You can’t buy happiness but you can buy ice cream and that’s the same thing. One of my FAVOURITE sayings of all time. After ‘Forget Love, I’d rather fall in chocolate’, which makes it my second favourite saying of all time but let’s not get technical here. Can you remember a time when you went out for ice cream and were sad about it?! NEVER. Ice cream = happiness. And although I love making my own happiness, nothing quite beats going out for a scoop of ice cream in a sugary waffle cone on a warm summer’s Sunday with the sun beating on your face.
My ice cream moments are pretty sacred – I have one or two spots where I get my favourite scoop and I am loyal to them because there is nothing worse than trying a new spot and getting disappointed. I’ve dubbed it: calorie regret. When you want to call the manager over and demand that someone give you back the calories you just wasted on that sub-par chocolate brownie! And so I stick to the places I can trust. Except a few Wednesdays ago when I threw caution to the wind and allowed someone new to scoop my ice cream (that sounds a lot dirtier than I intended!).
Which is how I met Yann Rey at Unframed Ice Cream in Kloof Street. Yann is one of those effortlessly cool people who you immediately want to be friends with (I promise it wasn’t because he owns an ice cream shop although that briefly crossed my mind to be a convenient factor). In typical Capetonian style, he greeted me wearing slip slops and his cap on backwards like he’d just come from a surf – he’s a laid-back kinda guy. But when he starts talking about ice cream, he gets as excited as I do about baking. Waxing lyrical about ice crystal structure, flavour balance and his fancy gelato machine from Italy; I could’ve stood listening to him talk about ice cream for days (provided my ice cream cone was topped up sporadically, of course).
I would cross my heart and hope to die that this is THE best ice cream in Cape Town, if not South Africa. Forget the normal flavours everyone else is doing, Unframed is all about pushing boundaries (hence the name) so expect to have to choose between flavours like Grapefruit and Black Pepper, NuttiKrust, Dirty Sea Salt Caramel, Matcha Green, Burnt White Chocolate and my personal favourite, Jasmine and Lemongrass. Yann’s ice cream recipes were developed by his partner, ice cream master Stephane Auge, who’s won the Meilleur Ouvrier De France for ice cream (basically, like a Michelin star) so expect delicately-flavoured, uber creamy ice cream with the perfect balance.
Vegans and vegetarians, you’re also welcome here! None of the ice creams are made from heavy egg-based custard – coconut milk and nut milks are used in many of the flavours, meaning everyone gets a scoop of happiness. And by scoop I mean tasting platter – don’t even try and choose a single flavour on your first visit. Just go ahead and order the tasting platter for R75 and have all 5. That’s what I did when I visited Unframed twice in one week. Jip, it was so good, that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
The toppings! I almost forgot about the toppings! No sprinkles here people, this is serious ice cream business. Choose from toppings like dried white mulberries, mini coconut macaroons, biscotti, raw date caramel, dirty sea salt caramel (which I assume got the name from the dirty thoughts it gives you) and caramelised nuts. What are you still hanging around for? Go get your scoop on!
TIP Unframed is open in Kloof street from 11am to 11pm, every day. Prices: R32 for one scoop, R54 for two, R65 for three, or R75 for a tasting flight (recommended!). They also sell 1L tubs (yay for eating ice cream in bed) – find out where you can get your hands on it here.