Toronto

Bar Ape

Serving up swirls of seasonal ingredients and innovative flavours, Bar Ape’s gelato is far from average soft serve. With innovative flavours like saffron and cucumber lime, and pairings like sour cherry and brown butter, this Italian spot doesn’t cling to the traditional. While getting experimental with local ingredients for their weekly bonus flavour, Bar Ape also shows off their Italian chops with items like faithful fior di latte sundaes. Catch them every Saturday and Sunday pumping out silky smooth gelato and ice cream.

283 Rushton Rd., Toronto, bar-ape.com

Ihalo Krunch

With their black activated charcoal cones and electrifyingly colourful soft serve, this rapidly expanding chain of ice cream shops has been turning heads since they opened their Trinity Bellwoods flagship store in 2017. With Asian-inspired flavours like ube (purple yam) and matcha green tea, iHalo are pioneering a new wave of softserve treats. Try a swirl of ube and coconut charcoal for the ultimate iHalo experience.

831 Queen St. W, plus 2 other Toronto locations and 3 more in Ontario, ihalokrunch.com

Tavern Bernhardt’s

This neighbourhood rotisserie is turning heads with their gussied-up soft serve. With flavours like rhubarb currant sour cream twist, and creamsicle meringue topped with candied sunflower seeds, Taverne Bernhardt’s is taking a no-rules approach to what they can mix in the ice cream maker. Although you may have to dine in to experience the magic of these icy desserts, we promise you won’t be disappointed.

202 Dovercourt Rd., Toronto, bernhardtstoronto.com

Calgary

Uzu Taiyaki

Owner Tommy Mac derives most of his flavour ideas for Uzu Taiyaki from the tastes of his childhood spent in Vietnam and Calgary. Translated into soft serve, Mac brings Asian-inspired ingredients like ube (purple yam) and brown sugar milk tea and transforms them into swirls of colourful soft serve. It’s all stuffed into a fish-shaped waffle (taiyaki) as a cone, with a crispy exterior and a surprise of sweet red bean or Nutella inside. This frozen dessert is taking soft serve to new heights.

1-110 2 Ave. SE, Calgary, facebook.com/uzutaiyaki

Lukes Drug Mart

This family-run pharmacy has been serving up soft serve to their loyal customers for three generations. Lukes taks advantage of seasonal and local ingredients to create their monthly flavour rotation of soft serve at both their Killarney and Bridgeland locations. With recent hits like blueberries and cream, strawberry rhubarb and coconut lime, Lukes will keep you coming back all summer long.

112-4 St. NE (Bridgeland) and 3207-26 Ave. SW (Killarney), Calgary, lukesdrugmart.com

Made by Marcus

Keeping things classic with a single soft serve option, Marcus Purtzki is focusing his energy into creating Calgary’s most decadent sundaes. With luxurious toppings that include anything from meringue peaks to homemade strawberry jam and roasted marshmallows, these elaborate creations are not your basic childhood treats. With ice cream made from scratch and cream from grass-fed cows, this all-organic creamery churns out some unbelievably fresh ice cream.

121-1013 17 Ave. SW, plus 3 other Calgary locations, madebymarcus.ca

Vancouver

Soft Peaks

With its treats churned to perfection, this Vancouver institution is all about making natural, organic and non-GMO soft serve. Using all local ingredients, Soft Peaks’ hand-crafted, milkbased soft serve is some of the smoothest on the West Coast. They also finish off their sundaes and cones with some premium toppings like Okanagan and Fraser Valley honeycomb, sweet and sour yuzu marmalade, homemade tiramisu, and organic strawberry agave syrup.

25 Alexander St., Vancouver, and 4603 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C., softpeaks.ca

The Praguery

This European-inspired food truck is stacking up sugar-coated chimney cakes full of luscious soft serve. With a couple trucks you can spot around Vancouver and a store in Surrey’s Guildford Town Centre, owner Jaro Mestka is bringing his favourite Czech street food to the people of B.C. Hand-rolled and served hot, these sweet cones are a mix between a beaver tail and a churro. Filled with creamy vanilla soft serve and topped with anything from pumpkin spice to pistachio cream, these may become your new favourite summer treat.

Food Truck 1: Gaston Park, 3470 Crowley Dr., Vancouver; Food Truck 2: McArthur Glen Outlet, Richmond, B.C., praguery.com

Milkcow Cafe

Founded in Korea in 2013, Milkcow is one of the most well-recognized soft serve vendors on this list because of its Instaworthy watermelon ice cream sandwiches. The bright watermelon soft serve, swirled in between two slices of watermelon that have been dimpled with chocolate chips, makes this one of the most popular items on Milkcow’s menu. Made from all-natural milk and without preservatives, Milkcow is dedicated to making their soft serve the lightest possible, without sacrificing that creamy texture we know and love. Milkcow also has cafes in Victoria and Toronto.

105-5668 Hollybridge Way, Richmond, B.C., milkcowcafe.ca