I tried all the vegan soft serve in Ottawa. I probably missed a few but I did try a lot of them. I have lived in Ottawa for two years and I was still transitioning from vegetarian to vegan when I moved here. I don’t remember having a lot of soft serve in Vancouver when I did eat dairy. I only remember having it at McDonald’s and buffets. I didn’t even know vegan soft serve was a thing until I moved to Ottawa. I tried six places The Merry Dairy, Oddburger, Little Jo Berry’s, Chocolate Favouris, IKEA, PastelXCoco, and 2 bonuses dole whip from Cinnaholic and the plant based dilly bar from Dairy Queen. I also went to Mavericks but they have been having supply issues and the soft serve is currently not vegan. Let me know if I missed any and maybe I’ll update the post in the future.
The Merry Dairy was the first vegan soft serve I had in Ottawa. I remember thinking I had to wait in line to get into the store only to learn soft serve was at the truck with no line. I was super excited that I was going to try the vegan soft serve and it was really good. It really reminded me of the buffet ice cream I used to get when I ate dairy. Two years later it is harder to get the vegan version it is only available on certain days and times and the flavours can change. I got lucky that I was able to go to their special event on Canada Day and they only had vegan that day. It was just as good as I remembered it from the first time I had it. Many of their waffle cones are vegan and some of the toppings as well. I find the texture and flavour is the closest one to the dairy ice cream I remember having before I was vegan.
It is hard to know when Littlejoberry’s has the soft serve available because it isn’t everyday but I believe right now it’s Thursday’s to Sunday’s. I’m not a huge fan of oat mylk and I believe they use OatandMill. I had the soft serve once before at an event but it wasn’t a fair comparison at the time because it was mixed with other things. I was pleasantly surprised with the one I tried for this blog. The soft serve is really good. It has a good light flavour that really blends well with the sweetness of the waffle cone. It is slightly icy like some of the other soft serve but this one is very slight and it is mostly creamy. They also have the option of adding toppings but I really liked it just in a waffle cone.
I rarely go to IKEA mostly because it’s not usually convenient to get to. One of the first places I was taken to when I first moved to Ottawa was IKEA. It was a really hot day and I remember seeing the plant based strawberry ice cream and it was so good that day. The other times I went to IKEA after that it was sold out. I went to IKEA this year specifically for this blog but I also wanted to try the veggie dog. There was a line so I decided to get the hotdog and ice cream at the same time. I got a kids cone for $1.50 it’s a big portion at a small price. Earlier in the day I burnt my tongue on hot coffee so maybe my tastebuds were off but I really remember the flavour being more fresh strawberry in the past. It was still good but I found it really odd that I took pictures and ate the hotdog and it barely melted. Would I get it again? Yes it’s still a good cone and IKEA’s website states that they moving to more plant based food by 2025 so maybe we will get more options in the future.
I have to thank @munchieswithlove for telling me about and taking me to Chocolats Favoris. I knew this was a chocolate store but I didn’t know they had locations in Ottawa and some have vegan dipped cones. Only some locations have it so make sure you double check before going. I am a huge chocolate lover so I did spend some time looking at the chocolate part of the store before getting the ice cream. They have many marked vegan items and some accidentally vegan ones which are not marked vegan because of cross contamination.
It was hard to decide what to get here because there are options. Two of the dips are marked vegan and one was accidentally vegan. The chocolate was very thick which I wasn’t expecting and the ice cream was very good. I got it in a waffle cone and that was a mistake because it was too sweet with the chocolate. I am sure I will visit again and I am looking forward to trying this without the waffle cone.
Pastel&Coco is in Gatineau so technically in Quebec not Ottawa but it is still within the National Capital Region. It was an easy transit ride to get there. This is a fully vegan cafe with a sister more upscale vegan restaurant Astoria next door. They have vanilla or chocolate and you can add a variety of toppings or have a Sundae. I’m trying to have a fair comparison so left it as a vanilla cone. The flavour is good just a slight hint of vanilla the way I like it. The only thing I didn’t like on this one was the texture it was slightly too cold; although, it looks really creamy it was kind of icy when in the mouth. I think this one would be really good with toppings on it. My friend also tells me that they have a twist cone so may have to try that next time.
I went to Keepin It vegan to try their Sunday brunch of course couldn’t leave without trying the soft serve. The texture is really good very creamy and in my opinion better than the texture of dairy ice cream. There is real vanilla in it which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but the vanilla flavour is very strong. It is more of an upscale soft serve than the regular fast food soft serve. They are also a Veg Ottawa partner so ask for a discount if you are a member.
A true fast food experience Oddburger recently opened in Ottawa. It is all vegan fast food. I happened to get there during the soft opening while they were taking pictures of the ice cream . I got lucky to get the picture perfect cone but really you get the fast food experience there. Cones are $1.00 all summer so this is the perfect fast food place for your soft serve. The soft serve is very close to what I remember dairy soft serve as but it is a little bit icier it is still very good. Be prepared that the Ottawa location has been really busy since it opened and they do run out of things. You may get a true fast food experience with the ice cream machine is broken sign. It is great to see the excitement and demand for vegan fast food in Ottawa.
Bonus: Dole whip from Cinnaholic. When I first moved to Ottawa I had no idea that Cinnaholic was fully vegan they don’t advertise it and I’m sure many don’t know. I’m not sure if dole whip counts as soft serve but it was really creamy. It is very good just a tad too icy which is equivalent to the other soft serve’s I have reviewed. The pineapple taste was good not too much but had good flavour. This one was very good. Cinnaholic is also one of Vegottawa’s partners so ask for the discount if you are a member.
Another bonus:
I was walking by Dairy Queen and remembered their plant based dilly bars. I haven’t had one in years. When they were first sold they were only sold in boxes but now they can be bought individually. I really like this bar the chocolate coating is thin it has a good texture. The inside is made of coconut cream but the taste and texture definitely have soft serve vibes. If you end up at Dairy Queen likely because a non vegan makes you go this is a good option.
Let me know are there any places I missed? Do you want me to go try all the other vegan ice cream in Ottawa?
Thank you for reading. For more vegan food follow me on Instagram @LivingOttawaLocal and @VeganCanadianfinds
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