The Columbist: Berlin’s lifestyle magazine

FOOD

Ice Cream In Berlin: A Summer Guide By The Columbist

Ice cream queues in Berlin are so long in summer they are jokingly compared to the infamous queue to Berghain techno club. Ice cream is more than a mere dessert here. Traditionally, kids get a cone after school or kindergarten, an ice cream is typically ordered after a meal, and people would give each other ice-cream parlour vouchers as a gift.

Olga Mnatsakanova

Photo by: Lindsay Moe, Unsplash

Even the pandemic fails to disrupt this tradition: Berlin has just held its Ice Cream Week on May 6-12. A scoop of the event flavour special could be had for one euro, and it paired so perfectly well with the warm sunny days.

With the summer right ahead of us it's hard to imagine surviving without an ice cream, just as you can't picture Berlin without Hokey Pokey. It started off in 2011 as a tiny shop at Stargader str. Crowds of visitors annoyed the neighbours and then, according to urban lore, the owner Niko Robert made a cunning move and raised his prices. That, however, aroused more curiosity and made the queues even longer. Today Hokey Pokey has four shops in Prenzlauer Berg and Pankow plus a new one at Torstr. 141 in Mitte. Our favs are the Rocky Road (chocolate ice cream with nuts, marshmallows and chocolate shavings) and the Sicilian Pistachio.

Cuore di Vetro (meaning Heart of Glass) is definitely the most atmospheric gelateria in Berlin. The virtuoso Italian staff with funky hairstyles churn out a chocolate sorbet of legends. The tastiest affogato can be ordered here, an espresso with a scoop of vanilla (usually) ice cream. 'Our secret is the best ingredients, exquisite recipes, passion and love' is how they describe themselves.

Photo by: Wesual Click, Unsplash

A special technique is employed at Woop Woop to make ice cream that remains soft due to deep freezing which doesn't give it time to crystallise. Your ice cream is prepared right before your eyes the moment you've picked a flavour. Our favourite is the peanut-and-raspberry (vegan).

Sorbets, made without using cow milk and thus a good alternative for vegans or people with lactose intolerance, are gaining popularity. A sorbet doesn't have to have a fruit flavour. At Tribeca Ice Cream, homemade nut milk (cashew, almonds, coconut and purified water), coconut oil and cocoa butter are used as a base. Cane sugar, coconut blossom sugar, maple or rice syrup serve as a sweetener. You can opt for a gluten-free cone instead of a regular one. This year's special is Coconut With Cocoa Shavings, a low-calorie ice cream with high protein levels and without sugar.

Only bio ingredients are used at Rosa Canina to make their organic ice creams. We love them for their simple flavours: their fruit sorbets are among the best in Berlin. Try the top hit, the vanilla ice cream with pumpkin seeds.

Canal Berlin is all about festive atmosphere: champagne, eclairs with lots of cream and little dough, and ice cream with unusual flavours. Try their Crème Canal with roasted pistachios and salty caramel, and Almond Blood Orange – an almond ice cream with blood orange sorbet and caramelised macadamia.

Berlin is sometimes called an ice cream capital thanks to its amazing diversity of gelaterias and flavours. Indeed, you can have a kakigori (a traditional Japanese ice cream, a crushed ice) at Tenzan Lab, or a Thai ice cream at Delabuu. The latter is prepared right before you in a process that looks like roasting and served in a shape of a roll. You can get a granita at Duo Siciliano – a Sicilian crushed and sweetened fruit ice, as well as an ice cream burger and and an ice cream croissant. Or, head to Lecko’mio for an ice cream spaghetti, or to Gimme Gelato for a chocolate-coated ice cream on a stick.

And our huge thanks to the lockdown for the ability to order an ice cream delivered to the door. Hokey Pokey, Woop Woop and Tribeca Ice Cream all do delivery via Wolt or Lieferando.