Quick Bites: Sweet Jesus, Parka Food Co., and Bakerbots Baking

Sweet Jesus
Apple Fritter Crisp from Sweet Jesus

This was actually pretty tasty.  Here’s how Sweet Jesus describes the Apple Fritter Crisp: “Vanilla soft serve, Apple pie sauce, Apple fritter pieces, Apple fritter crumb, Caramel sauce.”  I enjoyed it, mostly — it pretty much nails the apple pie/crumble element, with a cinnamon-infused flavour, and a nice hit of caramel and apples.  But the “apple fritter crumb” it’s rolled in was more chewy than crispy (there was a disconcerting lack of crispiness for something with “crisp” in its name), and the apple fritter pieces were entirely absent.  Still, the creamy vanilla ice cream and the apple-crumble-infused flavour are a tasty combo.

Parka Food Co.
Caesar Salad at Parka Food Co.

I recently found myself back at Parka Food Co., a place that specializes in vegan eats; on my first visit I had a sandwich and found the bun to be fairly horrifying, so I skipped the sandwiches and went with a Caesar salad instead.  It was fine, I guess?  Caesar dressing traditionally features very non-vegan ingredients like anchovies, egg yolks, and cheese; whatever vegan alternatives they used here were decent enough.  But the dressing was overly vinegary, and the pickled onions on top are a bizarre choice — they only amplify the puckery vinegar flavour.

Blackbird Baking Co.
Lemon Tart and Raspberry Rosewater Tart from Bakerbots Baking

Both of these tarts were absolutely fantastic, particularly the Raspberry Rosewater tart, which featured an ultra-rich custard with a pronounced rosewater flavour that complimented the tart raspberries on top perfectly.  And unlike the last pie I had at this place, the crust was superlative; it was crispy, buttery, and perfect.

Holy Mint Ice Cream at Sweet Jesus

Sweet Jesus - Holy MintLocation: 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.

Sweet Jesus - Holy Mint

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.

Sweet Jesus - Holy Mint

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.

The Truth About Milkshakes

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

I’m just gonna say it: milkshakes are for jerks.

Well, okay, maybe that’s not true.  Milkshakes are perfectly delicious, but generally speaking, if I’m going to eat ice cream, I want to eat ice cream.  I don’t need to drink it.

Still, I don’t mind a milkshake every now and then, and since I’ve tried all the cones at Sweet Jesus, I figured sure, why not?

Sweet Jesus

I got the Peanut Butter, Pretzel & Chocolate Hazelnut shake, which features “vanilla soft serve, peanut butter sauce, caramel sauce, whipped cream, hazelnut-chocolate sauce, salted pretzel crumble.”

Yeah, it’s a lot of stuff.  And it’s quite tasty — it tastes pretty much exactly what you think it’s going to taste like based on that description.

I find a lot of milkshakes to be unpleasantly thick; if I have to struggle to suck it up through a straw, then what’s the point?  Just let me just eat it with a spoon.  This, on the other hand, was easily drinkable.  It was the perfect consistency, though I suspect milkshake aficionados might find it too thin.

Cheesecake Blues at Sweet Jesus

Sweet JesusLocation: 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.”

Sweet Jesus

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.

Sweet Jesus

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

TIFF-Inspired Ice Cream at Sweet Jesus

Sweet JesusLocation: 106 John Street, Toronto
Websitehttp://www.sweetjesus4life.com/

After essentially accusing Sweet Jesus of being empty Instagram-bait, I recently came to the realization that it’s probably a bit better than I’ve been giving it credit for.  Yes, a heavy emphasis is placed on making their creations as visually pleasing as possible, but the soft serve is nice and creamy, and the flavours are usually satisfying.

That being said?  Their new limited edition TIFF-inspired creation, the Marie Antoinette, is empty Instagram-bait.

It’s a collaboration with Nadege, and it features vanilla soft serve, maple sauce, macaron crumbs, mini macarons, and a full-sized macaron on top.

The full macaron is actually the best thing about it. It has a nice, lightly crispy texture, a very subtle chewiness, and a pleasant vanilla bean flavour that isn’t too sweet. It’s a quality macaron.

Otherwise, the rest basically just tastes like plain vanilla ice cream.  The mini macarons are one-note crunchy and don’t really taste like anything, the maple sauce features shockingly little maple syrup flavour (I never would have guessed it was supposed to be maple if I hadn’t known), and the macaron crumbs just add a grainy texture.

The vanilla ice cream is tasty enough, so I certainly didn’t dislike eating it, but there isn’t a whole lot there.