Eat me!: Deep-fried ice cream

The things I do for my readers!

Over a span of six days, I've tried three different kinds of deep-fried ice cream -- on a full stomach -- just so that I could give you accurate comparison of the three.

My somewhat painful taste test unintentionally began last Saturday, when, after giving up on ever trying deep-fried ice cream at Belgian Fries (1803 Commercial Drive) -- they never have any available when I'm in the area -- I dropped by Andales Mexican Restaurant (1175 Davie St.) and had some chocolate ice cream fried up Mexican-style, with a coating of cornflake crumbs. It was a ball the size of a fist, served in a glass cup, and looked like the one below, minus the whipped cream.

I had it with three friends, and none of us liked it very much -- out of the many things we had to eat that day (which included green tea shaved ice dessert, hamburg, saba, tuna belly donburi, and pumpkin banitzel) it was the dish we liked the least -- S. thought it was too greasy; K. and I didn't notice the grease, but still didn't think it was very good. Deep-fried cornflakes just don't taste that great.

The restaurant had both chocolate and vanilla ice cream options. The chocolate Baskin-Robbins ice cream we went with was the best part, and tasted better alone than mixed with the crunchy cornflakes (which got soggy as the ice cream melted). For $4.99 (plus tax and tip), it wasn't really worth it -- but I was happy because I finally got to try deep-fried ice cream.

So I was super-annoyed when I arrived at the Richmond Night Market today and saw that not one, but two stalls were selling deep-fried ice cream, for far lower than the $4.99 price both Belgian Fries and Andales charge.

I wasn't going to buy any -- given my disappointing first experience, and the fact that I had no one to split the ice cream with, since the friend I was supposed to come with couldn't make it --but it seemed like everyone I passed was talking about the deep-fried ice cream, either to comment about it, to talk about getting some later, or to buy some there and then. I felt obligated to try some just so that I could tell you about them.

By the time I'd decided to do my deep-fried ice cream taste test, I'd already consumed a green tea tiramisu, black sesame crème brûlée, and "red bean sherbet" (a shaved ice dessert with red beans, fruit cocktail, rice powder condensed milk, and strawberry syrup). So I was pretty darn full. (Note: Going to the Night Market without an eating buddy or two is a baaad idea.)

I tried the Japanese/Chinese-style fried ice cream first. The stall was selling two kinds -- strawberry and vanilla. I opted for strawberry, knowing that the other stall only offered vanilla.

Watching ice cream being fried is somewhat disturbing. The ice cream was coated in a white dough that the vendor described as "butter and bread", and then dipped into a huge pot of oil, where it was dunked repeatedly until it was cooked to form a crisp, golden shell. The dessert was served in a cup with a piece of napkin in it to soak up some of the grease, and the grease was very visible when I first got it, though it sank into the dough and disappeared after awhile. I can't find anything that looks exactly like it -- it's kind of like a rectangular pillow of tempura, with no garnish of whipped cream on it or anything. The pic below is the closest one I can find.

I didn't think it was going to taste very good -- it's essentially an ice-cream-filled donut, and when you eat the sections individually, neither part is that great. But when you get just the right amount of each together, oh my is it good.

I recommend doing away with the spoon and just biting right into the pastry and ice cream, as the spoon is really only good for scooping up the ice cream part. It was worth the $2.50 I paid for it. This was advertised as the "promotional price for today only" -- the vendor said that they would be raising the price to $3.50. The signs didn't look like they'd been changed from any other day, however, so if you end up going to the Night Market sometime this summer, let us know if the price really does go up.

Feeling slightly queasy from eating so much rich, sweet stuff, I waddled back to the dessert place where I'd gotten my first two desserts to try their deep-fried ice cream. It was $3 for one dessert, or 2 for $5, so I bought a "dragon" fried ice cream and chocolate-dipped pistachio cheesecake. That stall gives a coupon for free dessert at the Boathouse Restaurant in Richmond for every two desserts you purchase, so I came away with two free dessert coupons.

I had initally thought that their deep-fried ice cream was coated with cornflakes, but the vendor said it was coated with a mix of things. I think those things might have been cookie crumbs. The ball came topped with whipped cream and two chopped quarters of strawberry.

How good their version of fried ice cream tasted was also a matter of getting the right mix of everything in a bite -- without the strawberries and whipped cream, it wasn't that great, but with it, it was quite tasty -- at least better than the one at Andales.

When it came time to go home, I met my little sister, T. outside, and it turned out that she had opted to buy a deep-fried ice cream too -- the vanilla tempura version that I hadn't tried, so I had a bite of that as well. Unfortunately, all I got was a lump of dough with a spot of ice cream melted into it, so I wasn't able to gauge how good that was. T. thought it was alright.

So now I've tried every kind of deep-fried ice cream there is: coated with cornflakes, tempura batter, and cookie bits, with chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream. Of the three, I'd have to say that the one made with tempura batter was surprisingly my favourite -- I say "surprisingly" because I almost didn't buy it because it looked so unappetizing. It doesn't help that you see it being made right in front of you, so that there's no fooling yourself about its fat content.

The tempura-batter guys don't have a store, and I don't know where else in the city you can get deep-fried ice cream made in that style, so if you're hankering to try some, you'd better head over to the Night Market sometime this summer before they're gone.

While you're there, I recommend trying one of the desserts at the other stall -- I.C. Desserts. Their mini-desserts are all $3 each, or 2 for $5 (with some on special today for $2, as a Canada Day special). I thought their green tea parfait and black sesame crème brûlée were amazing. They torch the crème brûlée right in front of you.

The chocolate on the chocolate-dipped pistachio cheesecake was really good, but I couldn't really taste the pistachio cheesecake. That could very well have been due to the numbing effect all the sweet stuff I'd already eaten before might have had on my tastebuds.

Anyway, I recommend that stall. The photo above is taken from their Facebook site, and all three of the items I mentioned are pictured.

And just so you know, the shaved ice dessert I had at the Hurricane Potato Fries stall was good, but not fantastic, because the ice was more like small pebbles than fine shavings -- and the ice makes all the difference. The toppings were great though -- a huge scoop of red beans, some fruit cocktail and strawberries, a small scoop of rice powder, with big squirts of condensed milk and strawberry syrup on top, all for $3. It was a smaller portion than you'd get at a restaurant (about a cup and a half?), but given the amount of eating you'll probably end up doing at the Night Market, it's not bad.

If you've been to the Night Market (in either Richmond or Chinatown) this year and tried anything particularly good, tell us about it, and if you try either or both of the fried ice creams there, be sure to give us your take.

As well, if you've tried any other deep-fried desserts -- like deep-fried Oreos or deep-fried Coke -- let us know if they're worth trying!

I can attest to the yumminess of deep-fried mars bars and fried jam sandwiches!

Make sure to leave a good chunk of stomach space for them! :P