Cold Arts: 10 next-level ice creams and sorbets
Cold Arts: 10 next-level ice creams and sorbets
By Kelly Reid |
By Kelly Reid |

By Kelly Reid | Photography by Vicky Lam | Styling by Andrew Bullis/Judy Inc
Chefs are taking house-made ice creams and sorbets to new heights, goosing them with herbs, spices and savoury flavours to wildly delicious effect. Here, our picks for the city’s top 10 frozen desserts.
See all 10 desserts »
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- The peaches and cream bar at <strong>Aria</strong> is summer on a stick. Sweet-corn ice cream made with ripe Ontario kernels has a luscious, jammy centre of slow-roasted peaches. The bar is then coated in a salty-sweet brittle of pine nuts and popcorn. $12. <em>25 York St., 416-363-2742.</em>
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- Peachy Keen
- Peachy Keen
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- Chef David Lee at <strong>The Carbon Bar</strong> swirls hunks of bubble gum in a rich custardy base, freezes each scoop to order with liquid nitrogen, then sprinkles it with Pop Rocks candy for a creamy, fizzy nostalgia trip. $5.99 <em>Queen St. E., <br /> 416-947-7000.</em>
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- Bubblicious
- Bubblicious
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- <strong>Momofuku Milk Bar</strong> does soft serve in two heavenly flavours: the pleasantly bitter double-double is made using rich Sam James espresso, and cereal milk (shown above) has a sugary tang. Both are sprinkled with toasted, caramelized Corn Flakes for crunch. $5.25. <em>190 University Ave., 647-253-8000.</em>
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- Twist Bliss
- Twist Bliss
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- <strong>The Drake Hotel</strong> serves a fragrant white sangria sorbet with silky almond panna cotta, piquant key lime curd, and a crisp fruit salad of cucumber, blueberries, honeydew, green apple and toasted almonds. A few sprigs of coriander add a herbaceous wallop. $7.95. <em>1150 Queen St. W., 416-531-5042.</em>
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- Salad Days
- Salad Days
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- Chef Jonathan Poon of <strong>Chantecler</strong> steeps nutty buckwheat in an egg-free ice cream base and serves it as a delicate quenelle coated in flaky feuilletine. The garnish is a sensuous sweet-tart mix of black walnuts candied in maple syrup and slices of raw honeycrisp. $11. <em>1320 Queen St. W., 416-628-3586.</em>
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- Sweet Wheat
- Sweet Wheat
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- The final course of <strong>Splendido’</strong>s $130 tasting menu is a petite raspberry tuile cone filled with a twist of tangy raspberry, lime and goat-yogurt sorbet. The tip of the cone is dipped in cocoa nibs, and the whole carnival concoction is topped with a caramel spiral. <em>88 Harbord St., 416-929-7788.</em>
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- Swirl Power
- Swirl Power
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- At <strong>Actinolite,</strong> chef Justin Cournoyer offsets his sweet carrot-flavoured sorbet with tart sea buckthorn berries. A bed of sunchoke granola with caramelized sour cream and roasted white chocolate gives satisfying crunch. <em>971 Ossington Ave., 416-962-8943.</em>
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- Avant-Garden
- Avant-Garden
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- Our current favourite ice cream sandwich comes from chef Léonie Lilla of <strong>Farmer’s Daughter.</strong> She smushes rich French dark chocolate ice cream between two wild ginger–spiked shortbread cookies. $6. <em>1588 Dupont St., 416-546-0626.</em>
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- Dark Magic
- Dark Magic
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- <strong>Fat Pasha</strong> serves up a decadent sundae of sweet cream–flavoured ice cream topped with a nest of halvah, toasted pistachios, date syrup and Manischewitz wine jelly. A final drizzle of sweetened tahini delivers extra nutty oomph. $9. <em>414 Dupont St., 647-340-6142.</em>
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- Turkish Delight
- Turkish Delight
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- <strong>Hudson Kitchen’</strong>s take on a Filipino halo-halo sundae—traditionally made with fruit, milk and shaved ice—is an artful mix of compressed berries, condensed-milk ice cream, coconut granita, strawberry gelée, meringue and puffed wild rice. $11. <em>800 Dundas St. W., 416-644-8839.</em>
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- Tropical Punch
- Tropical Punch
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Aria, as in the nightclub complex? You gave the address as 108 Peter. Is this correct?
that middle item looks like an open mouth, looking up with a tongue stickin’ out. AAAAHHHHHHH