From real-fruit soft serve and cabernet gelato to burnt honey, whisky hazelnut and blueberry balsamic, here’s the scoop on the city’s best scoops.
1. Plain Jane’s Strawberry Blueberry Swirl
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This New Zealand-style creamery run by the folks at Dachi (it’s connected to the building) serves up soft serve made with vanilla ice cream and real fruit blended together in front of your eyes! There are only three flavours (strawberry, blueberry and raspberry), but you can make your own swirl combo by marrying any two of the three.
$8
2295 E Hastings St.
1829 Quebec St.
nottoosweet.ca
2. La Casa Gelato’s Cabernet Sauvignon
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Call it basic, but once the sun comes out, the masses are flocking to take Instagram pictures of themselves—chocolate-dipped waffle cone in hand—against the giant pink wall that hugs La Casa Gelato. The spot’s claim to fame is the 238 flavours they serve at any given time, and it must be said that the cabernet sauvignon is a sweet (no pun intended) departure from what you’d expect in any gelato.
$6.50 per single scoop
1033 Venables St.
lacasagelato.com
3. Innocent Ice Cream’s Cherry Bomb
This East Van ice cream shop once operated as a tricycle, where owner Asacia Biln used to sell handmade ice cream sandwiches by the beach. It’s almost the stuff of nursery rhymes.
Though you can pop into Innocent Ice Cream’s Hastings-Sunrise shop to order a custom ice cream sandwich—that’s any scoop between two of its house-made cookies—its signature lineup is pretty dialled in. That includes the Cherry Bomb: vibrant cherry chocolate chunk ice cream between two chewy double-chocolate cookies that just happen to be gluten-free.
$9.95
2103 E Hastings St.
innocenticecream.com
4. La Glace’s Fig, Mascarpone and Burnt Honey
The Grace Kelly of ice cream shops, La Glace is where you treat yourself to elegant decadence—you’ll find no one shaking Froot Loops on your ice cream here.
In this pick from its core menu, creamy mascarpone is flecked with candied dried figs and striped with ribbons of burnt honey. This is a scoop for royalty, if not for the gods themselves.
$6.75 per scoop
2785 W 16th Ave.
laglace.ca
5. Earnest Ice Cream’s Whiskey Hazelnut
Vancouverites know it’s summer not by the sun but by the lineup around the block at Earnest Ice Cream’s shop near Olympic Village—and at a few other locations around the city, too.
You can always get a scoop of its top-selling Whiskey Hazelnut ice cream, which has been in rotation since the day Earnest opened. It’s a boozy, icy take on Frank Sinatra’s favourite refreshment, both buttery and crunchy.
$6 per scoop
Multiple locations
earnesticecream.com
6. Little Spoon’s Starry Night
With dreamy ice cream flavour names like Higgeldy Piggeldy—yes, we’re serious—and Starry Night, how could this kitschy ice cream spot, originally hailing from Gibsons and recently opened in Kitsilano, not make you happy?
Little Spoon’s Starry Night is a scoop of chocolate ice cream dotted with house-made frosted Oreo-style cookie “stars.”
$6.75 per scoop
2967 W Broadway
littlespoonicecream.com
7. Rain or Shine’s Blueberry Balsamic
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The folks at Rain or Shine are no fair-weather friends, just as their name suggests. Considering they’ve been serving ice cream year-round for more than a decade, we’re inclined to believe them.
A unique scoop from the permanent lineup is the Blueberry Balsamic: tangy, tart drizzles of balsamic reduction hide inside a bright, fruity blueberry ice cream. What’s more, both the blueberries and the balsamic are sourced here in B.C.
On Tuesdays, you can get your scoops in a taco made from a waffle cone.
$6 for a Tuesday taco
Multiple locations
rainorshineicecream.com
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