Hong Kong ice cream shops for fun flavours, all-natural ingredients, vegan and gluten-free variations, and more

Whether it’s flavours like Horlicks and White Rabbit candy you want or gluten-free products made from local ingredients, Hong Kong has something for you

Vegans and the lactose-intolerant can look to Happy Cow for coconut-based ice cream with special Asian flavours such as dragon fruit and durian

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Ice cream at Igloo Dessert Bar in Central, one of a number of home-grown Hong Kong brands. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 12:15pm, 31 Jul 2020Updated: 2:53pm, 31 Jul 2020

It’s another hot and humid summer in Hong Kong and that means many people can’t stop thinking about ice cream and its assorted relations, from gelato and sorbet to frozen dessert and ice pops. While familiar international brands are popular in the city, several home-grown entrepreneurs are also taking a lick at the market.

The first small local ice cream to make a name was XTC. Launched in 2001, Hong Kong’s first gelateria pioneered flavours that included Hong Kong milk tea and chocolate Sichuan pepper.

The ownership of the business has changed over the years but XTC continues, selling at its shops as well as in supermarkets.

Since then, other brands have come along introducing quirky distinctive flavours and products. Customers are now so spoiled for choice, they don’t ever have to settle for the traditional chocolate, strawberry or vanilla flavours again.

Larvina Wong opened Igloo Dessert Bar in 2016. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Chinese-Canadian Larvina Wong opened Igloo Dessert Bar, at Central Ferry Pier 7 (Star Ferry Pier), during a sort of minor midlife crisis. Tiring of her stable but stressful architecture job, she reinvented herself as an artisan gelato maker in 2016.

“I had gone on holiday in Italy and gelato shops were everywhere. People just enjoyed life and ate gelato, so that was my inspiration.” Wong says. “I always baked cakes and enjoyed cooking. The laws for importing ice cream were quite stringent so I thought let’s make it ourselves.”