Polly Ann Ice Cream

The Outer Sunset.  A neighborhood of San Francisco I ... very rarely visit.  Same with the Inner Sunset really (except for dry fried chicken at San Tung!) or the Richmond (good dim sum but ...), or anywhere that far away.  Honestly, its like being in another city.  So, although I've known about Polly Ann Ice Cream for a few years (it gets such amazing reviews!), and I've had it bookmarked to try out, its taken me this long to get to it, since Polly Ann has only one location, and it is there.  Still, the unique flavor lineup, and my undying love of ice cream, finally drew me in.

I will now admit that I didn't actually travel "all the way" to the Outer Sunset to enjoy my treats.  I discovered that you can get the pints delivered via Caviar.  A few caveats though - you obviously can't sample the ice cream first, only pints are available (e.g. no scoops, no cones, no toppings), but, the worst part: the flavor list is not accurate.  It contains less than half the options, and ... doesn't reflect what they have in reality anyway (I think because Polly Ann changes flavors often, so only list the most common ones on Caviar?)  If you want a particular flavor, I'd recommend calling first to see if it is there, and including this in your notes.  And definitely add in fallback options.

I can't say that getting ice cream delivered from the other side of the city is, um, an economical choice: the delivery charge all the way across the city is $6.99, so if you were just going to get a single scoop ($3.75) at the shop, you've clearly exceeded your ice cream budget.  But if you get a couple pints ($8.99 each), and consider the pint holds say 4 scoops, that would price at $10.50 (2 doubles) or $15 (4 singles) for a pint's worth of ice cream ... it isn't as crazy, really.

But still why would you order pints, or venture to that far side of the city, in the first place?  Yes, there is quality ice cream elsewhere in San Francisco.  And there are unique flavors elsewhere (e.g. Humphrey Slocombe).  But Polly Ann nails not only the quality and unique (ridiculously extensive, really) flavor list, they have flavors I really, really wanted to try.

On any given day, Polly Ann offers about 50 flavors.  With this many flavors, there really, truly is something for everyone who eats ice cream - all the classics but also, the ones that drew me in, the more asian inspired flavors: durian. Taro. Black Sesame. Red Bean. Lychee.  Meanwhile, your child can have Gummi Bear, Oreo Cookie, or Star Wars if they wish.  Your tea loving friend can pick from Green Tea, Jasmine Tea, or Thai Thea.  Etc, etc.  They have a couple yogurts, and sherbet, but, the non-dairy options are not really there.

We ordered two pints, durian and taro, but sadly, the durian was not available.  Luckily I had the foresight to specify a fallback (black sesame), and it was subbed instead.  Both flavors were amazing, and I'd gladly try many more (and really do want to try that durian sometime!).

Pint!  $8.99.

The moment I stuck a spoon into the ice cream pints I could tell we were in for a treat.  It was so smooth and creamy, and perfectly slightly soft yet not too melty.  Good job, delivery man.

All flavors I tried were extremely highly quality, just absolute perfect texture and consistency, and they *nailed* the flavors.

Black Sesame. 

I fell in love with black sesame soft serve in Sydney (where, you can get a $2 cone at Rice Workshop in the mall that is fantastic!).  Besides Rice Workshop, and other places in Sydney though, I haven't had much black sesame ice cream.  It isn't exactly super common.

But even with my limited experience, I can tell you, this was fantastic black sesame ice cream.  The flavor was quite intense, nutty, and clearly a dessert, sweet, but not too sweet at all.  I ... loved it.  It would be great made into any kind of creation with a little drizzle of coconut milk perhaps, but honestly, it didn't need anything.  Perfect as it.

I'd gladly get this again.

Taro.

As much as I loved, truly loved, the black sesame, I might have loved the taro even more.

It had a slight purple hue, more lavender than purple, and I was thrilled when I saw tiny bits of real taro in it.  This was legit taro ice cream.

Taro ice cream is another flavor I discovered in Sydney, in soft serve form.  I've had some fabulous taro soft serve there over the years, like the incredibly creamy but not super intense version from Aqua S, or the downright amazing taro milk tea sundae from Devon Cafe (review coming soon).  I've also had regular hard serve taro ice cream in Southern California, like in bingsu with Fosselman's taro ice cream at Milke & Snowie in Pasadena, or in a sundae at Confetti Italian Ice Cream in Costa Mesa, both of which were quite fabulous.

But this ... may have been the best.  Obviously without having them side-by-side I can't be 100% sure, but, this was pretty fabulous.  Again, not even taking the high quality ice cream base into account, with amazing consistency, it was the taro flavor that just shined.  Clearly real taro, so clearly an expertly crafted recipe, not too sweet.

This one too could easily pair with some toppings, but it didn't need them.  It also did go great side by side with the black sesame. I'd gladly get this again too.