[Ice Cream] Bar Ape

Restaurant: Bar Ape
Location: N/A. Check their social media pages for daily location.
Price Range: $

[wp-review]

Did you #SpotTheApe? If you ever see a three wheeled piaggio ape parked somewhere around Toronto, run to them and get a gelato bar!! Bar Ape is an unique and tiny “food-truck” that serves handmade gelato in traditional Italian flavors, but instead of serving in a cup or cone, the gelato are formed into dipped portable bars.

From what I have heard, since the truck isn’t a traditional ice cream truck and without a clear direction from the city, the owner cannot park the car in certain areas. So far I have seen them in Trinity Bellwoods, Bloor & Church and David Pecaut square. Your best bet is to stalk bar ape’s twitter or instagram account as they will provide daily updates on their location and special flavors.

At most their truck can only fit one person in there and the other person will drive the truck. Due to limited space, all their ice cream bars are stored in a freeze container and it really is a first-come-first-serve kinda thing.

The core menu features 6 flavors with 5 as the permanent, and the other one is a special of the day depending on what’s in season. The 5 classic Italian flavors are: Chocolate hazelnut, pistachio, lemon, raspberry, coconut and roasted almonds. With that said, I think occasionally they will rotate the permanent flavors as well, so it’s quite nice to know that you can always get something different on each visit!

All their gelato bars are $5 each and cash only.

Here I got the Ontario Peach which was the flavor of the day. If I remember correctly, the gelato bar was dipped in white chocolate coating and you are getting bits of peach with every bites! I liked how the ice cream bar itself wasn’t too sweet so you are really getting the natural sweetness and a bit tangy from the peaches.

This one is the pistachio flavor which is their permanent flavor. It was also coated with white chocolate as well, a tad too sweet and had a slight nutty taste from the pistachio. I think if the pistachio was roasted, it would have brought out a stronger pistachio taste in the ice cream :). Nonetheless it is still one of my favorite, and actually I don’t think I disliked any of the flavors here at all, even my friends also loved Bar Ape!

After raving about Bar Ape for so long, C finally decided to come out with me for some ice cream and of course she didn’t regret it ;). She got the pistachio and although she liked the pistachio, it was a bit too sweet for her and she preferred the black cherry more.

The black cherry had a chocolate coating and it was slightly bitter, not too much to the point it overpower the tangy cherry fillings. This gelato bar had the perfect combination of sweetness and sourness, I really enjoyed it!

I LOVE Bar Ape, and how can you not love that cute ice cream “food truck”?! All the flavors are authentic and delicious, you can tell how much love the owners have put into crafting these gelato bars. The owners are also friendly and really down to earth, and they are constantly updating followers on their whereabouts and happy to take requests! Since the weather is getting chilly, Bar Ape will probably stop selling ice cream soon, so make sure to check their social media and get the gelato bars before they are gone for the winter.