The Melbourne branch of Milkcow, a soft serve ice-cream parlour from South Korea, deserves a special summer award for their latest offering, the watermelon ice cream sandwich.
Here’s the lowdown: Vegan watermelon soft serve ice-cream is dispensed into a fresh watermelon piece, where the black seeds are made of chocolate (note: not vegan). To avoid a sweetness overload, a few flakes of pink Himalayan salt are sprinkled on top.
Milkcow only makes around 50 serves each day of the very pink $10 treat, which is on the menu for a limited time. “It took us by surprise, the amount of people asking for it. We pretty much sell out every day,” says co-owner Angelo.
The treat follows in the footsteps of French pastry chef Dominique Ansel, who released a similar sandwich earlier this year at his Tokyo bakery.
And others who put versions on the menu during the northern hemisphere summer:
The owners of Milkcow Melbourne, Angelo and Dennis* say they chose to use a vegan ice-cream because of customer demand. It’s the only vegan ice-cream on the menu at the moment, but the pair says they are planning to launch more vegan options soon.
Organic milk soft serve…
Originally from South Korea, Milkcow is one of the fastest growing ice-cream chains in Asia, with around 60 stores around the world. They started in Melbourne as a pop-up last year, which quickly turned into two permanent CBD locations.
Their thing is soft serve ice-cream made from local organic milk, with no artificial flavouring. So their white ice-cream is not vanilla-flavoured, as you might expect. It’s simply milk-flavoured. “With our ice-cream, we are trying to do something a bit healthier, with organic milk. The milk flavour is stronger, creamier; it’s not your traditional soft serve,” explains Angelo.
Milkcow's Swanston Street, Melbourne, branch. (Photograph: Audrey Bourget) Source: Audrey Bourget
… with a sprinkle of fun
It’s not all organic milk and natural flavour at Milkcow; they also dabble in very photogenic creations like ice-cream covered in popcorn or topped with fairy floss. Bacon Day was the occasion to add candied bacon and caramel to their classic ice cream. We’re setting a calendar reminder for next year; Bacon Day will be on 1 September...
Milkcow wasn't saying how long the watermelon ice cream sandwich will be on the menu, only that it will eventually be replaced by another special flavour.
