soft serve – Page 5 – Michael Eats

More Dipped Cones at Les Epicuriens

Published on July 29, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 2109 Yonge Street, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/indulgeyourtastebuds/

Hey, it’s yet another place doing dipped cones. Hooray?

Look, I can’t say no to ice cream, but as I mentioned in my review of Chocolats Favoris last year, we’ve got a lot of places that serve dipped cones in Toronto. It’s a crowded field.

So does Les Epicuriens stand out? I dunno, not really? I mean, they have a lot of dip options (a dozen when I visited), but then most of these places have a lot of dip options. They also have a handful of toppings (various nuts, candy pieces, etc.), but that’s also par for the course.

I went with the “special vanilla” ice cream (vegan chocolate is also an option) with a pistachio dip.

The ice cream is really good. It’s very rich and creamy with a nice, clean flavour. I’d say it’s about on par with Tom’s.

The dip was fine, though it was aggressively sweet and had only a mild pistachio flavour. It basically tasted like white chocolate with a vague whiff of nuttiness. I’d probably try a different dip next time, or just get the ice cream on its own.

Cupfections at Dairy Queen

Published on July 5, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5449 Dundas Street West, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.dairyqueen.com/ca-en/

Though Dairy Queen comes out with new Blizzards on a regular basis, new sundaes are much more rare. Maybe once or twice a year? If that?

They recently came out with not one, but two new sundaes called Cupfections; obviously I was all over it.

There’s the Brownie and Oreo Cupfection, and the Summer Berry Cake Cupfection. I tried the latter, which comes topped with berries (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries), vanilla cake, and chocolate pieces.

It’s basically a trifle, but with a whole bunch of ice cream instead of custard.

So yeah, it’s good. I think if you replace any component in a dessert with a whole bunch of ice cream, you’re pretty much guaranteed to wind up with something delicious. The soft serve at Dairy Queen isn’t exactly great, but with all that other stuff, it’s tasty.

I watched the guy make it, and it was kind of interesting — I assumed the cake would just be cake crumbs, but he actually pulled out a full sheet cake from the fridge (frosting and all) and then dug into it with an ice cream scoop.

It would have been nice if the berries weren’t so cold (they were partially frozen), but otherwise this was a tasty dessert. I think it’s a summer-only thing, which is too bad — it would be a solid addition to the permanent menu.

Cheesecake Blues at Sweet Jesus

Published on July 3, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 25 The West Mall, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.sweetjesusicecream.com/

Cheesecake Blues — which is a featured flavour, and not a part of the regular menu, sadly — might be the best thing on Sweet Jesus’s menu.

Here’s how they describe it: “Blueberry soft serve ice cream, cheesecake bites, blueberry sauce, graham cookie crumbs, Maria milk cookie crumbs, wafer crumbs, white chocolate bits.”

The ice cream is the highlight; the flavour is a lot more subtle than you’re expecting. Typically, fruity ice cream tends to punch you in the face with fruit flavour, but this one is more like blueberries and cream. It’s creamy, mellow, and delightful.

The crumbs on the exterior are a bit odd — they’re supposedly cookie crumbs, but the texture is soft and cakey. I’m not sure if that’s intentional, but either way, it’s tasty.

There are also cheesecake chunks and blueberry sauce, which obviously work quite well together. The whole thing is surprisingly good.

Nanaimo Bar McFlurry at McDonald’s

Published on June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 30 Courtneypark Drive East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

This is kind of old news at this point, but McDonald’s currently has a Great Canadian Tastes promotion going (until the 17th of June, so don’t dilly dally if you want to sample it and haven’t yet), which includes fish and chips and a Nanaimo Bar McFlurry.

I’ve only tried the McFlurry so far, and it’s not bad. I don’t think I would have guessed that it was supposed to taste like a Nanaimo bar, but it’s decent enough for what it is.

It’s intensely sweet — but then a Nanaimo bar is also super sweet, so on that level at least, it resembles what it’s supposed to be.

The easiest way to make this would have been to just mix Nanaimo bar chunks into ice cream, but instead, this features coconut graham crumbs, cocoa, chocolate chips, and hot fudge sauce.

Chocolate is clearly the dominant flavour here, with lots of sauce and a healthy amount of graham cracker bits. The bits have a mild coconut and chocolate flavour, and add a satisfying amount of crunchiness.

There’s also a vague underlying toffee flavour, but for the most part, this thing is just chocolatey and sweet. It’s tasty enough, but if you’re craving that distinctive Nanaimo bar flavour, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

Apple Crumble Sundae at McDonald’s

Published on November 26, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 165 North Queen Street, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I’ll admit it: I was quite impressed by the Apple Crumble Sundae from McDonald’s. I really enjoyed it.

It’s quite simple: vanilla soft serve layered with spiced apple topping, and sprinkled with with cinnamon oat crumble.

The spiced apple topping is essentially apple pie filling, with a decent amount of small apple chunks. It’s a little bit tart, which works well with the very sweet crumble and ice cream.

The crumble is a little bit too hard and crunchy, but it has a satisfying brown sugar flavour that compliments the apple topping and the ice cream nicely.

The ice cream is the ice cream. If you need me to describe McDonald’s soft serve for you, I really don’t know what you’re doing here.

There’s not much more to say about it than that. It tastes like an apple crumble in sundae form. It’s exactly what you want it to be.