Real and real good Italian ice cream

Real Italian ice cream is treat usually only reserved for travels to the country itself. Lucky now it is also possible right here in Helsinki. And that is thanks to an Italian expat who made it his mission to bring the frozen delicacy to the Finnish capital.

At the Gelatteria Finland ice cream truck they use original Italian recipes to make the ice cream as creamy and tasty as it should be. Every morning the new batch for the day is freshly made.

Pistacchio , Marscarpone, Stracciatella, Coconut - every day the selection of flavors changes. And for affordable 3,90 € you can get two scoops in a proper waffle.

Gelatteria Finland is usually located at Säästöpankintie next to Ympyrätalo in Hakaniemi. But to be sure, check their Facebook page beforehand.

Enjoy and don't come too late. On a sunny day they run out of their delicious freight fairly fast.

A taste of Italian summer

Yes, the weather is not what you would expect from July. But anyway, when the sun comes out a good ball of ice cream can for sure get you into the summer mood.

One excellent place to get some Italian ice cream is the Pappagallo ice cream parlor on Esplanadi. Next to the Swedish theater the small yellow kiosk invites people to enjoy some smooth and delicious ice cream. You should especially give their sorbets a try.

Enjoy and have a good start into the week!

Free Cone Day

Today is Free Cone Day. That means that at all Ben & Jerry's ice parlors you get ice cream for free. You can choose a flavor and get one ball without paying anything.

Queues tend to be quite long. So prepare to wait a while to get your free ice cream treat.

Ben & Jerry's has parlors in Kamppi Kauppakeskus as well as on Pohjoisesplanadi. Enjoy!

For a bowl of ice cream

Finns love ice cream. In fact they are the leading ice cream consumers per capita in whole Europe. Even during the cold time of the year the consumption is high.

But you might wonder what a good place for some nice ice cream might be durin the fall and winter. Well, if you like ice cream bowls it's not too easy. One place right in the center that you might want to consider is the Sokos Café inside the big Sokos department store. Here you have a big selection of ice cream bowls that you can enjoy with a good view into the big inner yard of Sokos.

Sokos Café of course also has sweet and salty pastry and of course hot and cold drinks. Give it a try!

Healthy, cold and Finnish

Get ready for the healthy Finnish alternative to all those frozen summer treats like ice cream and frozen yoghurt. A group of friends has started reviving an old Finnish recipe: Musikkamaito (Blueberry Milk).

Basically that just means eating blueberries swimming in milk. But the guys from Mustikkamaito make it more of an ice cream using deep frozen berries, adding milk and sugar, mixing the whole thing up and finishing with a little bit of cinnamon. 

Musikkamaito is sold from a moving stand on a bicycle traveling around town. You can most often find them on Esplanadi next to Cafe Kappeli. One portion is 3 €.

Give it a try. You'll love it!

Magnum is back in town

The summer starts and what is more essential to a good summer than good ice cream? At Vanha Ylioppistotalo you can now again build your very own Magnum. There you can not only choose the ice cream and the coating but you can also pick your favorite toppings.

The Magnum pop-up store is open from Monday to Saturday till June 28.

Enjoy!

Ice cream time

The ice cream parlors around Helsinki are back and open again. And the weather is perfect for a cold sweet treat in the sun.

Have a nice Easter Monday!

Something new from 3 Kaveria

The ice cream company 3 Kaveria brought two new delicious flavors to the market.

After the immense success of their other products they now made Blackcurrant-Orange available. And if you are a fan of really basic flavors you can also now buy their vanilla ice cream in slightly bigger buckets.

To find out where you can get Kolmen Kaverin Jäätelö check out their website.

Enjoy! 

3 Kaveria to go

There is something new from 3 Kaveria IceCream. The new popular ice cream company from Helsinki now also sells small to go packages in the city.

So far you get them at Cafe Carusel and HelmiGrilli. And of course they are available in all three delicious flavors as well.

A wonderful treat for a warm summer day.

Salmiakki Ice Cream

Finns love ice cream, a passion they share with most other people on this planet. But Finns also love Salmiakki (salty licorice), a passion they share with just very few other people on this planet.

And Finns even like combining those two. The result is salmiakki ice cream. You can get it at almost any ice cream parlor in the country. And it’s – let’s say – interesting. If you don’t like salmiakki anyway then keep your hands off it. If you enjoy eating the salmiakki candies then give it a try.

And if you want to see how much the reactions of Finns and other nations on salmiakki ice cream are then watch this advertisement. You will get it even without understanding the language.

Make your own Magnum

Till the end of June Magnum has a pop-up store at Vanha Ylioppistotalo. Here you can create your very own Super Magnum.

First choose between dark and white chocolate as a coating for your ice cream. Then you can choose three out of a whole bunch of crazy toppings like dried strawberries, chili flakes, mini marshmallows, candies ginger, chopped macadamia nuts and much much more.

After giving the chocolate some time to dry you can enjoy your creation. You get your own Magnum with three toppings for 4 €.

3 kaveria ice cream – yummy and local

Forget Ben & Jerry’s, forget Häagen-Dazs and get some of the delicious new 3 Kaveria ice cream. It is a great combination of milk ice cream and sorbet. And it is local.

The three work colleagues and good friends Heikki, Ilkka and Sauli always shared a passion for ice cream. So they decided to go on an adventure and went to Italy and learn how to make good ice cream. Coming back they started their own business called Kolmen Kaverin Jäätelö (three friends’ ice cream) in 2012. Within a short time their products became a huge success in Helsinki.

Three different flavors are already on the market (strawberry-vanilla, blueberry-cardamom and raspberry-white chocolate) but there is more to come. To ensure the freshness and high quality of their product they only use ingredients from local farms. You can get their delicious ice cream in selected K-markets around Helsinki.

Enjoy! 

Coffee from the test-tube

La Torrefazione is no doubt one of the best cafés in Helsinki. But have you been to their second place at Kluuvi? Also Fratello sets standards when it comes to great coffee. And not just the taste convinces. It’s also fun to watch them preparing it.

Would you like to have some pastry with your cappuccino or latte macchiato? Well, they have a big variety. Or maybe you should even consider a ball of delicious Swiss Mövenpick ice cream.

Fratello’s location and interior might not be as great as at La Torrefazione. Anyway it is definitely a must for coffee lovers.

Ice cream light

In the US it is already popular for ages. Now Frozen Yoghurt is also sold in Finland. At Spice Ice you can now get the ice cream alternative. It is produced from yogurt and milk and doesn’t contain crème which makes it less fat and calories which makes it a bit healthier than regular ice cream. Its yogurt taste makes it a refreshing treat for a warm day.  

At Spice Ice you can choose between two different – unfortunately not really that cheap – sizes for either 4.50 € (small) or 6,10 €. The small portion comes with two the big with three toppings (they have quite a nice and big variety).

And if you are not really that keen about frozen yogurt, you can of course also just stick to the good old ice cream (they have soft ice and balls).

Enjoy! 

P.S. You don't get Frozen Yogurt at all Spice Ice shops yet. But you can definately get it at Kamppi and Itäkeskus.

The Finns and their ice cream

It finally feels like summer arrived in Helsinki. It’s time for ice cream! Well, in Finland it’s basically always time for ice cream. Did you know that Finns have the highest ice cream consumption per capita of whole Europe? In average every Finn eats around 17 liters of the cool dessert every year. That’s especially surprising when you think about the cold winter days here. 

One thing you have to get used to is, that in Finland you barely will find any of those ice cream café’s that are very popular in central Europe.

Pingviini Hot & Sour Mix

The affection for ice cream makes the Finns really creative though when it comes to coming up with new flavors. You can find ice cream with pop corn, licorice, salmiakki (salty licorice) and even tar taste (yes, I’m not joking).

This season e.g. Pingviini Hot & Sour Mix with salmiakki, chilli and sour berrys is new on the market.

Even if some of those flavors might sound quite extreme you – don’t worry, they are not poisonous. Just give it a try!