UYU Soft Serve Ice Cream

I'm sure you're quite familiar with the soft-serve ice cream craze that has hit our city in the past year or so.  In fact, we've seen some pretty innovative and crazy stuff with liquid nitrogen ice cream setting up shop.  However, for some odd reason, I personally have seemed to have missed something along the way.  UYU, the 2nd place to offer gourmet soft-serve in town opened up nearly a year ago, but I just never got around to trying it.  Once again, it took an invite for me to get my butt into gear.  We were there to try some of their new products including the classics as well.

We tried the new stuff first in the Matcha White Iced Chocolate and Iced Belgian Chocolate Hazelnut.  The first thing I noticed was that they weren't too heavy.  There was still some creaminess, yet in a drinkable manner.  I found the chocolate hazelnut to be on the sweeter side packing a good amount of initial chocolate flavour and finishing off as well.  On the other hand, the matcha was less sweet (still sweet though) with a light and appealing bitterness.  Again, it wasn't overly heavy and was actually rather refreshing.  My favourite was actually the Signature UYU Cereal Milkshake (the one with cereal on top).  Sure, it was definitely sweet, but the crunch from the cereal provided a nice texture to the not-too-thick beverage.  The Belgian Chocolate Milkshake was similar in consistency, but much richer in flavour.  I would say this was the sweetest drink of the bunch.

Of course we were not visiting UYU without giving their soft-serve a try right?  We ended up trying all of the available flavours including the Classic Milk with cereal, dried raspberries and drizzle.  Compared to the others made with Avalon milk, the one at UYU was definitely lighter and only semi-sweet.  Depending on your personal preference, this could be just right or not as rich as the other places. We also tried the Earl Grey with dried blueberries and nuts.  This was on point with a definite hit of bitterness that wasn't too strong, but at the same time stood up both to the soft-serve and to the addition of toppings.

Okay, you might know my personal bias against anything banana and desserts.   So it is by no surprise that I was only mildly interested in the Banana with dried raspberries and banana chips.  I found the banana flavour to be impactful, so it was aromatic and sweet.  I'm sure banana-lovers would prefer this and also any Minions running amok, but I'll gladly stick to the original and earl grey.  So if I focus on the items I did like, the soft serve was rich, yet relatively light.  It wasn't overly sweet, which was fine by me.  On the other hand, if you want to satisfy your sweet tooth, the milkshakes and ice chocolates would be up your alley.

*All ice cream and beverages were complimentary*

The Good:
- Soft serve not overly sweet
- Lighter than the others
- Totally customizable

The Bad:
- For me personally, not sure about the banana flavour
- Again, for me, the Milkshakes and Ice Chocolates could be a touch less sweet