Four new Hong Kong takes on the ice cream sandwich
Is there anything better than ice cream on a hot summer's day? These places serve the indulgent treat in ways you may not have tried before
Elephant Grounds
If churros-flanked Nutella or pineapple ice cream with coconut cookies and a meringue ring don't get your sweet tooth aching, we don't know what will. With the opening of Elephant Grounds' second branch in Wong Chuk Hang, the wait to enjoy the Friday- and weekend-only ice cream sandwiches from the Central coffee shop is finally over. Other than being more spacious and airy, the new branch, which is essentially a central kitchen equipped with bakery, creamery and roaster to offer a more diverse menu, fills the gap by offering the popular treat every weekday. Although their daily-changing dishes - think quinoa salad, tonkatsu sandwiches and bibimbap - may sound tempting, make sure you save room for desserts. Act fast once you've found out the day's flavour from their social media outlets as they are made in limited quantity and available while stock last. Some of the creative inventions include Greenmonster - avocado-lime ice cream with peanut butter cookies and chocolate crunch, sesame ice cream with shortbread cookies, and milk cereal ice cream with chocolate chip cookies and dehydrated raspberry.
11 Gough Street, Central, tel: 2253 1313. Open: Mon-Sat 11.30am-9pm, Sun noon-7pm.
1/F The Factory, 1 Yip Fat Street, Wong Chuk Hang, tel: 2562 9000. Open: Mon-Fri 9am-6pm
InterContinental Hong Kong
While the city might be going burger crazy with so many burger joints opening up these days, the InterContinental Hong Kong has an interesting twist with ice cream burgers at the Lobby Lounge. Executive pastry chef Cyril Dupuis has created five different ice cream burgers with house-made brioche buns and decadent fillings including macadamia and blueberry, caramel and chocolate cookie, berry crumble, and sesame lemon grass. It's an indulgent treat to savour while enjoying the harbour view.