Mövenpick Ice Cream Parlour, Cairns

Regardless of time, place or occasion, I’m always naturally inclined towards ice cream. Live with me for a week and you’ll no doubt hear me yelling down the stairs “I want ice cream for dinner!” When asked what my favourite food is, I can never decide on an answer (being enthusiastic about so many foods), but if actions speak louder than words, then maybe, just maybe, it’s Ice Cream.

In Sydney, I like stocking up on tubs of Serendipity Ice Cream but where would ChocolateQueen, Daisy Moo and I go to satisfy a late night sweet tooth in Cairns? The Mövenpick Ice Cream Parlour of course! Sitting at the northern end of the Esplanade, we were lucky enough to find parking straight across the road. I was first introduced to Mövenpick ice cream while in Geneva by Herr Mouttard while choosing a movie in a video store. It’s a common product/brand over there (being Swiss), with the ice creams available in supermarkets and even Mövenpick branded restaurants.

Iced Chocolate

So pretty! Our iced chocolate is served in an impossibly tall glass. I’ve put the sugar container there in an effort to do it justice. I am not exaggerating, to get to the straw I had to Stand Up (No laughing at my petite stature please lol). If you order this, I recommend leaving it for a few minutes to let the chocolate ice cream sink to the bottom, otherwise, your first few sips will taste only of plain milk. Overall, it’s a darker/bitter tasting iced chocolate and quite rich – it took all three of us to finish it lol.

Belgian Waffles
Served with Crème Brulee and Tiramisu ice cream

You can choose any two ice cream flavours you like:) The Crème brulee was sweet with only a slight caramel flavour (there’s also a caramel ice cream flavour available) I was particularly impressed with the Tiramisu ice cream. Normally, I find tiramisu ice creams heavily laden with coffee flavouring and not much else, but this particular version had a finely balanced mix of coffee and liqueur – I could have eaten it (and the waffles) all day!. The waffle was warm and fluffy, dense enough for me to feel like I was getting a carb hit, while still light enough for me to keep wanting more. The designated waffle connoisseur in our trio, Daisy Moo, commented that she preferred the waffles at the Guylian Café, simply because they had a crisper edge to them.

Romanoff Coupe
Vanilla Dream and Strawberry ice creams, served with fresh strawberries, berry sauce and whipped cream

Underneath the mounds of ice cream, we found a generous serve of fat, juicy strawberries coated in syrup. While the strawberry ice cream was nice, the vanilla really stole the show.

Many people will label vanilla ice cream as the most boring ice cream flavour. I whole heartedly disagree. For those who need some convincing, I dare you to try the Vanilla Dream ice cream:P I was simply blown away. With it’s tiny black vanilla specks and gorgeously thick, creamy texture, we all found ourselves gravitating towards the white blobs in our glass.

Overall, the ice cream was rich and creamy – just the way I like it. I’ve never been to the Mövenpick ice cream at Manly back in Sydney, but if it sells little tubs of the Mövenpick icecream like it’s Cairns counterpart, I might just have to give it a quick visit:)

Movenpick Ice Cream
Shop5a/ 95 -105
The Esplanade

Cairns City, QLD, 4870
Phone: (07) 4041 3555
http://www.moevenpick-icecream.com/en/home.html

Other Ice Cream related posts
Serendipity Natural Ice Cream and Sorbet, Marrickville
Monaco Bar

Serendipity Natural Ice Cream and Sorbet, Marrickville

Mission: Ice cream run. Destination: Serendipity!!! Person who got roped in: The considerate Herr Moutarde:)

So we’re off to Serendipity Natural Ice Cream and Sorbet, which is conveniently and dangerously close by. I first had a taste of Serendipity goodness at a dinner party held by my uncle (who is a fantastic chef), where he incorporated the Serendipity Coconut and Kaffir Lime sorbet into one of his magnificent dessert creations. I was instantly hooked.

Herr Moutarde and I have a tendency to throw portion control out the window when faced with things like ice cream, so we decided to buy only one little tub that day – and I was given the task of choosing that one special flavour. Well, I had difficulty narrowing down the multiple flavours and ended up getting two, the Fig, Honey and Pistachio (150ml), and Peanut Butter Disaster (500mL). Other flavours that made it on my (long) shortlist were Mangos and Cream, Super Fudge Brownie and the Strawberry and Cointreau sorbet.

Peanut Butter Disaster
Peanut butter ice cream with nutty praline and ripples of dark chocolate sauce

When I asked if this was any good, the girl in the store looked at me with a knowing glint in her eye and told me it was part of a new collection and that she herself, couldn’t get enough. Good sign lol. It’s delicious, with crispy praline pieces swirled through this creamy, gooey peanut butter icecream. Despite being the bigger tub, we finished this first (it went much too quickly for my liking lol). If you’re a fan of the peanut butter and chocolate combo, you have to try this:)

Fig, Honey and Pistachio

The taste of fig and honey was especially potent in this mix; I would have loved more pistachio, but overall still a tasty flavour combination.

Just in case…

The shop is located in an awkward place, since there really isn’t much else to do in the immediate area, but if you’re ever in the general Marrickville/Enmore/Newtown vicinity, it’s worth popping in to have a look. The staff wrap all purchased goods with a mound of paper so even if you’re driving a bit further to get home, melting shouldn’t be too much of a problem.


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Serendipity Natural Ice Cream and Sorbet
333-339 Enmore Rd

Marickville NSW 2204
Phone: (02) 9557 8986
Fax: (02) 9557 8990
Email: info@serendipityicecream.com.au
http://www.serendipityicecream.com.au/

Monaco Bar

That’s right, the Monaco Bar is back (and has been for a little while now). We got our grubby little hands on them the other night and sat back to reminisce about the pre-Maxibon era.

More accurately, Sindel and I reminisced - Herr Moutarde was wondering what all the fuss was about (apparently Nestle didn’t introduce the Monaco Bar to it’s home country?!) and Daisy Moo and Chocolate Queen didn’t place it in their childhoods at all…

Misaligned packaging

Even the label declares it’s back! Meanwhile I was looking at the miscut packaging…I guess an ‘Onaco’ Bar is just as good??

Before we open them up, Sindel reminds me of the gold wrapping that used to come on these, it was like opening a present!

Inside

Alas there is no golden present like wrapping:( I still greedily tuck into my icecream sandwich… It really was as good as I remembered:) although slightly bigger – which is fine by me!

Herr Moutarde was wondering where all his icecream was, and quickly finds out that he was gripping too hard and has managed to squeeze all the icecream out! I joke that his iron grip was an attempt to contain his excitement lol.

In the end, we remained a house divided – Monaco Bar girls (Sindel and I) vs Maxibon Loyalists (Herr Moutarde, Daisy Moo, Chocolate Queen).

If you’re someone who prefers the biscuit side of the Maxibon, you HAVE TO give this a try:) I look forward to the day they migrate away from 7 elevens, into the wider icecream selling world!