If winter’s Hot Chocolate Festival was any indication, self-guided food festivals are a great way for people to check out their favourite local restaurants and cafes.
To motivate people to embark on their own tasting adventure this summer, local food publication Noms Magazine is hosting its first Vancouver Ice Cream and Summer Sips festivals, concurrently from June 21 to July 31 throughout Metro Vancouver.
Themed around icy treats like ice cream and gelato, the Vancouver Ice Cream Festival features some of city’s popular ice cream joints.
And you guessed it — some of Burnaby’s gems made the list.
Soft Peaks Ice Cream on Kingsway in Burnaby is offering a special edition strawberry balsamico soft serve — made with house-made Italian balsamic reduction and strawberry confit, topped with fresh strawberries and crushed pistachios and served on their classic organic milk soft serve.
Another beloved Burnaby ice cream spot, Glenburn Soda Fountain, is offering four treats for you to choose from themed around generations.
Ki Cafe is participating in both festivals. Ice cream specials include Sunburst Parfait (mango and strawberry soft serve with cake sponge and egg pudding, topped with whipped cream, strawberry puree, corn flakes and cookies) and Purple U Parfait (matcha ube soft serve with ladyfinger, lychee jelly/taro chunk, red bean, rice puff/corn flakes, ube whip and pearls).
From June 21 to July 8, their Boomer (vanilla ice cream layered with butterscotch, toasted pound cake pieces and vanilla custard and topped with whipped cream, walnuts and a pineapple ring) and Gen Z (strawberry mango swirl ice cream with strawberry and peach sauces, mango boba and freeze-dried strawberries, and topped with peach whipped cream) will be up for grabs.
From July 9 to July 31, folks can treat themselves to the Millennial (coffee chip ice cream topped with salted caramel, honeycomb toffee and buttermilk cookie crunch, topped with caramel whipped cream) and the Gen X (cookies and cream ice cream with hot fudge, chocolate-covered crispy rice cereal and neon candy pieces throughout, and topped with whipped cream).
The Vancouver Summer Sips Festival meanwhile features cold beverages like iced tea, coffee and cocktails. These are the Burnaby participants:
- Veroni & Co. — Green Grape soda and Espressoda
- Ki Cafe — Summer Sky and Melon Soda
- Zubu Ramen — Dr. ZUBU, Haiyū Mojito, Juliana’s Tokyo, Tequila Kick
- Soon Coffee — Coffee Slushie, Roasted Green Tea Slushie, Iced Tea Palmer Slushie
- Chez Christophe— Wild Berry Hibiscus Lemonade and Lavender Lemonade
- Chatto Tea & Coffee — Pandan Tropical Zest and L.O.L. (Lychee Oolong Lemon)
— with files from Lindsay William-Ross
