dessert – Page 47 – Michael Eats

Mediocre Ice Cream at Emmy’s Ice Cream

Published on June 6, 2018June 6, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 426 St. Clarens Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://emmys-ice-cream.business.site/

I love ice cream (and I mean, who doesn’t?). I’m always on the lookout for the next great scoop.

I’m not going to bury the lede — Emmy’s does not serve the next great scoop.

It’s fine. There wasn’t anything glaringly wrong with it. But the quality is more in line with something you might get from the supermarket with the words “Nestle” or “President’s Choice” on the label.

It’s in a bit of an odd location; it’s basically part of a coffee shop (they have their own sign and door, but once you’re inside, it’s all one store).

They don’t make their own ice cream. They source it from Dutch Dreams. I have a vague recollection of going to Dutch Dreams well over a decade ago and not being impressed, but I was hoping that they had improved in the interim.

Alas. I had the “Life on St. Clarens,” which is vanilla ice cream with a peanut butter swirl, along with brownie chunks and cookie dough.

Nothing about it particularly stood out. Though the ice cream was somewhat rich, the flavour was just generic sweetness. The same lack of flavour extended to the chunks — the brownie was just chewy and sweet, and the cookie dough was crumbly and sweet. Nothing makes an impact.

Given the fairly unambitious array of flavours they have on offer, I suspect that they’re trying to be more of a stop for local kids than somewhere you might go out of your way for. Which is fine. But… don’t go out of your way for it.

Quality Ice Cream at Ed’s Real Scoop

Published on June 4, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 920 Queen Street East, Toronto
Website: https://www.edsrealscoop.com/

I like Ed’s a lot, though it tends to be a bit hit-and-miss. Still, it’s one of the better places for ice cream in the city, and as you can see from the picture above, it’s popular.

And while the quality is a bit inconsistent, their sweet cream is always delicious. It’s about as simple as a flavour can get; as the name implies, it’s basically just sweetened cream. It’s proof that if you’re starting with good quality stuff, you don’t need elaborate flavourings and chunks mixed in.

My second scoop was chocolate, and remember when I said this place is hit-and-miss? Yeah, it was pretty middling.

I also checked out the Roncesvalles location recently; I got one scoop of sweet cream, and one of chocolate peanut butter. Again, the sweet cream was amazing, and the other flavour was just okay.

I should probably just stick with sweet cream.

Tasty Gelato at Soma Chocolatemaker

Published on May 30, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 443 King Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.somachocolate.com/

I mentioned recently that Hollywood Gelato is a strong contender for my favourite gelato in the city. Also on that list? Soma Chocolatemaker. You wouldn’t think that a place that makes great chocolate would also make great gelato, but hey, why not? They also sell some pretty tasty cookies, so I guess they’re just great at everything.

I got the dark chocolate gelato, and as you’d expect from a place with the word “chocolate” in their name, the flavour was outstanding. It had a deep, rich chocolate flavour with a perfect balance of sweetness. The creamy, almost fudgey texture was deeply satisfying.

I’d be surprised if there were a better scoop of chocolate gelato in the city.

Blueberry Glazed Doughnuts at Krispy Kreme

Published on May 26, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5920 Mavis Road, Mississauga
Website: http://www.krispykreme.ca/

Though I find the vast majority of their doughnuts to be throat-burningly sweet, I really like the plain glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. Maybe it’s just a nostalgia thing — my family used to take annual trips to Florida, and while we were there, hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts were a regular occurrence.

There’s nothing subtle about a glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut. It’s basically just fried sugar; it’s a light, fluffy amalgam of pastry and sickly-sweet glaze that almost melts in your mouth as soon as you begin to chew it. It’s great.

For a limited time (the promotion ends tomorrow, so hurry up if you want to give it a shot) Krispy Kreme is selling blueberry glazed doughnuts. Aside from a few dark flecks on the surface of the doughnut, it looks exactly like the standard version (it doesn’t even remotely have the day-glo blue of the promotional photos).

It’s quite tasty, but then it’s just a standard Krispy Kreme doughnut with a slightly tart, fruity flavour. It didn’t quite have the punch of blueberry flavour that I was hoping for, but it’s still quite tasty.

Instagram-Friendly Ice Cream at Sweet Jesus

Published on May 26, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 106 John Street, Toronto
Website: http://www.sweetjesus4life.com/

I don’t think there’s a more blatant case of an Instagram-famous restaurant than Sweet Jesus. They serve up concoctions that are so finely-honed to be drooled over on social media that actually eating them almost feels like an afterthought.

They mainly serve very elaborately topped cones that are impossible to eat without making a huge mess; but then, what do they care? Again: actually eating them is secondary to the likes that they’ll accrue online.

Thankfully, they eventually acquiesced to common sense and offered the option of a cup instead of a cone, which is slightly less photogenic, but much more reasonable to eat.

I got the Sweet Baby Jesus, which is supposed to come with caramel soft serve (I’m pretty positive it was actually vanilla) topped with peanut butter caramel sauce, chocolate peanut crumble, and chocolate sauce.

I should note that I actually like Sweet Jesus. I’ve been there a bunch of times, and I have no doubt that I’ll be back a bunch of times. But it could be so much better.

The biggest issue is the soft serve itself. It’s fine; it’s basically on par with what they serve at ice cream trucks. I like the stuff, but it’s not exactly high quality ice cream.

And because they insist on making these things as cones instead of the sundaes they should obviously be (for no reason other than that the elaborate cones look better on Instagram), the ratio of sauce/toppings to ice cream is way off. This would be fine if they were using better quality ice cream, but they’re not. Which means that the big pile of ice cream you’re left with after the toppings have been eaten feels kinda useless.

As for the Sweet Baby Jesus, it was tasty enough. Peanut butter and chocolate is a surefire combo, and yeah, it works here. But both of the problems I mentioned above are definitely present.