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.
Lobby Lounge, InterContinental Hong Kong, 18 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, tel: 2721 1211. Open: 7am-12.30am
Waffills
It has been a year since this friendly Belgian waffle place in Causeway Bay opened but chef-owner Joeri Schreurs never seems to run out of ideas. Although the shop has stopped offering the fusion savoury options, Schreurs kept coming up with new flavours and combinations for the deep-pocket waffle he arguably invented. While his fluffy, open-face waffle with ice cream and fresh fruit is always an indulgence, it is almost impossible to enjoy it on-the-go. But worry not, Schreurs' latest creation - the Urban Ice Cream Waffills - is designed to please the busy soul during the hot summer. Its Liege-style waffle is flattened to serve as a wrap to embrace a layer of chocolate sauce and then plenty of ice cream, before it's rolled and frozen into a handy slab of delight. The overlapping part of the dough can be chewy, but that is redeemed by the house-made ice-cream. Inspired by the shop's well-liked milkshake, the vanilla ice cream is jazzed up with caramel sauce, banana, and Belgian Speculoos for a crunch. For those who have more time to spare, the shop has added extra tables for mingling.
124 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, tel: 2613 9600. Open: 11am-11pm
Munchies
Want to indulge without too much guilt? Munchies will probably be able to satisfy your craving in a slightly more healthy way. The house-made ice creams here are organic, GMO-free and are lower in sugar, but there's no skimping on the flavour. For the ultimate ice cream sandwich, get the salted caramel doughnut with an ice cream of your choice. However Instagrammers can't spend too much time taking pictures as house-made ice cream melts much faster than mass-produced ones. You can also have cookie ice cream sandwiches, ice cream floats or just straight ice cream scoops. Munchies will eventually have eight flavours to choose from including maple bacon, and milkshakes. As the T-shirts the staff wear say: "Your local sweet tooth dealer", Munchies is the go-to spot for your ice cream fix.
4 Shin Hing Street, Sheung Wan, [email protected]. Open: Tuesday-Saturday noon-10pm, Sunday noon-9pm
