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The Merry Dairy (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)

Scooping ice cream
Blueberry lemon and strawberry ice cream in a Konery red velvet cone Coconut and coffee ice cream in a blue corn Konery cone

During the week we were in Ottawa, it almost made me feel like I was in Hong Kong during late August-early September where the heat was oppressive and searching for a place to cool off during the afternoon is key.

One place that can cool you off from the inside out in the best way is The Merry Dairy. Its proprietor, Marlene Haley started this ice cream brand with an ice cream truck since 2012 and grew a large following over the years. She was searching for a kitchen space to make her batches of ice cream. Instead of making the trek across town from her home to her rental kitchen, she found a place that used to be Fairmont Confectionery and renovated the space that is mostly the kitchen with a small retail space to serves her fresh, premium original-recipe soft-serves and Midwest-style frozen custard. Her team also makes Merry Pops and homemade cookie ice cream sandwiches.

The ice cream was delicious. It’s flavorful and creamy but not heavy on the palate. The blueberry lemon resonates summer – intense sweet blueberry flavor with a bright sunshine of lemon shining midway and slowly dims out when you pause a moment and think about its lovely notes. The strawberry was a favorite of my friend as it was truly has the sweet ripened strawberry flavor. Coconut was rich and nutty. Coffee tasted like a solid version of a perfectly sweetened iced coffee with milk that has the right balance of bold coffee with milk.


Cookies & Cream and blueberry lemon ice cream with rainbow sprinkles in a Konery cone

I’ve asked the young ladies at the counter what would go nicely with blueberry lemon that isn’t a fruit flavor and what one of them suggested was cookies and cream. The latter I don’t normally go for but I went with it since it sounds like an odd combination yet I trust her palate. I wanted rainbow sprinkles since I think summertime ice cream should be colorful and festive though it should be serious with flavors and textures at the same time. Anyway, the flavor combination was perfect. The cookies and cream was very tasty. Sweet cream infused with the chocolate cookies without being too sweet and the blueberry lemon balanced the sweetness with its tartness.

To view more photos of this visit, please view the gallery below or CLICK HERE for the photo set:

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Information:
The Merry Dairy

Official Website
102 Fairmont Ave,
Ottawa, ON K1Y 1X6
Canada
Phone: +1 613-858-7560

Tina

I shoot, eat, and drink. My full time job is a hospital administrator. Moonlighting as a freelance photographer and food and travel writer.