Red Bench

The Red Bench (611 Yonge Street, Toronto)

(647) 748-4868

info@findtheredbench.ca

Hours: 1 PM - 10 PM daily. 

 A full ice cream sandwich: $6 plus tax. Brookie and Cookies n Cream cookies with Peanut butter ice cream.

For the full sandwich, you can choose two types of organic cookies, the ice cream flavour (on rotation), and a topping. There is a decent selection of toppings, but I opted for roasted almonds. The Brookie cookie (described as "brownie in a cookie costume") seemed softer and worked better in the ice cream sandwich. The other cookie was a bit harder, which made eating a bit messier. My advice would be to pick the Brookie or an equally softer-looking cookie. Overall, pretty good. I split this with Julie, and the half is a pretty decent size for a dessert/snack.

Photo by Phoebe.

Would I return? I might. I'm not crazy about ice cream in general, but ice cream sandwiches are a bit nostalgic for me. The cookies are organic, and they have some fun flavours. The made-to-order cookies reminds me of Sweet Flour, but this place is more conveniently located. Come to think of it, I never did try the ice cream sandwiches there... they'd probably be awesome since their cookies were fluffy and soft.

Cow's

Cow's (397 Capital Drive, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island)

902-628-3614

Hours: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily.

Before travelling to Charlottetown, there was a lot of hype about Cow's ice cream. I was planning on only eating lobster, but figured if multiple people suggested it, maybe local ice cream couldn't hurt. There were multiple locations on the island, and there are other locations in Canada as well.

New York Moosecake

The ice cream flavour names generally have some sort of cow pun. The ice cream was good, as ice cream usually is. I guess the texture might've been creamier than lesser ice creams. I wasn't blown away, but it was good.

After Jo arrived to town, we had to go again so that she could see what all the hype was about.

 Cookie dough.

Would I return? Sure, I wouldn't mind. Ice cream is rarely a bad idea in the summertime. They have fun flavours, and merchandise includes cow-ified pop culture t-shirts. Oh, and they make cheese. Don't have a picture, but we bought their applewood smoked cheese at a Superstore in Truro, and daaaaaamn. The cheese almost tastes like bacon in the best possible way. Would definitely eat that cheese again. I think I might like the cheese more than their ice cream.

Total damage: about $5 per cone.

Edit: Found a pic of the cheese!

World's Best at WCC Cheese 2014!!!

This appletree smoked cheese was so delicious, I had to get Monique to bring me back some more in her cooler. Seriously delicious. So smokey and super flavourful. I am craving some now.

Ice Cream Break!

What would make black sesame ice cream better? Throw in chunks of cheesecake. Result: dessert gold.

Black sesame ice cream from Asian supermarket. Cheesecake from Loblaws (PC Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Cheesecake). So good.

Jos Louis Ice Cream Sandwich

I swear these things used to be bigger...

I had asked Jo if she thought chunks of Jos Louis would taste good in ice cream, and she suggested Jos Louis ice cream sandwich...

It was everything I imagined it to be. :D 

Viennetta

So, usually I post things that I eat. Here's what I'm NOT eating:

That's right. I'm not eating Viennetta because it isn't produced in Canada anymore. I've been craving this product for years, possibly over a decade now. I remember the smooth vanilla ice cream and the crisp, thin layers of chocolate. It was like ice cream lasagne. It was so pretty, and it had a fancy name to go with it. Oh, how I long for the days of Viennetta. Why did they take it away from me? WHY?

I heard they still sell it in the UK.