ottawa foodies

The best is Brum's dairy in Pembroke! A bit far but worth it if you're on Highway 17 for sure.

Grape and vanilla swirl happening here. Ridiculous. The texture is a bit granular as noted below and I keep meaning to ask why that is. Never not a favourite.

I got my chocolate ice cream at 4:30pm on Sunday.

It was granular with the chocolate micro bits (powderized chocolate ?) I think it's supposed to be that way. The texture was not a distraction or deterrent for me. But is was a new experience.

I've had both the vanilla soft serve, and the sundae made with it and the Michael's Dolce jam. The sundae was great, but the soft serve by itself, while having great flavour, was just a touch granular in consistency. It was early in the day, and maybe the machine works better later in the day (?).

Had the chocolate soft serve.

What appeared to be ground cocoa beans (brown specs) turned out to be powderized chocolate. It easily melted in the cold ice cream. Yumm.

This is top shelf stuff.

Wow! If, like me, your favourite ice cream experience is letting hard real vanilla ice cream melt a bit before eating it, then you will love the vanilla soft serve here. Unlike commercially prepared soft serve, this is made in house and you can totally taste the vanilla and the eggs. $4 gets you a generous cup. They also have chocolate and can make you a twist if that's your thing.

And there chocolate dip is awesomely thick and chocolaty

For pure, creamy, vanilla soft ice cream, this is the best I've had in the Ottawa area.

IN-PROGRESS ORAL DECONSTRUCTION!

Here is an in-progress oral deconstruction of the dipped cone, highlighting the thickness of dip and that pure creamy white that is calling to me like some sort of silky soft serve siren song! 🍦

The ongoing soft serve dip craze of 2016 continues with the Orleans opening earlier this year of Ontario's first Chocolats Favoris location.

I finally had a chance to check it out last night. My impressions in point form:

* There was a lineup to just inside the door but we got through in less than 10 minutes.
* Do your research -- there isn't much time to choose a dip!
* I think there were 5 sizes: Baby, Mini, Small, Medium, Large.
* The soft serve is THE BEST ever. It's the only one I've encountered that is as good or better than the one at La Crémière.
* The dip is thick; you have to bite through it and it is not very easy to eat.

The chocolate coating is of relatively good quality, much like a Magnum ice cream bar. It is waaaay better than the waxy stuff you get at most places. This dessert ends up being more of an ice cream filled chocolate bar than a standard dipped cone (not a bad thing!).

Both the ice cream and the chocolate were of distinctly better quality than what I had at La Diperie in Montreal last weekend. Sure, La Diperie has more toppings and dip choices, but the foundation doesn't measure up. Now I'm very curious to check out Toronto's Sweet Jesus in the Byward Market!

Pictured here is my "Small" vanilla soft serve, dipped in Hazelnut Praliné coating. $4.50+HST. As a dipped cone, it was just too big for me. I'd get a Mini next time or go for the Small without dip. Or I'd experiment with getting it in a cup with a spoon.

Let's hope they open in the west end of town too. They would make a brisk business in Kanata!

I don't care... the KitKat Blizzard remains a thing of beauty in my eyes. And head.

It's not very good, they don't use much dairy anymore.

It's what's for lunch! For my first visit, I tried the Lemon Coconut Cream Pie Pimped Out cup, $6.50 + tax and almost bigger than my head.

These ice creams are made for Instagram. But it isn't all about appearance; I found the toppings to be really nice. The sour lemon curd was drizzled directly on the ice cream, the whole thing was then rolled in coconut and graham crumble, and then more lemon curd was drizzled over top. Eating this was like enjoying a slice of cold coconut lemon layer cake.

The only disappointing part was the soft serve itself. It wasn't very creamy and had a slight cheesiness that reminded me of frozen yogurt. Go for the toppings not the ice cream!