Summer temperatures are here, and with higher temperatures comes the desire to cool down with a sweet treat.
Ice Creamonology is the new kid on the block this year, with the lineups to prove it! Having taken over the space formerly occupied by Lick It Gelato, Ice Creamonology officially opened at 250 Queen’s Quay W. in March, having launched last year as a pop-up.
The 500-square-foot ice cream shop is run by owner Onur Yilmaz, who trained and worked as a chef in Turkey before immigrating to Canada and studying culinary management at George Brown College.
“My wife and I come from southern Turkey, where we have at least eight months of summer, and ice cream is one thing you need to eat every day or you’ll never cool down!” Yilmaz says with a laugh. “We have so many good memories of eating ice cream and I love to make it. I combine my culinary skills with making ice cream, and that’s one of the reasons it’s pretty popular – my flavour combinations are unique. Last weekend, we served 800 people and there was a constant line for 10 hours!”
All of the flavours are made in small batches using premium ingredients and are free from artificial colours and flavours. And, if you’re bored of plain flavours like strawberry and chocolate, you’re in luck – using fresh ingredients means the flavours at Ice Creamonology rotate with the seasons, so you’ll see unconventional scoops like southern banana pudding and sea salt with caramel ribbons. There are eight classic flavours that are a permanent fixture, including Turkish coffee, Turkish pistachio, roasted hazelnut, chocolate fudge brownies, Tahitian vanilla, blueberry and white chocolate cheesecake, coconut cream and mango sorbet (which are both vegan) and the most popular flavour, Black Sea tea, which packs an aromatic punch that’s quite similar to Earl Grey.
Plenty of refreshing sorbets are also available, including kiwi, mango, strawberry and a never-before-seen cucumber sorbet sprinkled with Mexican Tajin spice infused with lemon juice. All of the sorbets are vegan-friendly, and there is always at least one coconut cream-based option, too.
The best part? Ice Creamonology makes fresh waffle cones daily, and they’re free of charge. “We sell our ice cream in cups or by the cone, but even if you want a waffle cone, we can stick it on top,” Yilmaz says. “It doesn’t cost extra, and once you smell them, you’ll want one anyway!”
There are four available sizes which include a kiddy scoop ($4.5), a single scoop ($6), a double-kiddy scoop ($7) and a double scoop ($8.50), “which is actually more like a lunch,” Yilmaz jokes. Take-home pints are available for $12, as are a selection of lunch bags for $10. Available in a range of cute patterns, like avocado or lemon, each lunch bag can fit between two and three pints, making any one of them the perfect addition to your picnic. They’re also the perfect solution for those who don’t want their pints to melt on the way home to the freezer.
Ice Creamonology is currently open Tuesday to Sunday from 12 to 8 p.m.