain or Shine Homemade Ice Cream have all opened second locations. Add to the list the number of places that serve not-quite-ice-cream, and Vancouverites have a few more ways to stay cool.
Soft serve heats up
In Gastown, Soft Peaks, Twisted Ice Cream and Uyu (which opened last week) all peddle some version of soft serve with ostentatious toppings. But let’s remember that Campagnolo ROMA, best known for its unfussy Italian food, started selling soft serve two years ago.
The Campagnolo ROMA team begins with a base of milk, sugar and a touch of powdered milk, and then adds flavours to achieve caramelized white chocolate or a spot-on tiramisu.
Dairy-free sorbettos make use of local produce such as plums, coronation grapes and apples.
Chef de cuisine Jesse McMillan shares a neighbourhood secret: the restaurant’s patio stays open between lunch and dinner for drinks, nibbles and — yup — soft serve.
“We change the flavours daily, so people come in to see what’s new,” says McMillan. “Kids love it. We’re family oriented and into making people happy. Soft serve does that handily.”
Campagnolo ROMA (2297 East Hastings St.).
Qoola it down
The mechanics of Qoola are pretty straightforward: choose your flavour, add your toppings, weigh and pay. But founder and CEO Warrick Chu explains that while many frozen yogurt shops start with powder, Qoola freezes actual yogurt.
“Never powdered, always fresh,” says Chu. The B.C.-based company includes 18 locations across Canada and a food truck in Vancouver. In a sea of same-same froyo, Qoola’s making a play on the higher probiotic content of its yogurt, its compostable packaging and its many charitable activities. To wit, on opening day for the latest location at Robson and Bute, 100 per cent of the proceeds went to Canuck Place.
As to whether frozen yogurt is really healthy, Chu’s pragmatic. He prefers the original tart flavour topped with fresh fruit, but acknowledges there will always be demand for sweeter flavours, crushed candy and sugary drizzles. “Everything in moderation,” he says. “I think we’re one of the healthiest options out there.”
Qoola (various locations, ).
Snow what?
At IcePik Shavery in Kingsway-Collingwood, I’ve just ordered the Emperor’s Pik. The girl behind the counter unearths a green cylinder from the freezer and snaps it into the top of what looks like a modified drill press. As the slab rotates, she coaxes feathery ribbons of green snow cream into a bowl, then adds squishy rice cakes, inky grass jelly cubes, fresh mango and translucent white matchsticks of lychee-flavoured jelly.
“We call it snow cream because the texture is like a pile of snow,” explains Dave Le, who owns IcePik Shavery with his sister Brittaney. Snow cream was originally popularized in Taiwan and has been taking the U.S. by storm, especially Los Angeles, which gave Le and his sister the idea to open their own shop.
“We wanted to do an east-meets-west thing,” says Le. So in addition to black sesame and green tea, there’s also vanilla and mint. Toppings run the gamut from grass jelly to Oreo chunks.
As for my Emperor’s Pik, it’s cold, refreshing and not too sweet. I like the combination of flavours and textures: downy snow cream, glutinous rice cakes, bright mango. As I contemplate my first few tastes, I watch a little girl place a trembling pyramid of mango snow cream on the table beside her grandmother. The girl attacks the orange tower with glee. Her grandmother grins — and so do I.
IcePik Shavery (3377 Kingsway).
@eagranieyuh
