Ben & Jerry’s

I recently tried Ben & Jerry’s tub-sized icecream and loved it, so was really excited to stop by their Woden ‘Scoop Shop’ to test out some of their other flavours. The store is part of the Hoyts cinema, and has quite a wide range of flavours, including sorbets! I ordered a single scoop in a cup ($5.50), but was allowed to go half-half with flavours. I picked the Berry Berry Extraordinary sorbet (raspberry and blueberry) and a decadent chocolate flavour called Phish Food, which said it had marshmellow and chocolate fish inside. Curious. The sorbet flavour really reminded me of a Boost Juice berry crush, just with a more solid texture. It was really refreshing, but a bit icy and not quite as smooth as I would have expected. The Phish Food flavour was to die for. The chocolate was so lush and creamy, and whilst I couldn’t pick the marshmellow, the bits of chocolate shaped as fish were good quality and tasty. I ended up blending the two flavours (highly recommended) to get a yummy berry-chocolate mix. Great portion size for the price too. Definitely a new favourite.

Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop, Hoyts Westfield Woden, Bradley Street, Phillip ACT  http://www.benandjerry.com.au/scoop-shops

48 Flavours

I recently spent a long weekend in Adelaide and was amazed to see how many new places have opened on Gouger Street since my last visit. 48 Flavours is one of those. The franchise has grown from Mildura and the Adelaide store is the second outlet. As the name explains, the store offers 48 flavours of icecream/sorbet, including fun flavours like blood orange, black sesame, and limoncello. Whilst not all of the sorbet flavours were on offer when I visited (I would have loved to try the pomegranate or peach flavour), they did have a good selection, including lychee, green apple, mango, lemon, Red Bull and pineapple. I ordered a double scoop in a cup ($5.50) with lychee and my staple favourite, raspberry. The serving size was very generous and there was an even amount of both flavours. The lychee was really refreshing and the more genuine of the two flavours – yes, it was sweet, but the flavour was somehow juicy like a lychee, which I enjoyed. The raspberry flavour was a bit more synthetic – it reminded me more of a Redskin lolly than of fresh raspberry – but was still lovely. Both sorbets had a grainy texture, but I’d go back to try more of their impressive flavour range.

48 Flavours, 78 Gouger Street, Adelaide SA                     http://www.48flavours.com.au/

Andersen’s Ice Cream

A friend recently reminded me of a great episode of the West Wing, where one of the characters explains how she likes to fight cold (weather) with more cold (icecream). That’s exactly what I decided to do when stopping in at Glenelg on my way to the airport. Having been to Royal Copenhagen most recently, I stopped in at their competitor across the street – Andersen’s. The Jetty Road icecream outlets are certainly quieter in winter, but the offerings remain excellent. I went straight to the sorbets, and was very excited to see that they offer blood orange. A regular cup was $5.50 and it took me quite a while to get through the portion. First up, the sorbet was a tad melty, which was surprising in winter, and which meant that I didn’t enjoy the texture as much. On the other hand, full marks for flavour – the blood orange was really intense, but balanced nicely by the natural sweetness of the sorbet. The flavour experience was very much like drinking a San Pellegrino blood orange sparkling drink (yum!). As with all good sorbets, the intensity of the flavour didn’t fade the more you ate, so I’d recommend stopping by and giving Andersen’s a try – definitely delicious for fighting cold with cold!

Andersen’s Ice Cream, 46 Jetty Road, Glenelg SA                           http://andersensicecream.com/Andersens_of_Denmark_Ice_Cream/Home.html

Cow & the Moon

When you’re awarded the best gelato in the world, you have some serious bragging rights. Cow & the Moon has earned those bragging rights – but does their gelato live up to the hype? I visited on a Saturday after lunch and was delighted not to have to line up. We got a few flavours to share, starting with the sorbets – apple & wasabi and black on black (blackberry). First up, let me say that the texture of these sorbets is really something special. They’re so thick and creamy for something without dairy! Black on black was tasted just like biting into a blackberry chewy lolly – rich, a bit tart and really luscious. I expected the wasabi to hit me in the face with the apple sorbet, but instead it was beautifully subtle, rounding off the sharpness that green apple usually has and adding complexity on the back palate. Yum. We also tried the hazelnut roche (so, so good), but my highest praise went to the divine fig and walnut gelato – it tasted golden and I could have devoured bowls and bowls of it. So the answer is yes, it does live up to the hype – check them out!

Cow & the Moon, 181 Enmore Road, Enmore, NSW, no website

Frugii Dessert Laboratory

After my last visit to the Frugii Dessert Lab, I couldn’t resist popping in again after lunch at Hopscotch for a palate cleanser. It took me a while to convince my very-full-from-lunch colleagues, but my dedication to #icecreamthurs won out in the end (and I promised they’d get a mention – hi guys!). Frugii had two sorbet flavours on offer, so I hedged my bets and went half-half. First up: green apple sorbet. Yum, yum and yum. This one has such a crisp, clean green apple flavour – it’s not sickly sweet and it perfectly refreshing. I adored the tiny bits of green apple skin throughout, which added so much to the overall flavour (although it unfortunately led to quickly-escalating jokes about chunks – thanks guys!). Definitely one to get again. Underneath was a big scoop of flavour number two: blood plum. Eating sorbet, it turns out, is a good way to learn about unusual fruit. Having never had an actual blood plum before, I can’t tell how accurate the flavour is, but the sorbet has a lovely tart flavour that screamed ‘plum’ to me. I don’t know how they get their flavours so authentic but it really works.

Frugii Dessert Laboratory, 30 Lonsdale Street, Braddon ACT http://www.frugii.com/

Via Dolce

Dolce and Salato has rebranded to become Via Dolce, so of course when Mum and I walked past on a wander through the city, I had to check it out and see if the gelato was as good as I remember it. The range of flavours seems to have remained the same, with several sorbets on offer, much to my delight. We decided to try the mango and got a small cup to share. The sorbet texture wasn’t quite as smooth as I remember, being a little bit icy, but the mango flavour was strong and genuine and didn’t fade the more we ate; a very important criteria for assessing quality gelato/sorbet. We did have an odd moment towards the end of the cup where the flavour changed – it took us a while to realise that it was actually a passionfruit flavour, which must have been on the scoop from before our order, but it was a bit strange expecting mango and suddenly finding passionfruit! Despite the name change and the flavour mix-up, this remains my go-to sorbet place in the city, even now that the weather has cooled down.

Via Dolce, 108 Bunda Street, Civic ACT                                                                viadolce.com.au

Passionflower

Passionflower is responsible for a running joke I have with a friend of mine. They had a pineapple cake icecream last year which sounded like pretty much the best thing ever – we play the ‘PCIC’ (pineapple cake icecream card) when discovering something amazing. I even have an actual laminated card. Anyway, I was pretty disappointed that the flavour to end all flavours wasn’t on offer when I went back to Passionflower, but another unusual flavour caught my eye – wild lime sorbet. Not quite as catchy, but when I tried a sample I was sold. The sorbet has a sour flavour that is incredibly refreshing and tasted very Australian in the way that lemon myrtle does – there was something native about the flavour that was obvious from the first mouthful (I have since learned that there are native Australian wild limes). The flavour remained strong throughout and whilst not particularly sweet, it was a really lovely dessert. In fact, the sorbet had tiny segments of juice-filled pulp inside, which added texture and intense flavour. This is without a doubt one of the best sorbet flavours I’ve ever tried, – worthy of playing a PCIC, even.

Passionflower, Shop 2, 168 Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC                                http://www.passionflower.com.au/Home