The coolest scoops in the Mother City

Cape Town was practically designed for ice cream.

Sunshine. Sea air. Promenade walks. Long afternoons that somehow become sunset. And Table Mountain casually sitting in the background making even a slightly melting cone look photogenic.

Fortunately, the city’s ice cream scene is equally impressive.

There is proper Italian gelato. Small-batch ice cream made with local ingredients. Vegan scoops that don’t feel like the consolation prize. Sorbets bursting with actual fruit. Soft serve by the sea. And enough pistachio to make us very happy indeed.

So whether you’ve spent the morning on the beach, survived a mountain hike or simply believe walking from the car to the ice cream shop qualifies as exercise, these are the Cape Town scoops worth seeking out.

1. Unframed Ice Cream — Kloof Street & V&A Waterfront

Unframed doesn’t really do boring.

The Cape Town favourite built its reputation on small-batch ice cream with flavours that move comfortably between familiar and adventurous.

You might find sea salt chocolate alongside something involving turmeric, coconut, vegan chocolate or seasonal fruit.

And that’s precisely the appeal.

Come for the flavour you know.

Taste the one you’re suspicious of.

Leave carrying the suspicious one.

The texture is rich, the flavours are confident and the vegan selection is good enough that nobody needs to describe it as “good for vegan ice cream.”

It’s simply good ice cream.

Sublime scoop: Sea salt chocolate.

Where: Kloof Street and the V&A Waterfront.

2. The Creamery — Newlands

The Creamery has been quietly making Cape Town happier one scoop at a time for years.

And there’s something refreshingly uncomplicated about it.

The ice cream is made in small batches using quality local ingredients, with flavours changing according to season and inspiration.

You’ll find classics.

You’ll find seasonal specials.

And you’ll occasionally find a flavour you didn’t know you needed until somebody hands you a spoonful.

This is proper, creamy, comforting ice cream.

No circus required.

Although adding hot fudge is rarely a poor decision.

Sublime scoop: Sea salt caramel.

Where: Newlands.

3. Moro Gelato — Long Street

When you want gelato, rather than ice cream wearing an Italian accent, go to Moro.

The approach here is wonderfully traditional: beautifully smooth gelato, carefully considered ingredients and flavours that don’t need twelve toppings to get your attention.

Pistachio is always the test.

Moro passes.

Chocolate is another excellent direction, particularly if you’re someone who believes chocolate dessert should actually taste intensely of chocolate.

Which it should.

Get two flavours.

One scoop feels unnecessarily disciplined.

Sublime scoop: Pistachio with dark chocolate.

Where: Long Street, Cape Town City Centre.

4. Kristen’s Kick-Ass Ice Cream — Noordhoek & Constantia

The name tells you fairly quickly that this isn’t going to be a terribly serious experience.

Good.

Kristen’s has developed a loyal Cape Town following for handmade ice cream with big flavours, excellent texture and combinations that aren’t afraid of indulgence.

This is where caramel, chocolate, cookies and all the other things we’re apparently supposed to resist are treated with appropriate respect.

And if you’re heading towards Noordhoek, an ice cream stop feels less like dessert and more like part of the excursion.

Chapman’s Peak.

Ocean.

Ice cream.

Cape Town really does make life difficult for other cities.

Sublime scoop: Choose whichever flavour sounds most excessive.

Where: Noordhoek Farm Village and Constantia.

5. The Dairy Den — Sea Point

There are moments when sophisticated artisanal gelato is exactly what you want.

And then there are moments when you want a towering soft serve covered in something completely unnecessary.

Welcome to The Dairy Den.

Sea Point is made for ice cream wandering, and The Dairy Den provides exactly the sort of dessert you want after a walk along the Promenade.

Soft serve.

Doughnuts.

Toppings.

Chocolate.

Possibly all of the above simultaneously.

Nobody comes here seeking restraint.

Sublime order: Soft serve with toppings. Then take it for a walk along the Promenade before it melts.

Where: Sea Point.

6. Tapi Tapi — Observatory

This might be one of the most interesting ice cream stops in Cape Town.

Tapi Tapi isn’t interested in simply reproducing European ice cream traditions.

Instead, the flavours look towards Africa.

Ingredients and flavour combinations draw inspiration from across the continent, resulting in ice creams that can be surprising, unfamiliar and genuinely exciting.

This is the place to abandon your standard order.

Don’t ask for vanilla before you’ve looked at what’s available.

Ask questions.

Taste things.

Let someone behind the counter recommend something you’ve never eaten before.

That’s half the experience.

Sublime scoop: Whatever you’ve never heard of.

Where: Observatory.

7. IceDream — Hout Bay

Hout Bay already has several unfair advantages.

Mountain views.

Ocean.

Chapman’s Peak around the corner.

And then somebody hands you gelato.

IceDream is a lovely stop when you’re spending the day this side of the mountain, particularly after lunch or a wander around Hout Bay.

Keep things Italian.

Pistachio.

Hazelnut.

Chocolate.

Fruit sorbet when Cape Town has turned the temperature up.

Then take your cone outside.

Ice cream always tastes approximately 30% better near the ocean.

We don’t make the rules.

Sublime scoop: Pistachio or hazelnut.

Where: Hout Bay.

8. Gelato Mania — Green Point

Sometimes choice is the problem.

Gelato Mania understands this and responds by giving you even more of it.

The Cape Town branch offers the same enormous selection that makes the brand such fun elsewhere: creamy gelato, sorbets, vegan options and enough flavours to turn a supposedly quick decision into a committee meeting.

This is particularly useful when you’re with a group.

The chocolate person is happy.

The fruit person is happy.

The pistachio person — always the most discerning member of the group — is happy.

Everyone wins.

Sublime scoop: Pistachio paired with Belgian chocolate.

Where: Green Point.

9. Ditto Ice Cream & Waffle House — Observatory

Ditto proves something we’ve suspected for quite some time:

Ice cream is improved by waffles.

Particularly warm ones.

This is the stop for anyone who wants dessert to feel like an actual event rather than something consumed politely from a tiny paper cup.

Waffles, ice cream, sauces and toppings create the sort of plate that arrives and makes everybody else at the table reconsider what they ordered.

Sharing is technically possible.

But let’s not make promises.

Sublime order: Warm waffle with ice cream and whatever sauce is calling your name.

Where: Observatory.

10. Crumbs & Cream — Sea Point

Cookies.

Ice cream.

Together.

It remains one of civilisation’s better ideas.

Crumbs & Cream specialises in ice cream sandwiches, allowing you to choose your cookies, ice cream and toppings before assembling everything into a dessert requiring a little strategy to eat.

Is it elegant?

Not particularly.

Will some ice cream escape down the side?

Almost certainly.

Does anyone care?

Absolutely not.

Eat it while walking towards the sea.

Bring serviettes.

Sublime order: Build your own ice cream sandwich.

Where: Sea Point.

11. Venezia Ice Cream Parlour — Sea Point

Every city needs an old-school ice cream institution.

In Cape Town, Venezia has been part of the Sea Point landscape for generations.

There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about places like this.

You don’t come because somebody has invented charcoal-infused lavender foam.

You come for ice cream.

Familiar flavours.

A cone.

Maybe a sundae.

And the sort of experience that reminds you of being considerably younger and choosing ice cream based entirely on colour.

Some things don’t need reinventing.

Sublime scoop: Choose an old favourite.

Where: Sea Point.

12. Sorbetiere — Woodstock

For something more artisanal, Sorbetiere deserves your attention.

The focus is small-batch production and carefully sourced ingredients, with ice creams and sorbets that allow their flavours to do the talking.

This is particularly good territory for fruit.

A proper sorbet should taste like somebody somehow concentrated an entire piece of ripe fruit into a frozen scoop.

Not sugar water wearing a strawberry costume.

When seasonal fruit is good, follow it.

Sublime scoop: Whatever fruit sorbet is in season.

Where: Woodstock.

The Sublime Cape Town Ice Cream Crawl

If you want to turn ice cream into an afternoon activity — which seems perfectly reasonable — Sea Point is your answer.

Start with something gloriously excessive at The Dairy Den.

Walk along the Promenade.

This is important because walking obviously resets dessert.

Then head for Crumbs & Cream.

Continue towards an old-school scoop at Venezia.

Take your final cone towards the sea.

Watch the sun start dropping.

And suddenly you’ve created a rather excellent Cape Town afternoon without making a single reservation.

One more scoop

Cape Town has something Johannesburg doesn’t.

The ocean.

And eating ice cream beside it is undeniably difficult to beat.

But the real pleasure of the city’s ice cream scene is its variety.

One day you’re eating traditional pistachio gelato.

The next you’re discovering an African ingredient you’ve never tasted in ice cream before.

Then you’re standing on the Sea Point Promenade holding a soft serve approximately twice the size you intended to order.

That’s exactly how summer should work.

So forget finding the single “best” ice cream in Cape Town.

Try them all.

Conduct extensive research.

Return to your favourites for verification.