16 Ice-Creams You Need in Your Life This Summer

The temperature briefly went over 15° in Dublin this week and you know what that means; every man in the city brought out The Shorts and managed to look like the love-child of Paul Mescal and Steve Irwin, people in SoCoDo were forced to ask themselves “do I actually need a Dryrobe in this heat?”, and ice-cream has started appearing e’rywhere. Woohoo!

Ice-cream is up there on the ATF list of all-time favourite things for three reasons:

• It tastes great

• It melts so no matter how full you are, it manages to fit in the little gaps in your stomach

• Eating ice-cream during the day is not having dessert. Fact. Eat a piece of cake in your car at noon and people comment, eat an ice-cream and you’ll be commended for your ability to keep cool

Here are the ice-creams, and plant-based ice-cream alternatives, that you need in your life this summer.

No Messin' Bakery's Ice-Bergers

It's beginning to feel like ice-cream sandwiches might overtake actual sandwiches in Dublin, and we're not complaining. No Messin's Ice Berger promises creamy ice-cream surrounded by rye cookies with Valhrona chocolate and sea salt, and as with everything they make, you know they're going to smash it. There's going to be limited availability at Proper Order Coffee each weekend during the summer, and expect demand to be very high so go early.

Brasserie Sixty6's Sea Salt, Honey & Caramel Soft Serve

Brasserie Sixty6 on South Great George's Street have just opened a café at the front, complete with a street-facing hatch and a soft serve machine. While they hit the ground running with affogato, they've upped the ante even further with the appearance of this sea salt and honey caramel number.

Cloud Picker's Soft Serve In A Cup

Cloud Picker on Pearse Street has the cutest cups of soft-serve with regularly changing toppings, like praline crumb, caramelised white chocolate, and butterscotch sauce, or honeycomb with dark chocolate. Can we have them all?

Nutbutter's Vegan Soft Serve

Nutbutter in Grand Canal Dock have just launched a plant-based soft-serve ice-cream alternative with toppings like cocoa nibs, homemade chocolate sauce, and the one that's intriguing us - coconut bacon.

Herbstreet's Brunch Ball

2021 is feeling a little like the summers of our youth, mainly because nobody is going abroad. Double-down on the retro feelings with the Brunch Ball from Herbstreet in Grand Canal Dock - strawberry and vanilla ice-cream rolled in cake crumb and sprinkles.

Burr's Ice-Bergers

Sticking with the retro theme, Ice-Bergers are everywhere right now but they’ve had a 2021 upgrade. Burr describe what they do, making plant-based ice-cream sandwiches, as not an ice-cream alternative but “an ice-cream improvement”. Big words. Big flavours also with mocha cholate fudge and roasted hazelnut, chocolate shortbread and ginger crunch, mint, and malt vanilla. Find them at Hensteeth Store in Dublin 8, MVP on Upper Cranbrassil St., and popping-up in places like Bushy Park Market. If anyone fancies replicating a Mint Feast, call us.

Chimac's Ice-Cream Sammies

If you’ve been reading All The Food for a while, you’ll know that we’re big fans of Chimac’s Ice-Cream Sammies. The great news is it’s even easier to get your hands on one of these massive desserts because they’re now also stocked at Lotts and Co. and Lennox Street Grocer. The malted cornflake and chocolate chip has long been our favourite (and we usually have one stashed in the back of the freezer for hot day snack emergencies), but keep an eye out for occasional specials.

Leamhain's Ice-Cream Sandwiches

Another non-dairy option is from Leamhain, and it’s also gluten, palm-oil and nut-free for a very inclusive ice-cream-esque experience. Tubs and sandwiches (like chocolate and butterscotch blondie) are stocked in a number of Dublin outlets including Small Changes in Inchicore, Kerb in Foxrock, Cornucopia on Wicklow Street, Green Beard Juicery in Ranelagh and Donnybrook, and Marlowe & Co. on the South Circular Road.

The Soft Ralph

If you’ve been traumatised by recent rumours of a Flake-shortage, you should get ahead of the crowd and take every opportunity to eat Flakes in ice-cream before those pesky children take them all. You know what else children shouldn’t have? Booze. Show them who’s boss by combining the two. Makers of The White Ralph have launched The Soft Ralph incorporating their liquor to create an ice-cream that’s 7% ABV, and you'll find it at Eatyard.

Veginity's Plant-Based Desserts

Vegan restaurant Veginity on Dorset Street Upper has created a range of frozen plant-based desserts with flavours like Oreo, berry cheesecake, and Malteser, plus there are mocha ice-cream sandwiches available too. Who knew vegans were going to get so good at ice-cream.

Cremeria Constantini’s Ice-Cream Counter

One of our favourite secret spots in Dublin is Sorrento’s fish and chips in Stoneybatter. Apart from the obvious, they also sell great sourdough, and they have another secret weapon - Cremeria Constantini, an ice-cream and sorbet counter that wouldn’t be out of place in Milan.

Cream of the Crop's Gelato

Ice-cream is important. Zero waste is important. Taste is important. Thankfully, Giselle Makinde from Cream of the Crop has been able to combine all three by using surplus ingredients that would otherwise end up in landfill to make seriously tasty gelato and sorbet. Expect to see this one cropping up everywhere thanks to their super cute ice-cream bike, with stockists including The Old Bakery Store in Terenure, Fresh Avenue in Ballinteer, Small Changes in Inchicore, and soon Aldi, or you can buy straight from the source at their shop in Dublin 8.

Betty's Soft Serve

Peaches and Domini Kemp's latest venture is an ice-cream bar in Arnott's, just by the Liffey Street entrance. Betty's Milk Bar has soft-serve dairy and vegan ice-cream in cups or cones and lots of toppings and sauces. We're taking this as a sign that Henry Street will be fully open soon and we'll need somewhere to cool down both ourselves and our debit cards.

Bao Bun's Ice-Cream Bao

Bao has exploded in Dublin and you can pretty much find them for breakfast, lunch, dinner... and now dessert. Aungier Street (where else?) newbie Bao Bun has an ice-cream sandwich on the menu, with a bao that's deep fried and rolled in sugar and cinnamon. Lunch and dessert in one.

Three Twenty Ice-Cream Lab's Everything

One of our go-tos for great ice-cream in town, Three Twenty turned two this week which is weird because it feel like it's been part of Drury Street since the beginning of time. Liquid nitrogen is used to create a super-smooth ice-cream and, if that's not enough magic for you, torched meringue or brûléed sugar creates really unique desserts on the go.

As One's Housemade Ice-Cream

As One make their sea salt and vanilla ice-cream in house, topping it with chocolate soil, honey drizzle and mint, before sending you on your merry way down the quays. Sunshine optional.

And this week only...

Urbanity's Wibbly Wobbly Wonder

In what may prove to be one of our favourite collabs of the year (a tough competition), Urbanity in Smithfield have teamed-up with Wine Mason to create the meal of our dreams this Friday only - a chicken katsu sandwich, a bottle of Pet Nat, and the most evocative of all ice-creams; the Wibbly Wobbly Wonder, all for €22. This grown-up version with yuzu jelly, vanilla ice-cream, and chocolate biscuit dipped in white and ruby chocolate looks IN-CRED-IBLE, and you can pre-order this feast here.

Have we missed any of your favourite ice-creams? Let us know by emailing info@allthefood.ie