Few things I love more in the summer than chasing the elusive ice cream truck. But between increasingly scorching summers and their unpredictable routes, I’d rather duck into one of Toronto’s soft serve shops. Sure, a cheap cone from a fast-food chain or a certain self-assembly furniture store has its place, but Toronto’s soft serve artisans are serving inventive flavours that make summers exciting. Here are eight of my favourite spots, from decadent sundaes to a decades-old institution.
Onyx Chocolates, 601 Gerrard St. E., $7 per cup, additional $2 for toppings
The East Chinatown chocolate shop is known for creative bonbon flavours such as apple oolong, black garlic miso and bergamot balsamic, but lately it’s the soft serve that’s getting people through the door. “We try to make flavours as unique as our chocolates because that’s what we’re known for,” said co-owner Hardy Sugiarto.
Flavours change every two to three weeks and have included dark chocolate with guava and brown butter lavender. On my visit, the shop was serving lemongrass soft serve with tart caramel lime, giggly cubes of cucumber jelly made from agar agar and a dark chocolate cat tongue. Fresh lemongrass is steeped in homogenized milk, cream and sugar before it’s churned, resulting in a citrusy, slightly minty soft serve. Next up: pandan cheesecake.
Death In Venice Gelato Co., 1418 Dundas St. W., $7.75 for a regular cup
Owner Kaya Ogruce is particular about his soft serve pairings. He often incorporates savoury elements into the dairy soft serve while keeping the vegan option more citrusy for a balanced swirl that’s not overly sweet. A recent pairing featured goat cheese with lavender honey alongside field strawberry vegan soft serve with hints of lime, lemon and yuzu. Past flavours have included brown butter with sea salt and sage, pineapple yuzu sorbet and sake kasu with mirin. In the fall, when the shop’s soft serve season runs until Halloween, earthier flavours like beetroot and pumpkin take over. Next up are chocolate mousse and raspberry.
Nani’s Gelato, various locations, $7.25 for a regular cup
Vanilla often gets drowned out by whatever flavour it’s paired with in a twist, but at Nani’s Gelato it holds its own, adding a floral, marshmallow-like aroma to the mango swirl.
“We use actual vanilla beans so you’ll get those vanilla specks,” said founder Parry Sohi. “Our soft serve is made from scratch. Every location makes its own with fresh milk, cream and sugar. It makes a huge difference.”
Upcoming flavours include Ontario strawberry kefir, followed by Lotus Biscoff and Nutella in August. Fall brings pumpkin pie, while winter means matcha. For those wanting maximum flavour, the shops now offer a gelato-and-soft-serve combo for $7.99: two gelato flavours topped with a soft-serve swirl.
Roselle, 362 King St. E., $12.50 for a soft serve sandwich
To alleviate the strain on their soft-serve machine and serve more customers, owners Stephanie Duong and Bruce Lee transformed their soft serve into make-ahead ice cream sandwiches that can also be packed into coolers to take home, though each batch still takes three days to make from scratch.
Flavours include Earl Grey with lemon curd in chocolate dacquoise with Soma chocolate flakes and Birthday Cake with passionfruit curd. A current favourite is pandan-coconut. Three bunches of pandan leaves are infused into each batch of cream, giving the sandwich floral notes reminiscent of vanilla. Duong hopes to keep it on the menu through October.
Bar Ape, 283 Rushton Rd., $7 (tax included)
The cash-only gelato and soft-serve stand continues to draw loyal customers a decade after opening. On a recent visit, co-owner Nick Genova recommended the Ontario gooseberry with notes of tart grape and rhubarb. Another standout paired vegan Black Pearl cherry with ricotta soft serve after this year’s sour cherry crop fell short.
He estimates he and co-owner James Carnevale have developed hundreds of recipes, including notes on calibrating the machine for each batch. This season has featured strawberry-basil, haskap berries, yogurt with sage and lemon, pistachio-pomegranate and olive oil-Luisa plum. Ontario peaches, plums, black raspberries, golden raspberries are still to come.
Sunnys Chinese, 60A Kensington Ave., $14
The sit-down tucked-away restaurant unexpectedly serves killer soft serve thanks to sous chef Ian Ongjoco, who often combines his Chinese and Filipino heritage alongside seasonal Ontario produce. Past flavours have included Milo and Hong Kong milk tea, and currently, sweet corn.
I had the jasmine soft serve topped with puffed rice and fermented Ontario strawberries. The soft serve has an almost custard-like texture thanks to steaming the milk at a low temperature for hours. It’s a refreshing end to the menu rife with fire-kissed meats and numbing chili-noodles.
Tom’s Dairy Freeze, 630 The Queensway (Etobicoke), prices start at $3.95 for a small cone
Since 1969, Tom’s has been winning over generations with its own cream-based soft serve. The cash-only spot sticks to vanilla, chocolate and twist, but an endless combination of toppings, dips, sundaes, slush floats and Flavor Burst swirls means every order can be different.
Co-owner Sebastian Distefano said the original favourite remains a chocolate-dipped cone rolled in peanuts, though a vanilla cone with a rainbow Flavor Burst is also popular. The green apple, strawberry, cotton candy, banana and watermelon flavours create an ombré ribbon along the edge of the cone.
“My favourite combination would be a butterscotch dip rolled in pecans,” said Distefano. “There’s one lady who gets an orange Flavor Burst in a cup with pineapple topping and coconut shavings. She’s the only one that gets it.”
Pretty Sweet Gelato Factory, 110 Silver Star Blvd. Unit 116 (Scarborough), $8.75
The year-old husband-and-wife-owned gelato shop quickly built a following through word of mouth and Instagram thanks to Cathy Tsang and Ernest Yung’s uncommon flavours and their weekend-only soft serve.
Rotating flavours have included tofu with ginger syrup, matcha osmanthus, taro with mochi and durian. On my visit, the choices were jasmine milk tea soft serve coloured with butterfly pea tea and topped with sweetened silken tofu, or guava soft-serve sorbet with mango.
