Tasty (and Unique) Ice Cream at Good Gang Ice Cream

Good Gang Ice Cream
Location
: 656 Annette Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.goodgangicecream.com/

Good Gang’s been scooping up ice cream for a few years now, though they’ve only just moved to their new location on the west end in the last few months.  Judging by the pretty serious line when I showed up on a recent Sunday afternoon, it’s a hit.

I should note that their hours are currently a bit odd (they’re open from Friday to Sunday, 3:00pm to 8:00pm), but they’ll presumably be expanding a bit in the coming weeks and months.

Good Gang Ice Cream

When I visited, they had an assortment of 19 flavours — most of it interesting, oddball stuff like black currant leaf, majicha brownie, and salted yuzu.

(I should also note that the format of the menu is quite similar to the one at Bang Bang, which makes me wonder if maybe the owners here used to work there?  I will very strongly advise you to not try to look into this by googling “Good Gang Bang Bang,” however.  No ice cream facts to be found there, that’s for sure.)

Good Gang Ice Cream

I got a scoop of the toast flavour (“sourdough bread base, haskap jam”), and I enjoyed it quite a lot.

They’re clearly starting with very good quality ice cream — it’s thoroughly rich and creamy, and based on this one scoop, seems to be up there with the best stuff in the city.

And the flavour is quite satisfying.  I don’t know if there’s any particular sourdough flavour, but the bread — broken down into soft, fine crumbs — adds a pretty distinct personality to the scoop, and the jam adds a nice fruity sweetness (without being overly sweet).  It’s really tasty.

Biscoff McFlurry at McDonald’s (The International Menu Heist)

Biscoff McFlurry at McDonald's (The International Menu Heist)
Location
Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, Montreal
Websitehttps://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

The International Menu Heist continues!  Seriously: I love this.  Can we just make this a permanent thing?  One new menu item a month from an international McDonald’s location?  Forever?  Yeah, let’s go ahead and do that, McDonald’s.  Thanks.

Biscoff McFlurry at McDonald's (The International Menu Heist)

I recently tried the McPizza Bites from Italy, which I thought were pretty decent.  Up next: the Biscoff McFlurry from Belgium (“Think creamy vanilla soft serve swirled together with Biscoff cookie crumbs.  Now you can picture yourself wandering cobbled streets of Bruges while tucking in to this deliciously sweet treat”).

Biscoff McFlurry at McDonald's (The International Menu Heist)

Do I need to describe this?  If you’ve had Biscoff cookies and you’ve had vanilla soft serve, then there are no surprises for you here.  It’s crushed up Biscoff cookies in soft serve.  It tastes exactly what you think that’s going to taste like, which is to say: quite delicious!  I’m a big fan of Biscoff’s distinct spiced caramel flavour, so yeah, I enjoyed this.

Also: I had this on a layover in the Montreal airport, and I don’t know if the soft serve at McDonald’s is tastier in Quebec or if it’s just better than I remembered, but it was creamy and satisfying.  It was a great McFlurry.

Tasty Eats at Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese
Location
: 10 Dundas Street East, Toronto
Website: https://shakeshack.ca/

Shake Shack is currently doing a limited-time collaboration with Mimi Chinese.  It ends on May 26, so you’d better hurry if you want to check it out (and trust me, you want to check it out).  They’re serving a chicken sandwich, seasoned fries, and a black sesame milkshake; all three are thoroughly delicious.

Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

First up: the Málà Chicken sandwich (“Crispy chicken spiced with MIMI’s signature chili oil, charred scallion relish, green chili mayo, tangy pickles and lettuce”).

In Chinese cuisine, “mala” refers to a flavour that’s simultaneously spicy and numbing (thanks to Sichuan peppercorns), and yeah, this sandwich nails that.  It’s not the spiciest thing you’ll ever eat, but it’s got a good kick and a noticeable tingliness from the peppercorns.

Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

The sandwich is otherwise nice and zippy, with a great balance of flavours.  It was kind of a bummer that the piece of chicken in my sandwich only filled half the bun (it was basically a hefty chicken strip), but the quality was great, with a crispy exterior and a very juicy interior (particularly impressive, given that it’s white meat).

Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

And everything here was so tasty that even the condiment-only half of the sandwich was still satisfying.

Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

I also tried the Shaokao Fries (“Crinkle cuts, street food–style—dusted with cumin, chili, and Sichuan peppercorn. Served with green chili mayo”).

The fries themselves were standard-issue crinkle cut fries, but that tasty seasoning really elevates them, with more of that hot/numbing flavour.  And the dip is a great combo of creamy and zesty.

Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

I wasn’t planning on getting the milkshake, but if you’re already getting the sandwich and the fries, I guess you may as well go all the way and get the shake, too.  The Black Sesame Coconut Shake: “A nutty blend of black sesame and coconut inspired by traditional Chinese desserts.”

Shake Shack x MIMI Chinese

And hey, what do you know — this was pretty great, too.  In particular, the pronounced black sesame flavour actually works really well in a milkshake, which was nice and creamy without being overly thick.

Tasty Ice Cream at Moonmilk

Moonmilk
Location
: 1695 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://moonmilktoronto.com/

I’ve had the ice cream at Moonmilk once before, and I thought it was quite good.  I just tried another scoop, and it was even better; clearly, Moon Milk has got the goods when it comes to top-notch ice cream.

Moonmilk

Moon Milk serves about a dozen flavours of ice cream, along with a few cakes and pastries (I tried one of the cakes during the most recent Du West Fest and quite enjoyed it).  On this particular visit, I had the Jelly Donut ice cream.

Moonmilk

It’s seriously good.  And the extent to which it’s able to recapture the flavour of a jelly doughnut is actually quite impressive; there are swirls of sweet jelly throughout, and the ice cream itself actually does have a doughnut flavour.  I have no idea how they’re able to capture that flavour in ice cream form, but they’ve done it.

And the quality of the ice cream is great, with a very rich, smooth texture.  It’s a seriously delicious scoop.

Solid Gelato at On Third Thought

On Third Thought
Location
: 6 Markham Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.onthirdthought.com/

I recently saw On Third Thought on a list of the best gelato in the city, and I thought, wait — this place serves some of the best gelato in the city?  And I haven’t heard of it??

Obviously I needed to try it ASAP.

On Third Thought

They have about a dozen flavours on the menu, mostly fruity.  Interestingly, they have a handful of booze-infused scoops for a one dollar upcharge.  I went alcohol-free and got chocolate and caramelized fig.

On Third Thought

It’s not bad at all.  I personally wouldn’t put this in my top 10, but I’m certainly not mad I ate it.  The gelato is served at the perfect temperature and is decently creamy, and while the fig flavour was more tart than I was expecting (and both were leaning a bit sweeter than I prefer), the chocolate had a richness to it that I found quite enjoyable.

On Third Thought

They also serve the gelato in a glass bowl with a metal spoon if you’re eating on the patio, and I found this to be unexpectedly delightful.  You wouldn’t think it would make a difference, but there’s something about it that just feels better than eating out of the usual disposable cup.