Melbourne’s BEST Ice Cream & Frozen Treat Spots

“Without ice cream, there would be darkness and chaos.”
Don Kardong

I’m not going to go into a long winded story about ice-cream and how much my kids love it. It’s ICE-CREAM! Of course they love it. So with their passion in mind I created this cracking list of Melbourne's best places to get Ice Cream and Frozen Treats with the wee ones in tow. I’m not going to say enjoy – cos l know you will.


Jock's Ice Cream
83 Victoria Ave, Albert Park
Walking distance to Gasworks Park and the Beach Jock's also serve up Kid's Ice Cream Cones with loads of award winning lush flavours to choose from.

Gelobar
74 Lygon Street, Brunswick East
Gelobar serve up $3 Baby Cones for the kids and also have a fancy new family friendly café opening next-door early 2013. The Coconut gelato is my favourite. Just saying.

Passionflower
Shop 2, 168 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Serves a variety of Asian exotic ice-creams and desserts. They are located a few blocks walk from the Myer Christmas windows

Casa Del Gelato
163 Lygon Street, Carlton
Choose all the colours from the rainbow at this busy ice-cream bar, they also have a large park next door with lush grass and shady trees. Tis’ the perfect spot to spend a sunny afternoon.

Fritz Gelato
Richmond – South Melbourne – St Kilda – South Yarra – Queenscliff – Lorne
Serves up organic ice-cream and gelato. They have loads of locations to choose from for city peeps and beach bums.

Orange Leaf
65 Bay St Port Melbourne
There are 16 delicious flavours of frozen yogurt to choose from and all are made on site daily. They also have colouring sheets and crayons for the kids with loads of room for prams. I also love the Coconut flavoured fro yo at Orange Leaf. Just saying, again!

Trampoline
Doncaster – Brighton – Camberwell – Chadstone Shopping Centre – St Kidila and The Royal Childrens Hospital.
I love that Trampoline have an outlet at the RCH, because sick bubs need ice-cream too! Not only do they serve up a mean gelato they also do smoothies, sundaes and ice-cream cakes for kids parties.

Yo-Chi Frozen Yogurt Bar
St Kilda
We all love a bit of organic action for the wee ones, it’s expensive but you know it made with love and good quality ingredients. This self-serve yogurt bar also offer over 20 toppings to go with your organic treat.

Yogurddiction
Food Van
Don’t run around town looking for frozen treats – let them come to you. The good folk over at Yoguraddiction are always popping up at various parks and shopping centres around Melbourne. Just follow them on Facebook and Twitter for daily location details. And here is the kicker – have an order over $30 and they will bring it to YOU! Perfect for Mother’s Groups meet ups in the park.

Lucky Pops Ice Delights
Food Van
Don’t you just love a food van – we’re just a little bit in love with them ATM. No mess. No fuss. All you need is cash and picnic blanket. Lucky Pops Ice Delights serves up homemade goodness on a stick. Using the best local produce in town these icy poles are packed with real fruit, herbs and spices to delight all ages. Follow their Twitter or Facebook page for daily locations. They could be at your local park this week! 

Other spots worth a little mention……

Story In A Cup
South Yarra
Give 15% off when you purchase a Family Tub

Goodness Me in Richmond
295 Bridge Rd Richmond
Have $3 ice cream cones for the kid's

Gioco Gertz in Reservoir

Aurora Foods in Coburg North

Lick Me Ice Cream in Camberwell

Cacao Green located in Camberwell as well as the City

Ben and Jerry’s on the trendy Chapel St South Yarra

Don’t be shy! If we’ve forgotten your favourite frozen treat spot please add it below.

Road-Test :: Cooking For your Baby and Toddler

We all like to eat healthy food and we all like to think we’re passing on our good eating habits to our children. And while we all may say with hand on heart we give our kids the best nutritious meals every day, sometimes it just doesn’t happen and things like cakes, sweets and crisps get mixed into the diet.

Well luckily there is this cook book to keep us on track. It’s filled with loads of fresh recipes and cooking ideas for when it comes to catering for the little ones.

Let me tell you all about “Cooking for your baby and Toddler” by Louise Fulton Keats. Yes you read correctly, Louise is the daughter of the great cook book icon and fresh food ambassador Margaret Fulton. So before l even start waffling on about this book you know it has street cred with a name like Fulton associated with.

The good folk over at Hardie Grant popped a copy in the post for us and we were only too happy to give it a test run in the Bambini kitchen. Here’s what we got from it.

The book is mainly aimed at young babies who are starting on solids right up to toddlers and young pre-school children. Although l must confess the whole family had the Asian Chicken Bites for our dinner the other night and we loved them, so basically some of the recipes are suitable for all ages.

The book teaches new parents how to incorporate solids into their child’s diet while offering a diverse range of ingredients, textures and flavours to try and use. It also touches on what essential vitamins and minerals should go into young little tummies for healthy growth and learning, while exploring all different types of cuisines and tastes.

Louise shows parents how to puree, whip, chop, bake, stew and mince wholesome food for your little tackers.  She even has suggested weekly meal planners, which makes mum’s job a little easier in the kitchen. With beautiful recipes on offer plus photography to match, it will change the way you think about the nightly meal and give you loads of inspiration on what to dish up the wee ones. Because let’s face it, we all get into a cooking rut, and it’s nice to try something new now and again.

Here are some of the meals we’ve be whipping up from the book.

 

Apricot and Coconut Balls

 

Asian Chicken Bites

 

 

Carrot, Potato and Zucchini Frittata Fingers

 

 

I believe it’s the prefect Christmas Gift for any expecting parent, l only wish l had been able to get my hands on it a few years ago when my babies were starting out on solids. 

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Try before you buy! Check out this yummy Salmon Cakes recipe over on the Cooking for your Baby and Toddler website. Enjoy!