Review Location:170 Main Street
Unionville, Ontario
As a followup to the disappointing reality that Al Dente was in fact located in Mains St. Markham and not Unionville, later that evening Rob and I decided to take a stroll around the latter.. I was no stranger to the Historic Main Street Unionville area. It is so charming with its beautiful Victoria style streets, but never have I seen it so romantic as it was after sunset. It was a completely different atmosphere.
While most retail stores would be closed at this time elsewhere, most of the little shops here were still open. The stores sold a variety of interesting items and trinkets, but you could tell most people went in for the sole purpose of browsing. It was definitely the ice cream stores that brought in the most business on the warm summer night. Not being able to resist we decided to get ice cream ourselves.
Old Firehall Confectionary is definitely the biggest ice cream store in Unionville. Not only does it have ice cream, it has a variety of other treats to satisfy any sweet tooth! I felt like an overwhelmed 4 year old walking through the store marveling at all that it has!
Old Firehall Confectionery
Display cases of cupcakes, cookies, brownies, etc
Display cases of truffles, macaroon and other treats
The store also has a retail section at the back where you can purchase anything from packaged candies, chocolates, and even drinks. They had these interesting chocolate sushi's that caught my eye!
Chocolate Rice Crispy Sushi
And while everything here looked divine, we were here for one purpose, and one purpose only -ice cream! They serve a variety of ice cream here: scoops, soft serve, frozen yoghurt and even dipping dots.
Ice cream counter
Similar to Marble Slab or Coldstone Creamery, they have the cold stone concept where you can add mix-ins to your ice cream if desired. We decided to stick to basics.
Single scoop "Pralines and Cream" ($2.99) -"Prailine flavoured ice cream with praline pecans and caramel
This ice cream scoop was jam packed with pecans! Add a nice crunch to it, but I found it was way too sweet. Probably should have stuck to a mild flavour like vanilla or chocolate mint. In terms of the texture, it was very creamy. Surprisingly it didn't melt as fast as I would've expected it to given the hot weather that night.
Small "Crunchi Creme Soft Serve" Oreo Flavour ($2.79)
It was interesting to see how they made this ice cream. They basically had attachments filled with oreo (or smarties, or whichever you choose) bits, and it is dispensed and incorporated into the ice cream machine as it's swirled it into your cone. Reminds me of the ice cream from hong kong where they can swirl mango or taro flavour into the cones. The ice cream was tasty, but the oreo flavour was very faint. If you're big on very sweet ice cream I'd probably go for an Oreo McFlurry instead.
In overview, I thought the ice cream was good but not earth-shattering. I find what really sells this place is the prime location in Unionville, as well its ability to satisfy any sugar craving by offering something for everyone. It's a little pricier, but sitting on the sidewalk of Unionville on a warm summer evening with an ice cream is definitely an irreplaceable pleasure!
