Ice cream time

Now that summer's here, we have a permanent stash of ice cream in the freezer usually a couple of pints of Haagen Dazs - Belgian Chocolate and Vanilla Bean . For some strange reason, Haagen Dazs Spain doesn't sell pints of vanilla ice cream (I checked their website) so we have the Macadamia Brittle instead.

When we want a real treat though, we head to Marbella where we always end up at Giangrossi which opened soon after we arrived here. It's an Argentine-style ice cream parlor with modern interiors and Lavazza coffee. Favorite flavors: Dulce de Leche granizado (Dulce de leche with chocolate bits)and Chocolate amargo (bitter chocolate).

So, where else have I had really good ice cream? Try these places:

Le Bilboquet in Montreal (1311 rue Bernard Ouest, Outremont) where lines snake outside the door and onto the pavement in the summer months sometimes even until midnight. Favorite flavors: coconut and chocolate orange.

Paris' Berthillon on the Ile Saint Louis has so many flavors of ice creams, from white chocolate to gingerbread and sorbets, from passion fruit to lychee. Buy a cone, sit right by the Seine where you'll have a close-up of Notre Dame. Favorite flavors: Moka, Chocolat noir and mangue.

In Buenos Aires, there's an ice cream parlor in almost every corner but set apart from the rest is Freddo which opened in 1969 and has recently undergone a makeover. The homemade charm is gone but the ice cream is as good as ever. Favorite flavor: dulce de leche (could there by any other?)


If you want to try and make some of your own, check out David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop - a real ice cream bible.