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From watermelon-lime granita to cacio e pepe ice-cream sandwiches, these are the season’s must-try treats. Plus: Is Tyra Banks’ “hot ice-cream” worth the wait?
When ordering a serve of ice-cream, granita or gelato in Sydney this summer, you may face some unusual questions. Would you like your ice-cream served hot, or flavoured with tomato ketchup? Do you want it sandwiched in brioche, or deep-fried in layers of golden filo pastry?
From Yummy Yako, a food truck serving knafeh fried ice-cream in Carnes Hill, to Erin, a Marrickville wine bar that uses gelato to transform prawn toast and pasta, Sydney has welcomed far more diversity in its desserts than “cup or cone?” over the past year.
The most attention-grabbing entrant came from American model and entrepreneur Tyra Banks, who debuted “hot ice-cream” at her Darling Harbour ice-creamery, Smize and Dream, in June. Banks described the dessert as “ice-cream you can drink”, and it went viral on social media, attracting two-hour queues.
Hot ice-cream isn’t creme anglaise, it isn’t melted ice-cream, and it isn’t a latte. Customers have been overheard comparing it to a microwaved milkshake, but it’s closer in texture to a thin, milky soup.
If that sounds unappealing, Smize and Dream also serves good, old-fashioned ice-cream (yes, cold) with “Smize Surprize” toppings, such as Biscoff cake, and cones dipped in chocolate and nuts. The coffee flavour is excellent.
Ready to branch out? Here’s Good Food’s pick of Sydney’s best new ice-cream and gelato shops.
Mapo, Darlinghurst
It’s worth travelling to Mapo’s new outpost on Oxford Street to try its exclusive range of seasonal granita, which launched in November. The daily-made desserts come in two varieties: a signature watermelon-lime available all summer, alongside a rotating fortnightly special – starting with almond before moving through nectarine, coffee, mango, or fig. Each flavour comes with an optional dollop of mascarpone “soft cream”, but you can swap that for any Mapo gelato (try the ricotta, olive oil and lemon zest, when it appears on the menu). Every second weekend, you can order granita with a side of brioche, Sicilian breakfast-style. Italian-born owner Matteo Pochintesta says his countrymen may have plenty of rules around food, but he won’t judge you for combining the two, dipping the brioche in granita (“like a latte”) or creating a granita sandwich.
Scoop of choice: Watermelon-lime granita with mascarpone soft cream.
72 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, maponewtown.com
Everyday Creamery, Newtown
The team behind Tokyo Lamington opened Everyday Creamy in a lush courtyard behind their Newtown cafe in November, but they’re not new to the world of ice-cream. Co-owner Min Chai once ran N2 Extreme Gelato, known for using liquid nitrogen, ganache-filled syringes, and unusual flavours such as Chinese cough syrup before it closed in 2022. This time around, Chai says they are focusing on simple, comforting flavours. Everyday Creamery’s mango and coconut flavour is made with just fruit, sugar and water, and tastes like a sunshine-filled Weis bar. There are also Maccas-style sundaes, the bestselling choc-vanilla soft serve and a “matcha-gato” (an affogato, with matcha instead of coffee). Can’t get to Newtown? You can also find Everyday Creamery at its summer-long pop-up at Pier One (Dawes Point), and supplying coffee soft serve at Ona’s Marrickville cafe.
Scoop of choice: Vanilla sundae with strawberry sauce.
Weeks Lane (behind Tokyo Lamington), Newtown, everydaycreamery.com
Ice Kirin Bar, Cabramatta
John Chan spotted Sydney’s craving for Asian tea blends well before the matcha latte trend took hold. By the time he opened Burwood’s Ice Kirin Bar in 2020, he was ready to fill his freezers with scoops like white peach oolong and Japanese genmaicha. Chan’s investment in the niche market worked out, and he now has four stores across Sydney. The latest opened in Cabramatta in August – a natural home for Ice Kirin Bar, Chan says, given the suburb’s connection to Vietnamese and other Asian communities. The shop serves exclusive flavours, including passionfruit Calpis water and kuromitsu, sweetened with Japanese sugar syrup and jammy azuki beans, with plans to add tropical sorbets, such as sugarcane, and floral tea gelato (Chan is thinking gardenia). Enjoy your selection encased in a rice cake or wedged into a pineapple bun.
Scoop of choice: Passionfruit Calpis gelato.
Shop 20, 180 Railway Parade, Cabramatta, icekirinbar.co
Lunetta Gelateria, Leichhardt
“My heart has always belonged to small-batch, traditional gelato,” says chef Leandro Vassallo, who moved away from restaurant kitchens to train as a gelataio (gelato maker) in Tuscany. Vassallo went on to open his first gelateria in Leichhardt’s Little Italy in November with a pozzetti (traditional cabinet) filled with flavours such as tiramisu, choc-hazelnut Bacio and Italian pistachio. The latter uses house-made pistachio paste, made by grinding whole nuts and kernels to create a deeper, more pronounced flavour.
Scoop of choice: Pistachio gelato.
146 Norton Street, Leichhardt, instagram.com/lunetta.gelato
Erin, Marrickville
In March, Gelato Messina introduced us to Erin, a gelato-forward wine bar named after its Erindale dairy in Victoria. Head chef Go Amano, who previously worked at two-hatted Pyrmont restaurant LuMi Dining, has created an inventive a la carte menu where even savoury dishes feature frozen elements. There are oysters topped with pear sherbet, prawn toast with sriracha sorbet, and peppery cacio e pepe biscuits sandwiching parmesan-rich gelato. There’s even a beef pie with cacao puff pastry with ketchup gelato.
Scoop of choice: Parmesan gelato between cacio e pepe cookies.
1 Rich Street, Marrickville, gelatomessina.com/pages/erin
Yummy Yako, Carnes Hill
Food truck Yummy Yako specialises in deep-fried vanilla ice-cream wrapped in golden strands of kataifi pastry. Owner Rawbin Yako claims it’s an Australian first. The dessert is inspired by knafeh, the cheesy Middle Eastern dessert he’d always dig into first at family gatherings. You can order it with six different sauces and toppings, from Biscoff spread to macadamia nuts. Keep an eye on socials – Yako plans to open a brick-and-mortar shop in 2026.
Scoop of choice: Pistachio knafeh fried ice-cream topped with pistachio sauce and pistachio nuts.
Corner of Cumberland Drive and Kurrajong Road, Carnes Hill, instagram.com/yummyyako_au
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