Summer of Ice Cream Part Two: Top 8 Ice Cream Treats!

Last week I published Summer of Ice Cream: Part One in which I showcased the top 8 ice cream cones around the city. This week I’ll continue my list of the best ice cream in Halifax, this time with the craziest, novelty feats of ice cream construction! Coming to an Instagram feed near you! Or just an old fashioned feed – the kind where you eat things.

Enjoy! Tag me in all of your #SummerofIceCream tweets and posts and let me know what you think!

The Best Ice Cream in Halifax:
8 Best Ice Cream Treats

(in no particular order)

1.. Jubilee Junction: Ice Cream Sandwich

Let’s start with a classic. The ice cream sandwiches at Jubilee Junction have been legendary since before soft serve went gourmet and matcha went viral.

There is a fridge full of premade ice cream sandwiches in chocolate and vanilla, so it is frowned upon to request vanilla ice cream when you go to the counter for a custom-made sandwich. The clerk begrudgingly scooped vanilla ice cream into what could have been a more colourful and creative concoction of my own design.

Choose your cookies.
Choose your ice cream.
Choose your magic ingredient (a mini chocolate bar to get smushed into your sandwich)!

Choose Life.

2. Ol School Ice Cream: Sundae Cone

Photo Cred: Serena Wagner

Ol School Ice Cream’s sundae cones bridge the gap from last week’s post, as it is both an ice cream cone and a sundae all in one! These are the folks behind Ol School Donuts, now with a brand new truck slinging ice cream treats in a suburban centre near you! (Recent sightings in Dartmouth Crossing, Lower Sackville, Bedford Highway and Enfield).

3. The Dairy Bar: Crunch Sundae

I mentioned the soft serve at The Dairy Bar in Part One because it is entirely delicious, but I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t mention their sundaes! Pictured is their signature “Crunch” Sundae, which features salted caramel and a cereal crunch. It is cerealiously good and you’ll immediately forgive yourself for spending $7.50 on an ice cream.

You can also build-your-own sundae from the available add-ons: chocolate fudge, lemon curd, cereal crunch and potato chips!

4. Taiyaki 52: Jaw Dropper

2009 Brunswick Street

Taiyaki is a Japanese street food. Essentially, it is a fish-shaped waffle stuffed with custard or red bean paste and literally translates to mean “grilled sea bream”, which must have confused at least one person who expected to be in a seafood restaurant but instead wound up in a waffle house!

Taiyaki 52 has introduced this treat to Halifax, but this cafe isn’t just a one-trick seahorse! You can get your taiyaki made into a ham ‘n cheese sandwich. You can get it extra crunchy, with a brown sugar crust. You can get a taiyaki made out of sticky rice. Your taikyaki can even be vegan (banana & soy milk-based).

But most excitingly, you can get it as an ice cream cone!

There’s matcha and mango soft serve (available as a twist) and fillings include: sweet red bean, vanilla custard, matcha custard, chocolate hazelnut, blueberry and blueberry & cream cheese!

I found the ice cream a little top-heavy, but the soft serve and stuffed waffle were so delicious I may have eaten some of it off the pavement…. Be Careful, Instagramers!

5. Go 2 Eat: Hong Kong Bubble Waffle

5518 Spring Garden Road (basement under Sushi Jet)

Another trendy item making its way from Asia to our very own city streets is the Hong Kong bubble waffle! Go 2 Eat is hidden in the basement underneath Sushi Jet, but there you’ll find a small cafe specializing in Taiwanese and Cantonese desserts!

You can get your bubble waffle in 3 flavours: Original, Chocolate, and Matcha. Then you choose your ice cream: vanilla, chocolate, mango, strawberry, matcha or black sesame (when available). Finally, you get to choose 3 toppings from a lengthy list!

I had a matcha waffle with mango ice cream, red bean, condensed milk and a Pocky stick. The waffle was warm and crispy, sweet and soft. It turned a lot of heads, this eye-catching treat, and I wanted to whisper:

There’s a secret basement serving maaaagical waffles….

6. Portland Street Creperie: Unicorn Bubble Waffle

55 Portland Street

The folks at Portland Street Creperie have jumped into the bubble waffle game with their creative signature waffles. Exhibit A: The Unicorn Bubble Waffle: vanilla ice cream with sprinkles and candy and topped with cotton candy.

I really enjoyed the cute mini-scoops and was surprised by how well the cotton candy complimented the ice cream! The bubble waffle itself wasn’t as crispy and fresh as Go 2 Eat, but points awarded for artistic vision! Mega Instagram points. I’ll give this a rating of 4 unicorn horns and a Pikachu out of Little Hello Kitty Mermaid.

7. Roll on Two: Soft Serve Chimney Cake Cone

TBA

Roll on Two specializes in Hungarian “chimney cakes”, which are tubular pastries sprinkled in cinnamon sugar. Or you can get ’em rolled up with sprinkles, crumbled Oreos, coconut, almonds, walnuts, or brown sugar. You can even get ’em stuffed with a hot dog!

But the piece de la resistance is their sundae cone. The chimney cake is rolled in cinnamon sugar and filled with Nutella before being turned into a vessel for soft serve ice cream! You want it sprinkled with almonds, sprinkles and chocolate syrup? You got it!

This might be the most ridiculously good ice cream treat I’ve had. It’s stupid good. I was full of happiness and calories for the entire day.

Unfortunately, Roll on Two has vacated their Granville Street shop and are temporarily serving their chimney cakes at the Seaport Market – only on weekends and currently without ice cream. But keep your eyes open, because the chimney cake sundae will resurrect once more!

8. Grafton Café by Scanway: Soft Serve w/ toppings

Photos from Scanway

1567 Grafton Street

Okay, so apparently I’m not done with cones yet – but how could I forget Scanway’s Grafton Street Cafe? They used to do gelato but nowadays they’re whipping up house-made soft serve in classic chocolate/vanilla/twist, with all kinds of toppings, and house-made waffle cones.

If you ask nicely, they’ll even make you an ice cream sandwich with one of their decadent doughnuts!

Bonus Milkshake: Beershakes from Primal Kitchen

1463 Brenton Street

Just to shake things up, my bonus milkshake is a hybrid of your favourite craft beer with the following milkshake flavours: Vanilla, Cherry Cheesecake, Cookies & Cream, Chocolate Brownie & Espresso.

Choose carefully, my friends: my server recommended an Unfiltered DIPA w/ vanilla but this is not for the faint of heart! May I suggest: Good Robot’s Goseface Killah with a cherry cheesecake milkshake!

A chocolate candy rim and torched whipped cream elevate this drink above the other boozy shakes in town. Pro-Tip: these babies are only $6 during Happy Hour – 2pm-6pm every day!

There you have it: the best ice cream in Halifax! How many of these have you tried? What are your favourites? Talk to me, food lovers!