so. the thing about the ice cream sandwiches, is that the stall was manned by jeremy piven. ok, no, it was manned by a guy called patrick who resembles jeremy piven. there was nothing before him on the counter but a large container of marinated olives and gherkins (from the marinated olive and gherkin stall in the next aisle) which he ate with a toothpick. next to the counter was a freezer thingy.
he started making some “hi how are ya” smalltalk, but i couldn’t concentrate because i was distracted by the poster over the freezer thingy. six fat discs — six different ice cream sandwiches. i think he figured the only way to get my attention was to wave a small plate of samples in front of me. “this is our new flavour this month,” he said. “it’s banana ice cream and banana bread on the outside.”
nellie, come and have one immediately!
“oh i need one for the walk home,” i said, “but i don’t know which one to get.” there was a coffee one, a couple of vanillas (different cookies), a berry yoghurt…
“the double chocolate,” he said without hesitation. “if you like chocolate, get the double chocolate.”
“but the banana one was so banana-ey,” i said.
“but you’ve already tried that one. get the chocolate.”
“um.”
“the chocolate.”
so i did. it was belgian chocolate ice cream sandwiched between chewy chocolate cookies. it came, a neat package wrapped in paper. i held it for ten minutes, nurturing, anticipating, and then it was melty and creamy and good.
patrick lived in guangdong for a year, years ago. he speaks chinese, probably better than i do. his first ice cream machine was a handcranked rock salt and ice one. he makes his ice cream out of home. he’s on the verge of expanding, moving into premises. his partner in ice cream, the other guy pictured in the logo, is freakishly tall, maybe six-foot-nine, and is known as “stick”. all this you can find out while buying an ice cream sandwich.
13 Comments
omg, if stick looked like john cusack, i’d have to fly down there immediately. so, banana-banana or chocolate-chocolate? what’s your verdict?
oh if stick looked like john cusack, and manned the stall, i expect i’d be at the markets every wednesday for an ice cream sandwich.
the banana-banana was quite supreme: the ice cream was the speckled beige of real bananas (rather than the pale yellow of imitation, nature-identical bananas, not that there’s anything wrong with that), flavoursome and creamy smooth. however the banana bread cookies were a bit dry and boardy.
so probably the chocolate-chocolate. ummm… i think i will have to return next week for a whole banana-banana one just to make sure. 😀
aaaaaaaaaaaa
you are LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!
i. just. don’t. know. what. to. say.
maybe a list:
(a) why do i know who jeremy piven is? i mean, i know what he looks like, i just don’t know what he’s been in or anything.
(a) (i) oh, you are so lucky.
(b) hey, cc, ‘member when we were at the chinatown ice cream factory and i was going to not get anything, and i je-regrettefully said, “oh, if only they had banana, ’cause i bet they’d do a great one.” ? and then, um, there was the tub of banana ??
(c) no need to mention the other chinatown ice cream factory memory, which may include the sound “klong!”.
(interjection: aaaaaaaaa!!!)
(d) my kitchen includes a banana and some of maud’s godiva white chocolate–raspberry ice cream from maybe the last last time she was here. maybe some action needs to be taken, and soon.
(e) quack quack!
xxxxxxx
wow those icecream sandwiches sound superb! where from?
Hmmmm. I posted something about not fiding an icecream sanwich as good as the ones in my school tuckshop circa 1992 and on Orchard Rd circa Jan 2004. About how the light green, light, pink, light yellow sandwich sparked my obsession of photographing my food.
And how if I ever encounter the chocolate on chocolate I may find the need to ask “does it come with raspberries and hazelnuts”.
And then haloscan spat its dummy at me and refused to post it saying i was “illegal” or something to that nature.
Hope this goes through.
oh my god!!! orchard road ice cream sandwich uncles and aunties are the best!!! although sometimes, when they don’t have the rainbow bread, i just keep walkin’…
suze: it was in the middle aisle at the fox studios growers market on wednesday. apparently they sell through some delis, and are about to sell on their own premises. cleverly, i didn’t bother to ask where their premises might be. look out for them. i think they are called “pat and stick’s old fashioned ice cream sandwiches”.
saffron: hmm. haloscan must have been hijacked by phillip ruddock. 😉
i know there’s a certain charm about the orchard road ice cream sandwiches, but it’s that cheap, slightly foamy ice cream. at least they have those colourful sweet corn, yam and durian flavours. but as nelliestellou says, it is the rainbow bread that really makes ’em.
meanwhile… your school tuckshop had ice cream sandwiches?? lucky.
Pat and Stick, or Stick and Pat as we know them (we met Stick first, at Fox) … supurb ice-cream sandwiches. However, we all need to put pressure on Pat to bring back the Mango Fandango – Mango and Kaffir Lime Icecream between macaroon ‘bread’. New shop/kitchen thingy opening soon in Leichardt … Parramatta road somewhere between Norton and Balmain Streets.
thanks tvdog! once again, a fine display of prowess in the sweet treats department. that mango fandango sounds tasty! i had a very luscious scoop of mango gelato yesterday, at the portuguese fair at petersham. tasted just like a frozen mango. i had to exercise some self-restraint and not go back for another cone. what we really want to know though, if you refer to comment #1, is whether or not stick looks like john cusack. 🙂
are you moving to singapore?
Bowb, i think that charm for me was seeing a scooter attached the cart… and the fact that there is no road food in sydney per say. At least not ice cream sandwich road food.
And the high school only did the icecream sandwich once a year… when we had our school festival thingie. And 1992 I remember specifically, because between my best friend and I, we may have consumed about 12 sandwiches. They were kinda 4 bite sized anway. So really shall we just say 6?
And now… well… your post has got me licking my greedy lips for one. I am sure a post and a photograph will follow soon enough. 🙂
Hi Bowb, even though Stick looks exactly like the graphic on the label I don’t think he really looks like John Cusack. Difficult to tell on the angle since he is ‘stick’ tall. Did I miss good Portugese in Petersham? Damn! Love a good tart still hot from the oven at Sweet Belem.
At the moment, Singapore is on the back-burner. A little disappointed but the Bank was takinga long time to get themselves organised and, well you know how freelance/contract work is, sometimes you just gotta take the job that comes up first cause there’s bills to pay etc. It’s still a chance later this year. I could use a big adventure, then I could pinch a line from PeeWee – ‘I don’t have to see it Dotty, I lived it!’
hiya bowb
ice-cream sandwich!!! if only..if only I could head to fox studio’s market on wed! How lucky you are! Hmmm I am thinking about the chocolate-chocolate 😉
tvdog: apparently the wall of hungry punters between door and counter ar sweet belem was like, six people deep, so no fresh flaky warm tarts were had.
re: singapore. ah well, until you get there, you could visit this guy’s site, in which he blogs (and photographs) everything he’s eaten over two weeks in singapore, in fourteen parts, lordy.
pinkcocoa: perhaps they will also be at the saturday market. however, if you note tvdog’s first post above, you will see that anytime now, on any day of the week you would be able to drive down parramatta road around leichhardt and get yourself a chocolate-chocolate. good luck!