Where Ottawa locals go for the best ice cream
'It's all about the mouth feel,' Haley has told the Citizen. 'It's creamier and denser. There's just something different about it.'
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The classic flavour for frozen custard is vanilla and while some serve it from a dispenser, like soft ice cream, purists insist that it must be scooped. It's served at a much higher temperature than regular ice cream and must be made fresh just hours before serving, not frozen solid and stored like ice cream.
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You can take home pints of Haley's ice cream — up to 20 flavours from chocolate to hibiscus passionfruit to pina colada to hibiscus passionfruit might be available — for $10 each. But many of the people lining up on a warm summer night will enjoy their scoops ASAP, lingering outside the store.
Launched in 2015, Liz Mok's much-admired ice cream business quickly won a broad following for its unique, small-batch, Asian-themed frozen treats. But Moo Shu is a recent arrival in Hintonburg, having moved there in the fall of 2024 after outgrowing its original Centretown location. Intriguing varieties such as Hong Kong milk tea, White Rabbit (inspired by the Chinese candy of the same name), black sesame and dalgona (Korean sponge toffee) and coffee must be tasted to be believed. Ever the innovator, Mok has also created flavours such as Blueberry, Ricotta & Basil, Chèvre & Cherry Fig Chutney and Salted Honey & Crostini. Her strawberry ice cream is marvelous, overcoming the high water content of those tasty berries to create a confection from local fruit that's absolutely fresh and natural. A two-scoop serving is $7.50, a three-scoop serving is $9.75, while a one-pint tub goes for $15.
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Joe Calabro's venerable Preston Street bakery has been selling gelato since year one — 1979 — making Pasticceria Gelateria Italiana the pioneer of Italy's great gift to frozen dessert lovers in Ottawa. At first, the shop sold just 12 flavours, and health inspectors told Calabro that he couldn't use a traditional spatula to serve his gelato and had to use a scoop instead. Now, the store serves 24 types of gelato, with pistachio as its top-seller, along with six kinds of sorbet. Single scoops are $7.95, doubles are $9.95 and triples are $11.95. You can enjoy your gelato in the cafe or on its shaded terrace overlooking Preston Street.
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Made fresh daily and served year-round, Calabro's gelato is half-way between ice milk and ice cream, with a consistency that's smoother and softer than regular North American ice cream. His gelato is light (about four to six per cent butter fat content compared to the 10 per cent or more in most ice cream) and it bursts with natural flavour.
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After most ByWard Market dessert counters have wiped their trays, Piccolo Grande stays open and busy right up until 10 p.m. On warm nights, benches out front fill with couples sharing scoops and kids dripping sorbet down their wrists under the dragon lamp posts that frame the pedestrian strip.
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The gelateria, which has operated out of the historic, stone-walled location since 1987, makes Italian-style ice cream on site in small rotating batches, behind a doorway with a sign reading 'gelato factory.' The flavour list rotates through standards like bacio and stracciatella, and surprises like honeyed saffron French vanilla streaked with threads of the spice, chocolate orange or creamy pomegranate, more soft than tart. Dairy-free fruit flavours stay close to their ingredients without artificial sweetness. Popular options like grapefruit and pumpkin cycle depending on what's in season.
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