Since taking home one of the Cuisine Artisan Awards in 2016, Cameron Farmilo, Kimberley Higgison and Morgan Glass of Duck Island Ice Cream certainly haven’t been taking it easy: alongside running popular Hamilton restaurant Chim Choo Ree they’ve showcased their luscious licks with two parlours in Hamilton.

But now they’ve taken wing: deciding to concentrate on Duck Island, they’ve sold their restaurant of 10 years and are set to open a new scoop shop on Auckland’s Ponsonby Road. “We enjoy the scoop shops because we get to experiment with flavours and have fun,” says Cam.

Housed in the old Ponsonby Fire Station, the petite LA-style space is supplemented by a cool outdoor area for enjoying Duck Island’s ice cream, sorbet, milkshakes, sundaes and ice-cream sandwiches. Due to open in late February, the new pastel parlour will feature 24 flavours on rotation from their range of 40. While nailing the classics such as vanilla bean, mint choc chip and milk chocolate, it’s the more intriguing flavour combos that keep us coming back – treats such as raspberry coconut and coriander, black sticky rice and blackberry, sage and honey. And there will be up to four special flavours featured each month – at Christmas a favourite was candy cane and cardamom.

While the ice cream is made using organic milk and cream there’s also a luxurious dairy-free and vegan range. “The demand for our vegan ice cream is getting bigger and bigger by the minute,” says Cam. “A lot of people are put off by the coconut taste of other vegan ice creams, but we have found a really good coconut milk with a high fat content that gives great texture and flavour.”

It’s Morgan who comes up with the fantastic, and sometimes fantastical, new flavour combinations, drawing inspiration from the fresh seasonal ingredients available and trends coming out of innovative US ice cream makers, especially in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Seattle (where Salt & Straw recently came up with a Roast Turkey Dinner flavour!) “You can get away with almost anything,” says Cam, “so long as you balance salty and sweet and don’t go too scary.” So, there’s our summertime treats taken care of. / duckislandicecream.co.nz