An Oasis of ice cream in the Al Ain Oasis

Location: Al Ain Oasis Cafe within the Al Ain Oasis, Al Ain UAE

Flavour tried: Coffee and chocolate ice cream rolls

Price: 25 Dhs (tax incl)

If you’ve never been to the Al Ain Oasis I highly recommend it, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site in the small city of Al Ain in the UAE. It’s a lovely spot, with wide paths running through a large palm tree forest. The trees are cooling and the only thing you hear are the birds. You can walk, rent a bicycle or take a golf cart through the paths. I hadn’t been there in years and I when I revisited I was reminded of what a nice break from the city it is. We entered through the main gate and walked until we got to the Al Ain Oasis Cafe. Maybe because we were there on a weekday, the cafe and it’s shaded picnic table seating area, were empty.

As always, I was pleased to see they had ice cream on the menu.

Workin’ it. Making rolled ice cream.

I was tired and hungry and a bit hot so I figured a coffee and chocolate ice cream rolls would hit the spot. I hadn’t had rolled ice cream before, and I wasn’t sure what it was. It turned out to be exactly as described, ice cream made in sheet form and then rolled, like you would a sheet of paper. Rolled ice cream is made by taking the ingredients, cream, chocolate, coffee etc and moving them around on a cooled metal pan until they solidify into a flat sheet of ice cream, then that it is scraped into curled portions.

There seems to be a trend here in the UAE for very labour intensive ice cream.

The ice cream rolls took a few minutes to make but it was fascinating to watch.

In the end I got a medium sized cup with about six rolls of ice cream. Portion wise it was a lot, an easily shareable dessert for two, or a nice light lunch for one.

I really didn’t know what to expect from snack hut ice cream rolls, but the ice cream was surprisingly good. The coffee to chocolate ratio was perfect, not too much of either. The rolls were a tad difficult to eat with a spoon, giving it time to melt a little helped. Actually though the ice cream didn’t melt very quickly at all, it retained it’s rolled shape quite well.

I do feel that there’s too much work involved in rolled ice cream, much like the nitro ice cream I reviewed in April. That being said sometimes the best ice cream is the ice cream that’s there, and it was a lovely snack. If you’re in the Al Ain oasis and in the mood for ice cream the rolled ice cream won’t disappoint.

The cafe in the Al Ain Oasis

Lovely seating area at the cafe in the Al Ain Oasis

Al Ain Oasis

Feelin’ Fancy at Godiva Chocolate cafe

Location: Godiva Chocolate Cafe, Galleria Mall , Abu Dhabi

Flavours tried: Chocolate and vanilla twist cone

Price: 27 Dhs

I chose the Godiva Cafe location in the Galleria for two reasons, one, it’s in a sunlit atrium and two, it has views of the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores. I have a weakness for designer handbags, but on my current ice cream cone budget I can only window shop. This cafe allows me to sit and gaze longingly at the unaffordable. And security does get a bit suspicious if you leave nose prints on the windows.

Also, and I say this a lot, I had a coupon! A 2 for 1 ice cream cone, so I treated my husband.

Godiva Chocolate Cafe in The Galleria Mall, Abu Dhabi.

Godiva has chocolate and vanilla soft serve, you can order one or the other or do a twist. I chose the twist. My husband went with all chocolate. We ordered at the counter and then sat at a table, but I suppose you could sit and order instead.

I was a bit wary when I saw the ice cream, it had that icy sheen that you see on very cheap soft serve.

New lesson learned-never judge an ice cream by it’s sheen.

The ice cream itself was lovely. The vanilla was one of the tastiest I’ve tried, and it had specs of vanilla bean, which is the sign of a good vanilla. The chocolate was one of the darkest soft serve chocolates I’ve ever had. It was almost like ice cream fudge, or as if a container of the richest store bought icing had been turned into ice cream. Simply great.

The ice cream was a tad icy, not as melty or creamy as most gourmet soft serve. The iciness didn’t detract though, I think it just helped the ice cream not to melt quite as fast.

The cones at Godiva are waffle cones, and are a bit longer and narrower than other waffle cones I’ve had, as a bonus they’re dipped in milk chocolate at the top. It was a nice cone, tasted fine and was structurally sound, no ice cream leaking issues.

It’s still too hot in the UAE to even think about eating ice cream outside, however the Godiva cafe in the Galleria is a nice bright space, there’s lots of seating and you can see how the other half shop.

Sparkling Floats from Haagen-Dazs and the at home hack

Flavours Tried: Blood orange San Pellegrino and mango sorbet sparkling float (made with San Pellegrino)

Lemon San Pellegrino and vanilla ice cream

Price: 30 Dhs each (tax incl)

Location: Haagen-Dazs in Al Wanda Mall, several locations in the UAE

At Home version ingredients from Carrefour (taxes incl)

San Pellegrino: 6.15 Dhs per can, Haagen-Dazs Vanilla ice cream: 500ml for 22 Dhs, Carrefour Double Chocolate ice cream: 500ml for 10 Dhs

Sparking floats from Haagen-Dazs

When I saw the sparkling float listed on the Haagen-Dazs menu screen I was perplexed. It had never occurred to me to combine sparking water and ice cream/sorbet. Although, when you think about it, it’s not that much different than combining a root beer or cola with ice cream, it’s still carbonated liquid, just not quite as sugary.

So in the name of dessert exploration (I want that to be my new job-Dessert Explorer, I’m ordering the business cards now) I thought I’d give the Sparkling Float a go.

They only offer two flavours, blood orange with mango sorbet and lemon with vanilla ice cream. I don’t like mango so the husband got that one, I got the lemon and vanilla.

The drinks are served in a plastic cup, the water was put in first, I thought it was odd they added ice, and the scoops of sorbet and ice cream were added afterwards.

I tried a sip before mixing the ice cream and it was just lemon San Pellegrino, the ice cream didn’t melt much on it’s own, since there’s also ice in the cup. So, I mixed.

Upon mixing my drink just looked a bit cloudy. The mango sorbet and blood orange looked very orangey after missing.

Taste wise my lemon and vanilla was just a lemon sparkling water with a bit of a creamy texture. The vanilla blunted the sharpness of the lemon flavour but it didn’t add anything. Not a eureka moment.

Although I don’t like mango, the blood orange and mango sorbet float tasted better. When the sorbet was mixed in it was a very refreshing drink. It was very sweet though, almost as sweet as a regular ice cream float.

After this I thought I could recreate this drink at home, but that I could do it better, and cheaper.

At home versions of the sparking float, blood orange and vanilla ice cream on the right, blood orange and chocolate ice cream on the left

For my at home variation I tried blood orange San Pellegrino with store bought Hagen-Dazs vanilla. Also, to see if I could get a nice chocolate orange flavoured float I bought the Carrefour brand of double chocolate ice cream.

I made my floats with only half a can of San Pellegrino and a scoop and a bit of ice cream. So less liquid and a bit more ice cream than the Haagen-Dazs cafe version.

The results were uneven.

The good news is that the blood orange and vanilla turned out really well. The vanilla’s creaminess went nicely with the orange flavour. For those of you familiar, it was like a pleasantly fizzy Creamsicle in a glass. It was a refreshing drink actually.

The chocolate and blood orange didn’t really work, instead of complimenting one another the orange and the chocolate competed, cancelled each other out, and resulted in a mediocre sweet drink. Also, the chocolate ice cream had small chocolate chips, which was odd to have in a drink.

I cant say I’ll ever have a craving for a flavoured fizzy water float, but if you’re a San Pellegrino fan it’s an easy, cheap and refreshing drink to make at home.

Tichy – Vienna’s most famous eis salon

Location: Tichy, Reumannpl. 13, 1100 Wien, Austria

Flavours tried: from their Original Tichy menu, Snowball ice cream with chocolate sauce.

And

Jubilaum Coup -translation Anniversary or Jubiliee, 3 ice cream flavours with egg liquor/chocolate or hazelnut liquor and whipped cream

Price: Snowball €3.60, Anniversary Coup €5.50

Snowball ice cream from Tichy

Inside the Snowball ice cream from Tichy

Wow, the end of the summer seems to have gotten away from me. I left Vienna weeks ago but am just now posting my last eis salon review. Good thing ice cream is a year round dessert.

My final Vienna ice cream review is Tichy, Vienna’s most well known eis salon. They are the only ones that have ads throughout the city, there’s even a tram fully wrapped in Tichy advertising. Sadly, the Tichy streetcar doesn’t actually take you to Tichy. A note for transit authority – it’s not a bad idea.

The advertising got to me, so I was excited to go to Tichy. It’s also one of Vienna’s oldest eis salons, they make their own ice cream creations, and the staff still dress in 50’s style uniforms. Win, win, win.

Well, not so fast.

I did have to take transit to Tichy, and although it’s not in the touristy part of town, when I got there I discovered Tichy is a tourist destination. I’d say all that adverting is working.

It was a warm summer’s evening and the place was packed. The four queues for a scoop were 10 people deep each, the patio was full, however inside I spied a table and wormed my way through. I should note that although it was a busy the table service was decently prompt.

We pursued the German menu but it was too much for google translate to handle so we asked for an English menu.

As usual I had trouble deciding what to order, I was tempted to just order my own concoction however Tichy is known for its dessert inventions, there was even a video of these playing on TV screens at the front of the cafe, so I went with something called Snowball ice cream. The husband got a sundae called the Anniversary, which looked good.

The Snowball ice cream was very odd looking, it was indeed a white ball covered in smaller balls of sugar, it kind of reminded me of one of those plastic dryer balls or massage balls. It was served in a small metal dish with lots of chocolate sauce. So far so good.

It was the sweetest ice cream dessert I have ever had.

I like sweet, sweet is my go to, but this was just too much. My throat hurt afterwards.

The knobs on the snowball were made from sugar I’m guessing, and inside there was a mysterious egg yolk-like liquid, possibly apricot sauce? It resembled a soft boiled egg in chocolate sauce. The combination wasn’t good. I didn’t even finish it.

The husband’s dessert seemed more promising, a scoops of ice cream with chocolate liquor. The ice cream was fine but the taste of it was overpowered by the liquor. I’m not a liquor fan so I thought this dessert was also too sweet, and just too much.

It’s always a bit disheartening when a dessert order goes wrong.

And it’s with a heavy heart that I say that the Tichy order went very wrong indeed.

I hate to not recommend Tichy, so if you want to brave the crowds by all means go. But remember just because something is more complicated doesn’t mean it’s better. There are times when simplicity is best, when at Tichy, follow the masses, keep it simple, get an ice cream cone.

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Eat like a local at Eissalon Daniel

Location: Eissalon Daniel, Hütteldorfer Str. 70, 1150 Wien, Austria

Flavours tried: Coup Bounty sundae – stracciatella gelato, coconut,chocolate sauce and whipped cream

Also a Samarties sundae and cookies sundae

Price: € 6.10 for the Coup Bounty sundae

Coup Bounty sundae at Eissalon Daniel in Vienna

The least touristy spot I had ice cream in Vienna was Eissalon Daniel, it was as they say, on my list, and because I’m working from a list for English speakers who live and work in Vienna it’s not in a part of the city tourists usually visit.

There’s nothing near Eissalon Daniel that a typical tourist would go to, no museums, no hotels, no attractions. Thus it’s a very local ice cream cafe. That’s what made it great. When I arrived on a hot summer’s afternoon the outside patio was packed. The older couple beside me was sharing a sundae and reading the paper, there were seventy year old BFF’s chatting and having sundaes, people with their dogs in tow meeting friends for Apersol. (Which for reasons I don’t understand is very popular)

I sat and perused the menu, thankful for the pictures and the Google translate app. It took me forever to decide of course.

Just.So.Many.Choices.

I finally decided on one called Coup Bounty, which had straticallia gelato, chocolate sauce, coconut and whipped cream. It came in a lovely blue sundae glass, I do like the style of these ice cream shops, no plastic or paper cups here. The sundae was huge, which was fine, it was my lunch after all.

The whipped cream was nice, I do find it hard to say no to whipped cream so it’s nice when it’s a decent whipped cream. The chocolate sauce was good, sweet and chocolatey. The straticalla was fluffy and tasty.

However, the star of this sundae was the coconut, it was throughout the sundae and added a nice sweetness to every bite. I’m not usually one for coconut, I don’t hate it, nor do I seek it out, but this sundae made me rethink my coconut ignorance.

I liked the ice cream at Eissalon Daniel, the husband and I even returned and tried a Smarties sundae and a cookie sundae. Both were good.

I wouldn’t say the ice cream at Eissalon Daniel is the best in the city and that’s ok, sometimes you just need a sundae before tackling the grocery run.

I really enjoyed pretending to be Viennese at Eissalon Daniel.

Eissalon Daniel, Vienna

More Viennese treats, I visit Schelato and Eis Grissler

Reviewing ice cream and gelato shops in Vienna is a daunting task as there are so many. But dammit, I’ve got two feet, a heartbeat and a transit pass so until one of those things fails I’ll eat all the ice cream I can.

My main guide in this pursuit is an article entitled ‘16 of Vienna’s favourite ice cream and gelati places‘ from Vienna Würstelstand, an English language magazine, it’s an excellent source if you’ve traveling to Vienna.

The two I recently visited are Schelato and Eis Greissler

The nice server at Schelato kindly agreed to be in the photo.

Location: Schelato, Schleifmühlgasse 11, 1040 Wien, Austria (other location is here)

Flavours tried: Milk chocolate, vanilla, salted caramel, heidelbeere (European blueberry)

Price: 2 scoops €3.10

The Schelato location is visited is a small space near the Naschmarkt it was busy but I got there after the lunchtime rush so I didn’t have to wait in line. I decided the husband should try the classic vanilla and chocolate and I tried the heidelbeere (European blueberry) and the salted caramel. We got cups and sat at their small sidewalk patio area. The vanilla was a solid vanilla, serviceable, which to be honest is all I expect from vanilla, but the chocolate was outstanding. The chocolate was rich and creamy and everything chocolate gelato should be.

My two scoops were also a bit uneven taste wise. I like berries and it was a hot day so I went for the heidelbeere for a refreshing scoop, I paired it with the salted caramel, which was actually not a great choice. I liked both flavours on their own, I just don’t think they worked well together.

Having said that the salted caramel was one of the best salted caramels I’ve ever had. It was neither too sweet nor too salty, there was a subtly in both the caramel and the salt so it was pretty much perfect.

I don’t want to ignore the  heidelbeere though, it was also very good, refreshing and with good berry flavour. I think for me it would have been better on it’s own though.

Location: Eis Greissler, Neubaugasse 9, 1070 Wien, Austria (there are also other locations in Vienna and in Austria)

Flavours tried: Dark chocolate and vanilla

Price: 2 scoops €3 ? (Forgot to note this one)

When traveling, I research places I want to visit and then save the location on Google maps so I can check if I’m near something no matter where I am. I was window shopping in the Neubaugasse neighbourhood (the back streets have great little boutiques) and noticed that Eis Grissler was nearby.

It was a hot day but luckily it wasn’t busy, I opted for a two scoop cup, with dark chocolate, which happened to be vegan, and a vanilla.

The cup, which I am a fan of for fastidiousness sake was a bad choice in this case because there was nowhere to sit or even perch nearby. For some reason standing eating a cup of ice cream is just awkward. So top tip, get a cone here.

Maybe it was the awkward sidewalk eating but I just wasn’t paying much attention to this ice cream, I thought I would remember what it was like without notes. I admit this just wasn’t a memorable ice cream for me.

Perhaps I’ve somehow over ice creamed and they’re all becoming a blur? Too many eis kaffees? Is ice cream just not special to me anymore?

Nah. Just an off day.

I do remember the chocolate was very nice, and that it perhaps wasn’t as creamy because it was soya based, but that it was still excellent. I don’t remember anything about the vanilla at all. Really, I need to just stop ordering vanilla.

I would still recommend Eis Grissler, I would have remembered a bad ice cream, and looking at the photos of the flavour board they have some excellent vegan choices, which is always nice. Actually, looking at the flavour board I need to go back.

Vienna eis, eis baby

Location: Eissalon Garda, Mariahilfer Str. 140, 1150 Wien, Austria

Flavours tried: Spaghetti Croccanti – chocolate ice cream, chopped hazelnut, chocolate topping and almond slice. €5.50

Profiterol Nero Becher – white cream, vanilla, chocolate ice cream, chocolate topping, whipped cream, cocoa and 1 scoop black profiterol. €6

Gelato flavours: Manner, chocolate, bitter chocolate, peppermint, Oreo

I’ve fallen in love with my (temporary) local ice cream parlor. It’s called Garda and it’s a typical Viennese ice cream shop, a cafe with seating and table service at the back, decorated in a Baroque/Art Deco style, there’s also a sidewalk patio, and a huge ice cream and gelato counter at the front where you can choose your take away scoops. On a warm summers night it’s the most popular place on the street. Young, old, dogs, kids, everyone is getting an ice cream. It restores one’s faith in humanity.

Fun napkins

Wafer cookies on the table, but they aren’t free!

the Baroque/Art Deco interior

 

On my first visit to Garda I sat inside and ordered from the menu. Frankly, it was hard to decide, these menus have a lot of options. For novelty purposes I ordered something called ice cream spaghetti, I forgot to run to the counter to see how they achieved the spaghetti look, I’m assuming a pasta maker or some kind, anyway I got chocolate with chocolate sauce and sliced almonds. The husband ordered the profiterole sundae.

Spaghetti ice cream before the melt

Profiterol sundae

It was a warm night and although they keep the doors open the parlor isn’t air conditioned, so my spaghetti ice cream didn’t look like spaghetti for very long, it rapidly melted. It did look kinda cool for a few minutes though. Taste wise I admit the ice cream wasn’t extraordinary, it was a good creamy milk chocolate, but not life changing. The toppings were fine, good sauce, and sliced almonds and hazelnuts are hard to screw up. Portion wise this was a huge dessert, two or three people sharing would be satiated. I couldn’t finish it by myself and in truth it was a more like spaghetti ice cream sauce in the end.

The husband chose better. His profiterole sundae was the perfect blend of a cakey element and ice cream. The profiterole was nice and fluffy and not too sweet, again the ice cream was fine but not superior. Also, his came in a really cool looking martini glass like dish.

I’ve been to Garda a couple of times since then to get a gelato cone, as one does on a summer’s evening. There must be at least 40 varieties of gelato and ice cream to choose from. The counter is always busy but the service is fast and friendly, and the scoops are generous. Current gelato favourites are the Manner (a Viennese brand of wafer cookie) and bitter chocolate.

Bitter chocolate and milk chocolate gelato (left) Manner and milk chocolate gelato (right)

Eiskaffee is the best thing ever

I’m sure I’ve declared other ice creams to be the best thing ever but that was before, this is now, and now I’m declaring that eiskaffee, which is cold coffee with ice cream, is the best.

It’s different from affagato in that the coffee is cold and you get whipped cream on top, and it’s in a fancy glass, served in a lovely cafe, in Vienna (it’s available elsewhere I just happen to be in Vienna at the moment) The Viennese take their coffee and their sweets seriously, cafes in Vienna have a wide variety of coffee choices that put Starbucks to shame, and dessert cases full of cakes of every kind.

More on the also great ice cream sundae selections in Vienna coming up but I thought I’d start with the lovely eiskaffee. Simply put, get cold coffee, add a couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream and top it off with whipped cream. It’s a great excuse for ice cream at breakfast, simply think of it as coffee with really thick cream.

For those who are adulting eiskaffee is also a nice pick me up on a hot summers day. To be fair it is an expensive drink, about €7, but you’re paying for the atmosphere, sitting in a serviced cafe on a velvet upholstered seat is much nicer than sitting on a plastic chair drinking from a plastic cup.

Look at the layers of goodnesss

Coolhaus Chocolate Molten Cake

Location: Carrefour, Marina Mall, Abu Dhabi

Price: 25 Dhs for 500 ml ($9.12 CDN)

Flavour tried: Coolhaus Chocolate Molten Cake (dark chocolate ice cream, chewy cake pieces and fudge frosting swirl)

Another long, no good explanation, break from the blog. Don’t worry I haven’t given up ice cream. I guess I just feel I just haven’t been making the effort to eat interesting, bloggable ice cream.

That’s been rectified though with the discovery of Coolhaus ice cream in the Carrefour supermarket. Coolhaus was founded by two women in California starting out as a food truck selling ice cream sandwiches, thus the name Coolhaus, (building houses for ice cream). According to their website they’ve expanded and now sell ice cream and ice cream bars and are in 6000 grocery stores, mostly in the US I think. I don’t know who in the UAE Carrefour organization decided to import this brand but I’d like commend them on a fine decision.

When you open the tub the first thing you see on the foil seal is ‘You Earned it’ in large capital letters. And you know what, they’re right, I have.

Oh this ice cream was good. It was rich, creamy, and very chocolatey. The cake pieces were chewy and the fudge frosting swirl was excellent.

For the best flavour let this ice cream melt a bit, the fudge becomes a bit liquified and the cake pieces get nice and chewy.

You’ll want to eat the whole tub.

Which is fine.

You’ve earned it.

The ice cream said so.

Coolhaus’ Chocolate Molten cake ice cream is why I eat ice cream out, I know it’s more expensive but then I limit myself to a couple of scoops. An ice cream like Coolhaus just makes me want to eat the entire thing in one sitting.

How I got Frostbite (ice cream) in Abu Dhabi

Flavour tried: Laid Back Lotus

Price: 1 scoop cone 15 Dhs ($5.46 CDN)

Location: Frostbite, 31 Sultan Bin Zayed the First St, Abu Dhabi

The concept of Frostbite is that they make the ice cream as you watch, they put the ingredients in a large bowl and then use liquid nitrogen to freeze it while it’s being mixed. It’s like a mini rock concert, but without the music. I even took a lighter out.

I was afraid the end product would taste freezer burnt or chemically, having never had food made with liquid nitrogen before, but it tasted fine, just like any other ice cream.

Laid Back Lotus ice cream cone from Frostbite

The resulting scoop of Lotus biscuit (my new fav flavour) was creamy with cookie crumbs mixed in and a Dulce de lece drizzled on top. It was sweet and the Lotus biscuit flavour really came through. Frankly I could have done without so much cookie in the scoop, some crumbs are fine but I thought this scoop had a few too many. Overall though it was delicious.

The cone was a basic waffle cone, it was fine, and thick enough that the ice cream didn’t melt through.

Although I liked the end result I did feel that Frostbite was a bit of overkill for a scoop of ice cream. There was nothing laid back about the making of the Laid Back Lotus cone. The process took about 5 minutes and I felt a bit bad for the staff who had to mix the ingredients as they went. It was a lot of work for something that doesn’t need to be that way.

Frostbite is a place to go to if you like food with drama. Frankly life is dramatic enough I don’t need it with my ice cream.

To paraphrase Shakespeare ‘it is an ice cream…full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’

Well not exactly, you still get ice cream…

Frostbite cafe