Hamilton's Duck Island Is Opening an Ice Cream Parlour in Ponsonby

Hamilton favourite Duck Island Ice Cream is soon to open a parlour in Auckland. Though it's no secret that you can already buy prepackaged tubs of their gooey goodness at Farro Fresh, it seems that it's hard to beat tasting the product at its source, which goes some way to explaining the pilgrimage many Aucklanders undertake to Duck Island's Hamilton headquarters.

From this weekend, however, to lick one's way through some of the best ice cream in the country will no longer entail a 140km commute to the city that claims to be 'More than you expect'. As I write, Duck Island is in the final stages of refurbishing its new boutique in Ponsonby, and will be ready to sling scoops by Friday, 8 March. With interior design and fittings by The Wonder Group, Duck Island's Ponsonby boutique will continue the brand's signature pastel palette and San Francisco vibes. Rain or shine, you'll need only to step into their parlour to bask in a gentle summer glow.

Since its founding in mid-2015, Duck Island has been making an appropriately mallard-like splash (boisterous but urbane) in Hamilton and throughout the country. This splash has seen its products eddy into supermarkets nationwide, and its reputation ripple all over social media. It is the brainchild of Hamilton restauranteurs Morgan Glass, Kimberley Higgison and Cameron Farmilo, the names behind Chim Choo Ree, and it bears all the hallmarks of an obsession — surely the stuff of which the ice cream connoisseur's dreams are made.

Duck Island craft their artisanal ice cream from organic milk, cream, and the freshest seasonal produce. They also offer an extensive dairy-free and vegan range made with delicious coconut milk. Perhaps most impressive of all, they have as many as 40 rotating flavours on offer at any one time. And though they do all the classics, always with a twist of course, it's the experimental flavours that keep people coming back for more. Will it be a cinnamon smoked apple pie or a roasted white chocolate and miso? What about a blueberry sourcream gooey butter cake? Or something with a popcorn essence? (Procrastinators and the indecisive beware).

Duck Island Ice Cream will be located in the refurbished Fire Station Building at 182 Ponsonby Road from Friday, 8 March. 

Image: Duck Island.