Milkcow
Milkcow has its second-ever Canadian location right here in Toronto, a Korean dessert chain specializing in organic soft serve.
Not only is the soft serve some of the creamiest and highest quality around, it also comes in sundae form with outrageous toppings like giant clouds of cotton candy, gooey chunks of honeycomb, fruit, and colourful syrups.
The interior matches the soft serve vibe, soft pop playing the entire time I’m there, the space awash in a dreamy pale blue.
There’s lots of seating, and a map on the wall points out the many international locations of the chain.
You can also get internet-famous watermelon ice cream sandwiches ($8) here as a limited time offer, ersatz versions of the original Dominique Ansel creation.
The shell of the sandwich is a giant wedge of watermelon with two thick slices on either side. Chocolate chips imitate seeds, and provide a pop of texture and sweetness that punctuates the refreshing melon and soft serve.
The creation is then filled with a watermelon-flavoured version of the soft serve.
To really taste the creaminess try the soft serve plain, but the watermelon flavouring is pleasant, subtle and candy-like.
The Milky Cube sundae ($6.50) is worth the extra dollar for a big chunk of real honeycomb, rather than the $5.50 version with just liquid honey. The honey complements the almost yogurt-like taste and texture of the ice cream.
The Santorini ($7) starts out with a base of Oreo crumble, the soft serve topped with a tangy “Tropical Blue” syrup, pistachio crumble and a big puffy cloud of blue cotton candy floating atop a cookie straw.
Of course pretty much everything here is sweet on sweet on sweet, and that’s only exaggerated by jaw-numbing cotton candy, but this combination works well, the nut and cookie crumbles serving to break up the sugary attack.
Mango Tree ($7) is perhaps a little more to my liking, though, less a combination of nutty/cookie/tropical and sticking more to sweet fruit flavours. Syrupy mango chunks on the bottom are topped with soft serve, an apple syrup, and pink cotton candy on a cookie straw.
At $8 that watermelon ice cream sandwich special is Milkcow’s most expensive item at this location, but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than airfare to New York City, or Ansel’s Tokyo cafe where the idea was originated.
The soft serve here is mass produced at a Canadian facility using Milkcow’s original Korean recipe, making the organic ice cream yet one more thing Torontonian food lovers need not leave the city for.
Hector Vasquez