chocolate – Page 8 – Michael Eats

Quick Bites: Tom’s Dairy Freeze, Soma Chocolatemaker, Nani’s Gelato

Published on August 15, 2021 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Cherry Sundae at Tom’s Dairy Freeze

I mean, come on: if you go the whole summer without going to Tom’s Dairy Freeze at least once, was it really the summer? I submit that it was not. It’s certainly not the most exciting ice cream joint in the city, but they’ve been pumping out consistently great no-frills soft serve for decades, and it’s a million times better than the stuff you’ll find at chains like Dairy Queen or McDonald’s. On this particular visit I got a sundae with chocolate ice cream and cherry sauce, and yeah, that’s a great combo. The sauce is excessively sweet (it tastes like maraschino cherries in a thick syrup), but then that’s kind of the charm of a place like this.

Roasted Almond and Sicilian Pistachio at Soma Chocolatemaker

I’ve mentioned before that Soma serves some of the best gelato in the city, and yeah, it’s still top notch. I recently tried roasted almond and Sicilian pistachio, and both flavours were rich, creamy, and deeply flavourful.

Malai Kulfi and Mango Chocolate Chip at Nani’s

I don’t think I need to spend more time on this blog on the greatness of Nani’s Gelato. I’ve thoroughly covered that. So I’ll just say that on a recent visit I tried malai kulfi and mango chocolate chip, and both flavours were unsurprisingly fantastic. Malai kulfi, in particular, had that perfect Nani’s balance of a unique flavour and amazingly creamy gelato. As for mango chocolate chip, I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical about the combo of mango and chocolate, and… to be honest, I’m still skeptical. But the mango ice cream was so delicious that I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the flavours not working particularly well together.

A Great Ice Cream Pop-up at Good Behaviour

Published on August 8, 2021 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 189 Augusta Avenue, Toronto (inside Egg Bae)
Website: https://www.gbicecream.ca/

There are very few good things that have come out of the last year and a half, but one of the few is the explosion of ice cream shops in the GTA. Yes please to more delicious ice cream. There’s no such thing as too many ice cream shops, especially if it’s as good as what they’re serving here.

Like a lot of the new ice cream shops in the city, Good Behaviour started out selling pints to go, but they’ve very quickly expanded to three pop-up scoop shops: one on Christie, one on Bloor, and the one I visited, inside Egg Bae in Kensington Market.

I tried Chocolate Moose Track, which the menu describes as “dark chocolate base, chunks of chocolate peanut butter cups, & ribbons of chocolate fudge.”

I don’t think I got any peanut butter cups, and whatever they sprinkled on top was completely superfluous and actually kinda detracted from the ice cream, but otherwise this was top-notch stuff.

Normally the lack of advertised PB cups would have vexed me, but the ice cream itself was so crazy good that I honestly did not care at all. The chocolate flavour was delightfully intense, and the ice cream base was perfectly rich and creamy. It’s way above average.

Quick Bites: Nani’s Gelato, Fishman Lobster Clubhouse, and Bakerbots Baking

Published on March 3, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate gelato from Nani’s Gelato

I’ve written about Nani’s Gelato a couple of times for this blog, and it continues to be fantastic. Both flavours were top-notch, and the gelato itself is as rich and creamy as ever. Alas, they’re currently closed for the season; apparently a permanent location might be in the cards, so fingers crossed that they’re able to make this happen. Clearly, gelato of this calibre needs to available all year round.

Lobster mountain at Fishman Lobster Clubhouse

I don’t have much to add about this place since I wrote about it last — but come on. Look at that thing. That’s a photo you have to share. And that’s the impressive thing about this place: it seems like it’s expressly designed to impress on social media (and yeah, it clearly is), but it’s also surprisingly delicious. It’s meaty and perfectly cooked, and the way they fry it makes it a bit more interesting than standard boiled/steamed lobster, but still allows the meat be the star of the show (it’s fried in the shell, so the majority of the meat isn’t battered). It’s so good.

Orange Cardamom ice cream from Bakerbots Baking

Hot tip: Bakerbots Baking serves a decent assortment of Bang Bang ice cream flavours, so if you ever feel like a scoop of Bang Bang without the line, head to Bakerbots. And the orange cardamom was exactly what I was hoping it would be: creamy and orangey like the best creamsicle you’ve ever had, but with a nice hit of cardamom flavour. It’s a quality scoop of ice cream.

Quick Bites: Moxie’s, Tom’s Dairy Freeze, and Blackbird Baking Co.

Published on January 21, 2020 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Double Cheese Nachos at Moxie’s

Before having these nachos, I hadn’t been to Moxie’s in several years. My recollection is that the place was deeply mediocre, and hey, wouldn’t you know it, it’s still deeply mediocre. The nachos were fine-ish; they’re somewhere in the vicinity of fine, I guess? For something called “Double Cheese” nachos, there were a lot of dry chips, and there otherwise isn’t much going on here other than some chopped tomatoes and sliced jalapenos. It’s one-note in its flavour, and desperately needs something with a bit of acidity/zinginess to perk it up a bit (salsa could have filled this role, but the salsa here tasted like it came out of a jar — and a particularly shoddy one, at that).

It’s also crazy overpriced for what it is; with the pulled chicken (which was basically stewed chicken mush) and guacamole (which was exceptionally bland), the platter comes up to a whopping 29 bucks, which is a galling amount to pay for such a mediocre plate of nachos.

Hot Fudge Sundae at Tom’s Dairy Freeze

I’ve written about Tom’s Dairy Freeze a couple of times before, which is why I didn’t bother writing a whole post about this, but it’s worth noting that the hot fudge sauce here is above average. It’s not great, mind you (the ice cream itself is definitely the reason to come to Tom’s), but it has a decent chocolate flavour, and it’s not overly sweet. It’s definitely a cut above a place like Dairy Queen.

Cinnamon Bun at Blackbird Baking Co.

Like the almond croissant at Blackbird Baking Co., the cinnamon bun is a lot more subtle than you’re expecting it to be — but it’s also delicious. It’s basically like a croissant and a cinnamon bun had a baby. The croissants at Blackbird are quite good, so yeah, this is as good as you’d hope.

Holy Mint Ice Cream at Sweet Jesus

Published on December 23, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke (inside Sherway Gardens)
Website: https://www.sweetjesusicecream.com/

The latest featured flavour at Sweet Jesus is Holy Mint, and if you like the mint/chocolate combo, you’ll almost certainly enjoy it.

Personally, I like that combo, so yeah — I enjoyed it.

Holy Mint, as per the Sweet Jesus website: “Mint soft serve, chocolate mints, chocolate mint cookies, milk cookies, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce.”

It’s quite tasty. In particular, the mint soft serve is fantastic; it’s nice and creamy, and the mint flavour is perfect. Some mint desserts can be a bit overwhelming and toothpasty, but the flavour here is nicely balanced. It’s also sweet, but not too sweet. It’s great.

I will say that I’m a bit concerned about Sweet Jesus, particularly their Sherway Gardens location. I visited on Saturday — i.e. the last Saturday before Christmas — and the mall was, not surprisingly, wall-to-wall people. And yet Sweet Jesus was as deserted as it always seems to be. I’ll be very surprised if this particular location makes it through 2020, and that makes me sad.