Deal Beach Parlor

On a rather rain filled day on the edge of England what better thing to do than to visit one of our favourite cafe's (Kings coffee Shop Restaurant in Deal - amazing place) followed by testing ice cream from a traditional seaside ice cream parlor.

Like Morellis in Broadstairs, Deal Beach Parlor is like stepping into a tardis and visiting the 1960s (something we'd both quite like to do!). They serve a range of other food as well as ice cream and I can personally recommend the ham and cheese toastie!







We took refuge from the torrential downpour at a corner table and ordered a brown derby, a desert which I remember from many after-swimming dinners at our local Wimpy as a child (this is not a bad thing), and which consists of a warm doughnut, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and a wafer.









We also ordered a single scoop of  Carte D'or Strawberry cheesecake, which, noticing we had a little one with us, the lady kindly served in an ice-cream cone shaped bowl with teddy wafers. Our son ended up eating a couple of spoonfuls of it but he was really just after the doughnut and mr whippy.
 

Have to say that we were very pleased with the Brown Derby (whats not to love about a warm sugar dougnut covered with mr whippy and chocolate sauce!) but sadly the posh Carte D'or ice cream didn't live up to expectations. We've tried a great deal of wonderful ice cream since we started this blog, and prior to that Carte D'or was deemed to be a special treat that we would get from the supermarket from time to time. Now.... I'd prefer to wait and find a local treat.


There was nothing overly wrong with the strawberry cheesecake ice cream - it just didn't thrill like others we've had recently, it lacked the creaminess and texture we've grown to love. The parlor on the other-hand was an elegant bit of nostalgia with fantastic views as it is right on the seafront. Our son particularly loved the antique chicken arcade machine that pops eggs with toys out (I remember these when I was his age too :-) ). A liitle trip down memory lane.

So, the scores!

3 for both ice cream and experience.

Little Gem in Folkestone Town Centre

As one of our last days off prior to going back to work after 2 weeks holiday, a short trip was devised to go for a walk along the sea front and more importantly to visit La Casa Del Gelato :-)

We discovered Folkestone last summer and have been finding increasing amounts to love about it on our subsequent visits (including a rather nice secondhand book shop). This trend was only continued by the discovery of this gorgeous little ice cream parlour. We headed there with high hopes as it's generally highly reviewed on tripadvisor and we weren't disappointed.

It's a little shop without seating so you have to take away, but they have an impressive range of flavours, all of which are made on the premesis.




The lady who served us was lovely and chatty, explaining that the cabinets which were emptier had been made the previous day, while the full flavours had been made just that morning. They do takeaway tubs from £4.20 for 2 flavours, but we went for 3 scoops for just £3, a total bargain! After much deliberation we decided on creme caramel, milk chocolate and a gorgeous marscapone and nutella, all of which were beautifully flavoured and a lovely texture. We sat on a bench down the road to eat our ice cream and a little bit of a battle ensued as we each tried to pretend to politely share while letting the other have about half a scoop before grabbing it back to shovel down as much as possible before it was taken away again!

Little bit of thanks for the lovely service - the lady behind the counter also took a picture for us of the inside of the cabinet :-) As you can see there are 22 flavours - all looking delightfully enticing.

A slight downside, personally, British summertime being what it is, I would have loved the parlour to have been bigger, with a bit of seating and perhaps toilets. This has probably got something to do with the fact that we are parents of two small children who constantly seem to need to be changed and breastfed, but also, as ice cream lovers, the ice cream itself was incredible both in taste, texture and value and it would really do justice in a larger place.

So the scores - one of the nicer ice creams we've had on our journey so far but not quite as amazing as Melt, We will most certainly be heading to the parlour again on our next trip to folkestone and will happily try some of the other flavours on offer!So, we give this little hidden gem a


4 for both ice cream and experience.