Elephant Garden Creamery

Alright, we are in the middle of Winter and I've already visited Elephant Garden Creamery 5 times within 3 weeks.  Why have I done such a silly thing (or to some, not silly at all!)?  Well, let's just say that it has a few things going for it.  First, I have not encountered a long lineup... yet...  Second, the prices are very reasonable with a flight of 4 flavours setting me back only $12.00.  Third, I have not been to a place in the GVRD that can compare with their on point flavours.  So this post is an amalgamation of all 5 visits.

On my first, I brought dessert and ice cream fiend Emily to try out the available flavours.  We ended up getting a triple waffle cone sporting Blueberry Cheesecake on the bottom, Hong Kong Milk Tea in the middle and Mont Blanc on the top.  As you can clearly see, they did not skimp on the scoops as they were large and packed tight.  Texturally, the ice cream was lightly creamy, but a touch inconsistent where some ice crystals were embedded.  Now the flavours were just freakin' awesome.  The cheesecake tasted like I was eating an actual piece with a sweet cheesiness giving way to sweet blueberry and graham cracker crust strewn throughout.  One of the favs had to be the HK milk tea as it was creamy like the drink with pronounced hits of aromatic tea.  This has to be one of the most bang on ice cream flavours in town.  Lastly, the mont blanc was not as heavy as I feared.  Rather, the chestnut was there in flavour as a cremeaux while the vanilla ice cream was fairly light.  Little nuggets of butter cookie crumble added crunch.

We also shared a flight consisting of Vietnamese Coffee, Vegan Mango Coconut Sticky Rice, Malted Milk Choco and Honey Butter Almond.  Much like the HK milk tea, the Vietnamese coffee was right on the money with balanced hits of coffee and equal parts of creamy condensed milk.  Although that might sound really sweet, it wasn't.  To my surprise, my other favourite of the bunch was the vegan mango coconut sticky rice.  This was aromatic and creamy from the coconut milk and the mango added a sweet tang.  The flavours were just so appealing and real tasting that I felt like I was eating the actual dish.  My only wish would be real sticky rice thrown in!  Remember those malted milk desserts?  Well, the malted milk choco tasted exactly like it.  Granted, it was creamier and denser, but the smooth malted taste was addictive and just sweet enough.  Lastly, the honey butter almond was both a flavour and textural bomb.  There was so much "good" sweetness to go with the crunch of the almonds.

On another visit with my kids, we got another flight with Malted Milk Choco (my son really wanted it), Nog it Up, Banana Yogurt and Cookies & Cream Monster.  Again, I might be repeating myself over and over again, but the eggnog ice cream was right on target with both texture and taste.  It was eggy and creamy with the unmistakable hint of nutmeg and cinnamon.  To make it more authentic, I could detect some real alcohol in this...  Even better!  By using ripe bananas, they were able to do something I've rarely seen before - a banana dessert that tasted like actual bananas.  It was so aromatic and naturally sweet with the classic hint of tang from the yogurt.  Coloured with natural butterfly pea flower petals, the blue tinted cookies & cream monster was full of Oreo crumble.  This was not as sweet as it looked and that was a good thing as it allowed the chocolaty sweetness of the Oreos stand out.

After eating dinner, Mijune accompanied me for 2 flights of ice cream (of course, did you think any less???) consisting of many of the same flavours except for one that I hadn't tried before in the Houjicha Cheese Tea.  Now, I've been harping on how on point the flavours are at EGC and also how impactful they are.  Well, this one was very flavourful and dare I say strong tasting.  The matcha tea was definitely there with a tailing off bitterness while the cheese was almost musty in its effect on the overall flavour profile.  If this wasn't impressive enough, I returned shortly after with Steph and had count'em 10 flavours including the new Kumquat Marmalade consisting of Madagascar vanilla bean ice cream with kumquat marmalade.  This was creamy and lightly sweet with the fruity bitterness of the syrupy kumquat peel.  Refreshing and slightly floral.  Somehow, it took me this long to try the Vegan Horchata and it was good!  Lots of flavours going on including the usual cinnamon and nutmeg while being purposefully sweet.  Well there you have it.  Other than the Cereal Milk, I've had every currently available flavour in scoop form.  I can confidently say that EGC has the best flavours in town.  On point, impactful and balanced, they taste exactly how it should be.  Although there is worthy competition from Earnest and Rain or Shine, EGC has the best combination of quality, flavours and pricing in my opinion.

The Good:
- Seriously on point flavours
- Reasonably-priced
- Balanced sweetness

The Bad:
- Some inconsistencies with a few ice crystals