Yum Sweet Shop

For such a big city, Vancouver is pretty lacking when it comes to ice cream parlours.  I'm not talking about spots such as Earnest and Rain or Shine.  These fit into the "modern" category where the classic banana split does not exist.  Other than some restaurants (like DQ) and Glenburn in Burnaby, we don't see the ol' fashion ice cream shop with counter seating.  Of course at this point, I'm going to introduce a new spot on Main Street called Yum Sweet Shop.  It combines the charm of a candy store (think Sweet Factory) with an ol' skool ice cream parlour.  

To get a true feel of their ice cream selection, we got a triple scoop to start in a colourful (and sweet) waffle cone.  From top to bottom, we had Pecan Caramel Crunch, Creamsicle and Grape Float.  The common theme amongst these flavours was the sweetness level, it was pretty high.  Compared to say, Elephant Garden Creamery, the sweetness was more dominant than the actual flavours.  I know this is subjective where some ice cream lovers want it sweet.  Texturally, the pecan caramel crunch was creamy and rich. This was the sweetest of the 3 and that was to be expected due to the bursts of caramel and the crunch.  Of course, the 2 fruitier flavours were sherberts and hence were lighter.  I liked the creamsicle the best since it reminded me of the classic childhood treat.  To pile on the sugar, the crunchy waffle cone was aromatic and yes, sweet.

Remember the aforementioned Banana Split?  Well, we ended up getting it with 3 different flavours including Belgian Hazelnut Chocolate, New York Cheesecake and S'mores.  First off, I thought the banana was the right ripeness being firm and somewhat neutral tasting (didn't interfere with ice cream).  I liked the hazelnut chocolate as it was balanced and nutty.  Cheesecake was creamy and of course sweet, but it was cheesy.  S'mores was sweet like the rest, but especially so due to the ingredients.  We also got an Ice Cream Sandwich featuring chocolate chip cookies, salted caramel ice cream, caramel sauce and milk chocolate.  Yep, this was pretty sweet too, but the salted caramel was salty enough to provide some variation.  This was pretty firm and melted slowly.  Probably better if it sat for a bit first.  Overall, I thought Yum was a cute little shop that is definitely a kiddie heaven.  For more refined tastes, it could be a bit too sweet where the flavours are not as defined.

The Good:
- Lots of candy
- Well done on the decor and feel
- Lots of options on the menu

The Bad:
- Ice cream could be a little less sweet and more focused on the individual flavours