I live in San Francisco. The land where it is ice cream weather perhaps ... 2 days a year. For about 2 hours on each of those days. It makes me very sad, as I love eating ice cream in the sun. Soft serve ice cream in particular. In a cone. With toppings. I miss it.
I was thrilled to discover that soft serve is a fad in Sydney, which does make sense, given the incredible weather. The first day I was in town I *had* to visit Aqua S, the best soft serve I discovered on my last two trips, and of course I needed to go to Messina for gelato as it is such a Sydney institution, but, as I neared the end of my trip, it was time to check out somewhere new.
Good Times Artisan Ice Cream, in Pott's Point. I don't actually remember how I learned about the place, I think it probably popped up when I was Instagram stocking someone, but, it was on my radar before I arrived, and managed to stay on my short list, even though I hadn't actually heard much about it. Their soft serve gelato waffle cone sundaes looked ridiculous, and I was eager to try one.
I still don't know much, as they don't have a website (only a Facebook page). Opened in 2016. Everything made fresh in house daily.
I was Instagram stalking Good Times for a while, so I knew what to expect, and, well, it certainly did live up to it in ridiculousness.
My visit was a weeknight, 7:15pm, when it was 85 degrees out. Oh, Sydney, I adore you.
While it took a moment to spot the sign that actually said the shop name, the big light up ice cream cone was impossible to miss.
I knew I had found my stop.
Inside the shop is quite small, just a handful of chairs in a narrow area.
While I surveyed the menu, the single staff member was making fresh waffle cones by hand. I recently learned how to do this myself, and I was impressed with how deftly he did it, while barely glancing down. His all came out shaped correctly, and sealed. I can't say the same for my own creations. I guess practice makes perfect!
I was happy to see that if I went with a cone, a very fresh house made cone is what I'd get.
At the end of the store is a freezer with assorted sized tubs in different flavors, plus ice cream sandwiches, and popsicles.
I was a bit disappointed because the tubs had flavors that sounded better than the flavors being offered fresh, but I knew I wanted soft serve, so, I walked past the tempting sounding options, and back to the main counter.
The menu is ... limited. A bit annoying, really.
4 flavors of ice cream, on my visit they were: yoghurt white chocolate, chocolate, hazelnut, and peach iced tea. Available in one size only, cup or cone, for $8, for as a shake for $6. No option to twirl, no option for multiple flavors in a cup, no option for kiddie size.
If you want toppings, there are 4 "Bells & Whistles" to pick from, one specifically for each of the base flavors. So if you wanted the chocolate base with toppings, you'd get the "Chocolate City" with peanut butter cookie, walnut brownies, and chocolate sauce. If you wanted peach iced tea gelato, you'd get the "Ziggy Star Dust", with almond strawberry praline, meringue, and a white chocolate star. Etc, etc. These are all $10, and aren't customizable really.
So if you wanted say, chocolate gelato with chocolate truffles instead of walnut brownies, or nutella instead of chocolate sauce ... sorry. Or even just white chocolate gelato with chocolate sauce ... nope.
There is also a deep fried ice cream that features Nutella inside or two varieties of mini pies (pecan or custard) that you can get topped with gelato (they recommend the nutella).
Since I didn't want caffeine, these limitations made it easy for me in some ways. I couldn't have the chocolate or peach iced tea base (it has real black tea), and, since I wanted toppings, I couldn't go for the hazelnut one since that had chocolate truffles and nutella. So, the yoghurt white chocolate creation, the Halle Barry it was, even though it wasn't really toppings I was interested in.
"Spiced Crumble, Honeycomb, Mixed Berry Sauce."
I ordered, and the single staff member got to making my ridiculous creation.
Yogurt white chocolate soft serve gelato, in a house made waffle cone.
Then he pulled out a plastic tub and fetched out several chunks of sugar honeycomb, which he perched deliberately around the swirl on top. Same with the spiced cookie crumble chunks. Next came a triangle shaped wafer, stuck right on top. The final touch was berry sauce drizzled all over it.
This took a while to craft, and it was really hot outside, and the gelato already soft serve, so it was melting very quickly. And then I had to pay, which I did with a credit card, so that took time. It was melting. Rapidly. I was feeling the pressure.
By the time I walked out, it was dripping like crazy all over the place. Thank goodness it had a catcher around the cone (which, is totally awesome by the way!). I'm a big enough disaster with a small cone with dip or sprinkles when I can't really lick around it fast enough when its like 75 degrees in New Hampshire, so, this was even more dramatic. Even softer ice cream, way more stuff on it that made it impossible to lick around, 85 degrees, and also HUGE!!!! You can't see the scale, nor the bottom half, but it was a very large house made cone and it was loaded up.
I was a sticky mess within seconds. I had ice cream on my nose. Running down my arms. Toppings were coming off and landing in the catcher.
I wanted a sip of water, but I couldn't stop to take a break. I had to keep eating toppings, had to keep licking. I knew once I got the toppings off, I could lick around it, and the urgency would at least die down.
It was comical to watch, I'm sure. I planned to walk around while I ate it, but this too took much focus. I just stood stopped in my tracks, on the street, with people pretty much staring at me. The ice cream did look ridiculous, as, well, did I. Whatever. Many of them just looked jealous!
Oh, and how was it? It was good.
The ice cream was actually fairly tart, as it was greek yoghurt (and white chocolate) flavor. Still sweet, but also tart. The other flavors aren't yoghurt based, and this was still enhanced with cream, so, certainly not frozen yogurt, but, it had the tartness from it. The ice cream was really creamy, great texture, super soft, but, obviously, melted a bit too fast.
I didn't really like the sugar honeycomb on it, that is just a strange topping for ice cream. And I didn't like the berry sauce. But the crumble was good, and crumble is something I like anyway. The house made cone was actually quite good, I actually ate that too, and I normally ditch my cones.
So it was good, not amazing, but that said, I didn't really get what I wanted, as I wanted different toppings. I don't think I'll go back, as the whole thing was just a bit annoying, plus, a $10 ice cream is ridiculous, and I don't actually want something this big (although I did finish it ...).
I was thrilled to discover that soft serve is a fad in Sydney, which does make sense, given the incredible weather. The first day I was in town I *had* to visit Aqua S, the best soft serve I discovered on my last two trips, and of course I needed to go to Messina for gelato as it is such a Sydney institution, but, as I neared the end of my trip, it was time to check out somewhere new.
Good Times Artisan Ice Cream, in Pott's Point. I don't actually remember how I learned about the place, I think it probably popped up when I was Instagram stocking someone, but, it was on my radar before I arrived, and managed to stay on my short list, even though I hadn't actually heard much about it. Their soft serve gelato waffle cone sundaes looked ridiculous, and I was eager to try one.
I still don't know much, as they don't have a website (only a Facebook page). Opened in 2016. Everything made fresh in house daily.
 |
| Ridiculous Ice Cream! |
My visit was a weeknight, 7:15pm, when it was 85 degrees out. Oh, Sydney, I adore you.
 |
| Store Front. |
I knew I had found my stop.
 |
| Seating. |
 |
| House Made Waffle Cones. |
I was happy to see that if I went with a cone, a very fresh house made cone is what I'd get.
 |
| Pre-Packaged Tubs, Ice Cream Sandwiches. |
I was a bit disappointed because the tubs had flavors that sounded better than the flavors being offered fresh, but I knew I wanted soft serve, so, I walked past the tempting sounding options, and back to the main counter.
 |
| Menu. |
4 flavors of ice cream, on my visit they were: yoghurt white chocolate, chocolate, hazelnut, and peach iced tea. Available in one size only, cup or cone, for $8, for as a shake for $6. No option to twirl, no option for multiple flavors in a cup, no option for kiddie size.
If you want toppings, there are 4 "Bells & Whistles" to pick from, one specifically for each of the base flavors. So if you wanted the chocolate base with toppings, you'd get the "Chocolate City" with peanut butter cookie, walnut brownies, and chocolate sauce. If you wanted peach iced tea gelato, you'd get the "Ziggy Star Dust", with almond strawberry praline, meringue, and a white chocolate star. Etc, etc. These are all $10, and aren't customizable really.
So if you wanted say, chocolate gelato with chocolate truffles instead of walnut brownies, or nutella instead of chocolate sauce ... sorry. Or even just white chocolate gelato with chocolate sauce ... nope.
There is also a deep fried ice cream that features Nutella inside or two varieties of mini pies (pecan or custard) that you can get topped with gelato (they recommend the nutella).
Since I didn't want caffeine, these limitations made it easy for me in some ways. I couldn't have the chocolate or peach iced tea base (it has real black tea), and, since I wanted toppings, I couldn't go for the hazelnut one since that had chocolate truffles and nutella. So, the yoghurt white chocolate creation, the Halle Barry it was, even though it wasn't really toppings I was interested in.
 |
| Halle Barry. $10. |
I ordered, and the single staff member got to making my ridiculous creation.
Yogurt white chocolate soft serve gelato, in a house made waffle cone.
Then he pulled out a plastic tub and fetched out several chunks of sugar honeycomb, which he perched deliberately around the swirl on top. Same with the spiced cookie crumble chunks. Next came a triangle shaped wafer, stuck right on top. The final touch was berry sauce drizzled all over it.
This took a while to craft, and it was really hot outside, and the gelato already soft serve, so it was melting very quickly. And then I had to pay, which I did with a credit card, so that took time. It was melting. Rapidly. I was feeling the pressure.
By the time I walked out, it was dripping like crazy all over the place. Thank goodness it had a catcher around the cone (which, is totally awesome by the way!). I'm a big enough disaster with a small cone with dip or sprinkles when I can't really lick around it fast enough when its like 75 degrees in New Hampshire, so, this was even more dramatic. Even softer ice cream, way more stuff on it that made it impossible to lick around, 85 degrees, and also HUGE!!!! You can't see the scale, nor the bottom half, but it was a very large house made cone and it was loaded up.
I was a sticky mess within seconds. I had ice cream on my nose. Running down my arms. Toppings were coming off and landing in the catcher.
I wanted a sip of water, but I couldn't stop to take a break. I had to keep eating toppings, had to keep licking. I knew once I got the toppings off, I could lick around it, and the urgency would at least die down.
It was comical to watch, I'm sure. I planned to walk around while I ate it, but this too took much focus. I just stood stopped in my tracks, on the street, with people pretty much staring at me. The ice cream did look ridiculous, as, well, did I. Whatever. Many of them just looked jealous!
Oh, and how was it? It was good.
The ice cream was actually fairly tart, as it was greek yoghurt (and white chocolate) flavor. Still sweet, but also tart. The other flavors aren't yoghurt based, and this was still enhanced with cream, so, certainly not frozen yogurt, but, it had the tartness from it. The ice cream was really creamy, great texture, super soft, but, obviously, melted a bit too fast.
I didn't really like the sugar honeycomb on it, that is just a strange topping for ice cream. And I didn't like the berry sauce. But the crumble was good, and crumble is something I like anyway. The house made cone was actually quite good, I actually ate that too, and I normally ditch my cones.
So it was good, not amazing, but that said, I didn't really get what I wanted, as I wanted different toppings. I don't think I'll go back, as the whole thing was just a bit annoying, plus, a $10 ice cream is ridiculous, and I don't actually want something this big (although I did finish it ...).
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