Grinning Face Gelato is a teeny space, but a huge find and great addition to Toronto’s seriously lacking dairy-free ice cream parlors! You will see the red logo quicker than you’ll find the below-ground door on Parliament south of Bloor on the west side of the street.
They claim to make “non-dairy gelato goodness” and I can say that they certainly do, in fact, I would call it gelato awesmazing-ness! Grinning face, a team made up of Matt, who was there when I visited, his wife, and his sister-in-law make their coconut-based gelato from scratch. They crack the coconuts once per week, and let the milk sit for a day before adding quality and delicious ingredients, many that are local. Then, they churn it into naturally rich, creamy gelato. I can only imagine how much time it takes, and love of coconuts to make one batch at a time. Their ingredients are very simple, and they don’t use any soy or nuts in their flavours. It’s free of artificial anything and full of incredible flavour. They have many vegan varieties, and the ones that are not contain local eggs from a small family farm, and I noticed they use local honey in one of their flavours as well.
With all of the delicious options, my sister, my mother and I all chose to get the Vegan Apple Cider Caramel gelato because Matt had let us sample it and we were all captivated immediately by sweet flavour and creamy texture. Matt told me that they get the apple cider from a local farm and they let it soak into the caramel to make this variety.
I have two disappointments:
1. We couldn’t take pints home, since we weren’t going directly home to a freezer, which means that as I type this post, I am going to try to figure out how I can get back there tomorrow.
2. They aren’t open every day, and are not open at night. BUT, they are open from Friday-Sunday from 12-6, will be at Sorauren Farmers’ Market on Mondays, and are available at retailers like The Healthy Butcher too. I bet if we all start eating a lot of their gelato, they will be scooping more hours, so let’s work on that!
Although I love ice cream year-round, ,it’s so much fun to be able to go out for it on a hot summer day and only consume clean and healthier ingredients! I hope you enjoy!
