So Chill: Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt in Chengdu

Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt in Chengdu

We recently made the rounds of a few ice cream and frozen yogurt places and found that with so many new places opening and old favourites closing, moving, or updating themselves, Chengdu’s ice cream and frozen yogurt landscape seems to have melted and been refrozen into a completely new topography. We used to enjoy places like Hong Kong’s Crumbs, which had a sadly limited run in town, and Yogurt Yard has been reduced to two locations in the Jiao Da mall where only one still yummy flavour of yogurt is still being served alongside various sorbets. However, with a few old favourites still making very good frozen treats and some fresh faces in town, we have lots of ways to keep cool this summer.

JW Frozen Yogurt – Joghurtwerk冻酸奶

• Joy City

大悦路与太平园中三路交叉口大悦城1楼悦街J11

• Silver Square

银石广场一楼主入口左侧， Chunxi Road Subway Exit D

This place is a soft serve frozen yogurt and toppings spot with a couple of locations in Chengdu. The yogurt is delicious, creamy and tangy with a large variety of fillings. They are our current favourite for yogurt, though we wish they had fresh fruit toppings. There are lots of syrupy/crunchy/chewy things to add to the yogurt. Small yogurt and toppings 25 yuan and up.

Amore Gelato

• Wannianxiang

双庆路万象城电影院楼上(玩具反斗城对面)

• 九眼桥

宏基中路 78号

We used to travel all the way to the 9 Square mall in the Gao Xin district to eat Amore gelato. They now have a location on the upper floor of Wannianxiang mall on the east second ring. We are happy that they are continuing to be particular about the product quality. The durian gelato, potent enough to be sealed in its own container in the freezer case, is worth travelling from any direction in town to experience. The price depends on flavour but two scoops are around 30RMB.

Godiva IFS

• 红星路三段1号IFS国际金融中心LG123店铺

Our favourite spot for premium Belgian chocolate also swirls up decadent soft serve cones in their IFS store. The ice cream comes in chocolate, vanilla or ripple flavours that manage to recall a childhood treat by way of a grown-up indulgence. The ice cream is served in a waffle cone and is 45RMB.

Kokocasa

• Kuanzhai Alleys

长顺上街宽巷子8号附3-附4号

We visited the Koko casa at Kuanzhai Xiangzi, which has none of the eponymous koko or chocolates for sale that the other Kokocasa locations have, but we are glad to report their gelato is still very good. We missed a few of their older flavours like beer and tomato, but Hawaiian apple is still on offer and they are offering a new rose and cheese flavour. They also have a durian gelato, but after Amore we can’t eat durian gelato anywhere else. Their scoops are noticeably smaller than others’, the better to taste a variety of flavours. Two scoops are 28RMB.

Miss Wu’s Stir Fried Yogurt 吴小姐炒酸奶

• Raffles City

人民南路四段3号来福士广场B2层

• Yin Tai Cheng

天府四街与益州大道交汇处银泰城四楼

Miss Wu’s offers a novel approach to frozen yogurt – the customer picks out a brand of premium yogurt and then a flavour to mix in. The flavour and add-ins are mixed up by hand and the server spreads the mixture on to a cold disk until it is frozen. Then the yogurt is cut into chunks and served in a cup. They offer several jam-based fruit flavours, but we decided to try the matcha flavour the server said was their best seller. The other ingredients are raisins and coconut jelly for interest. We enjoyed the not over-sweet matcha flavour with the texture of the Greek style yogurt we picked, and it’s a nice treat to spoon up while sitting by the fountain at Raffles City on a warm evening. One order is around 20RMB.