Ice Cream Review – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Sovily, Misfit Ice Cream, Little Baba

Published on August 30, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Pizza from Sovily

I had a slice of the Sovily Rosé (“Rosé Sauce, Mozzarella, Cherry Tomatoes, Fresh Basil, Parmesan”) from this place, and it was totally fine. The fluffy crust was kind of lacking in substance or flavour (it’s reportedly sourdough, though there’s zero sourdough flavour), but it had a nice exterior crispiness and was generally pleasant enough. The sauce tasted canned and was a bit too generously applied, but the combo of mozzarella and parmesan was nice. I can’t say I’m in a huge rush to come back here, but it got the job done.

Soy Boy at Misfit Ice Cream

I was extremely intrigued by the Soy Boy flavour at Misfit Ice Cream, which the menu describes as “tofu fa, brown sugar ginger syrup.” Tofu fa is a really tasty dessert made with silken tofu, and I’m certainly on board for an ice cream version of it (but then I’m on board for an ice cream version of basically any dessert). The version here does a pretty solid job of capturing the flavour of that dessert, though I’ll admit that the texture — which was icy and dense — left a bit to be desired. The whole point of tofu fa is its luxurious ultra-silky texture; if you lose that, it does kinda put a damper on things.

Chicken Tawook Baba Box from Little Baba

I was a pretty big fan of Little Baba when I tried a couple of their wraps; well, I just tried their namesake Baba Box, and yeah, they know what they’re doing. The one I tried came with chicken tawook, a zippy fattoush salad, basil hummus, some pickles, and a generous amount of garlicky toum (which their menu calls “garlic cream”). Everything here was quite tasty, particularly the perfectly grilled chicken and the basil hummus. I’ve never heard of adding basil to hummus, and I was afraid its distinctive flavour would be overwhelming. But they add just enough of the stuff to bring a nice herbal zip that perfectly complements the other flavours, and the ultra-creamy texture is a thing of beauty (it might be one of the silkiest versions of this dish that I’ve ever had).

Quick Bites: Poke by Sushi Shop, Eataly Ristorante, Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Published on July 5, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Salmon & Tuna poke bowl from Poke by Sushi Shop

The salmon & sushi poke bowl (“Salmon, tuna, lettuce, red cabbage, wakame, radish, orange masago, ponzu, teriyaki and poke sauces, spicy light mayo, nori”) at Poke by Sushi Shop is solid. Did anything about it blow me away? Not particularly (I also found the presence of a whole bunch of iceberg lettuce to be a bit off-putting). But it featured some tasty toppings and sauces and a generous amount of fresh salmon and tuna. For something from a food court (particularly the Sherway Gardens food court, which kinda sucks), it’s a nice option.

Ragu pasta from Eataly Ristorante in Sherway Gardens

I haven’t been particularly crazy about anything I’ve had from the Eataly location in Sherway Gardens thus far, and yeah, that’s still the case. I got a ragu pasta (which isn’t on the menu on their website, so I’m not sure what it was called or what was in it — very helpful, I know), and it was fine. It had some surprisingly big chunks of pork, which were fork-tender and easily the highlight. Otherwise it was just kinda one-note salty. Certainly not unpleasant to eat, but I think anyone with even a moderate level of skill in the kitchen could whip up a tastier pasta dish with stuff in their pantry.

Black Sesame gelato from Mizzica Gelateria & Cafe

Mizzica is generally regarded as serving the best gelato in the city. They’ve also started to expand, with a second location around Yonge and Eglinton. So this is about the time you might expect the quality to start going downhill. Happily, that doesn’t seem to be the case — at least not yet. The black sesame gelato is just as rich and creamy as everything else I’ve had here, and has a very satsifying roasty sesame flavour. It kinda reminded me of a gelato version of Sesame Snaps, but with no crunchiness. I find most black sesame ice cream doesn’t quite have as much sesame flavour as I’d like, but this was pretty fantastic.

Delicious Gelato at Moss Park Espresso

Published on April 16, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 185 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.instagram.com/mossparkespresso/

A random coffee shop in a vaguely sketchy part of town seems like an odd place to find some of the better gelato in the city, but that’s exactly what you’ll find at Moss Park Espresso.

They only had a handful of flavours on offer when I visited; mostly standard-issue stuff. I went with the pistachio — always a good test of a gelato joint’s quality.

And this place? They passed that test with flying colours. It’s great quality gelato — it’s super creamy, with a really nice flavour that’s clearly from actual pistachios, not pistachio extract. And I appreciate that they serve it at the perfect temperature, which highlights the great flavour and creaminess.

It also comes in a glass bowl with silverware — I noted this in my On Third Thought review, but there’s something about eating ice cream out of a real bowl (rather than the standard paper cup) that’s surprisingly delightful.

Top-Tier Gelato at Death in Venice

Published on March 21, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1418 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://deathinvenice.ca/

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Death in Venice, which I remembered being very good, but perhaps not up there with the best in the city.

Well, clearly I was extremely wrong about that, because the flavour I just had at Death in Venice? Some of the best gelato I’ve ever had. Crazy good.

The flavour in question: cheeseboard (“made up of all the ingredients of a classic cheeseboard, brie cheese, white wine, pears, jam, honey and berry jam. Perfect balance of sweet and savoury.”)

I’ll admit that I ordered this because it sounded like a fun novelty — the type of flavour that’s more interesting than delicious. I was 100% incorrect. Dangerous levels of deliciousness.

I thought the savoury flavour of the cheese might be overwhelming (I’ve had blue cheese ice cream that went a bit too hard on the blue cheese, making it somewhat unpleasant) but it all goes together so well. There’s a very, very mild savouriness, but it enhances rather than detracts from the sweet gelato.

I wish I had taken a photo of the gelato once I had started eating it — the photo above makes it look a bit plain, but there was actually a pretty generous amount of tasty jam swirled throughout, not to mention walnut chunks that add some nice texture.

There was a lot going on with the flavour here, but it all works so well. And the quality of the gelato itself was perfectly rich and creamy. Seriously: top five gelato of my life.

I should note that I came back a week or two later and tried the bourbon and smoked chocolate gelato (“For real chocolate lovers… We smoke our dark chocolate and cook it with bourbon. Once we add cream and milk this thick and dense gelato becomes the ultimate chocolate treat”). It was just as good, with an intense chocolatiness, and noticeable pops of flavour from the smoke and the bourbon.

You’d think those other flavours might overwhelm the chocolate, but they complement it so well. Clearly, any ranking of the best gelato in the city that doesn’t include this place is flat-out wrong.

Okay, I’m going to update this one more time, then I should really post it. I came back another couple of weeks later and tried the soft serve, which features two rotating flavours. When I went, one of the flavours was chocolate mousse, and holy moly — it was maybe the best soft serve I’ve ever had? It tasted just like a really great chocolate mousse, but in soft serve form. It had a profound chocolately flavour, and was intensely creamy and rich. Ridiculously good.

Tasty Scoops at Misfit Ice Cream

Published on March 15, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 10 Stephanie Street, Toronto
Website: https://misfiticecream.com/

Misfit Ice Cream is a new ice cream spot that’s right across the street from where Mizzica used to be on McCaul. It’s currently listed as “Misfit Ice Cream Pop Up” on Google, so I guess they won’t be sticking around (Update: I was correct about this — since the time I wrote this, they’ve closed, but will hopefully be reopening elsewhere at some point. Keep an eye on their website, I guess) . Based on the scoop I had, I hope they find a permanent location soon.

They describe what they’re selling as “French custard ice cream,” and yeah, it’s definitely got a custardy flavour.

I got their most popular flavour, sweet cream creme brulee (“creamy custard with crunchy brûlée bits”).

The quality of the ice cream itself is quite high; it’s nice and creamy, and the aforementioned custard flavour is thoroughly satisfying. It probably could have used more of the crunchy bits, but it’s clearly an above average scoop of ice cream.