Best gourmet ice cream in and around Vancouver, from food columnist Anya Levykh
From organic soft-serve topped with cornflakes to a Negroni martini topped with Earl Grey gelato
It's not officially summer yet, but the heat is on and that means cool treats are on the menu — especially gourmet ice cream.
On the Coast food columnist Anya Levykh shared the best places to get a cold refreshing scoop in and around Vancouver.
This Gastown establishment makes organic soft-serve from local dairy Avalon Organic, using their full-fat milk, and have inventive toppings like cornflakes, chunks of honeycomb, matcha and Himalayan pink salt.
Glenburn Soda Fountain and Confectionery
If you're in the mood for something more traditional, try Glenburn Soda Fountain and Confectionery in Burnaby, B.C. which offers ice cream, milkshakes and floats with seasonal flavours.
This local ice cream company now has two locations, on Fraser Street and Quebec Street, that are constantly busy, as well as distributing all over Vancouver and the North Shore. People go crazy for their Salted Caramel and London Fog flavours, and everything is made using local, seasonal and organic ingredients.
Kraus Berry Farms is already a popular ice cream destination in Langley, B.C. All their ice cream is made from the berries grown on the farm, so it's almost zero-mile ice cream. Right now strawberries are in season, so it's a perfect time to go and grab a pint or three.
Located on Water Street, Twisted Ice Cream just opened and serves up vanilla soft-serve in a waffle cone or cup, with a choice of eight drizzles. This one is definitely kid-friendly and doesn't claim to use local-organic ingredients, and the price points reflect that.
If you're craving ice cream sandwiches, Beta 5 Chocolates creates different flavours every week. They recently had a milk chocolate s'more ice cream sandwich with giant graham cracker macarons for the cookies.
If you want to try something very unique, go to Bella Gelateria's Yaletown location and try one of their gelatinis — martinis with gelato. The Earl Negroni is a very interesting, classic negroni with gin, vermouth and Campari, topped with Earl Grey tea gelato.
To hear the full interview with food columnist Anya Levykh, listen to the audio labelled Gourmet ice cream.