by Malgorzata Minta

It was two years. Or even three years ago, during one of my regular trips to Copenhagen, the capital city of Denmark and a capital city of everything food. One morning I decided on one of the newer artisanal bakeries in town, Andrsen Maillard, that by then stood as one of the most interesting new concepts in town (and still goes as one of the best bakeries in the city), combining bakery and coffee roaster under one roof.  A&M has won hearts of the Copenhagen crowd with crusty sourdough, perfect laminated pastries and top notch flat white. But the best came one summer, when the latter two combined. That's how the now iconic coffee soft serve served in the croissant “cone” was born. Classic laminated pastries were cut across in half and topped with a generous portion of coffee infused ice creams, resembling a gorgeous Mt Fuji topping a golden base of land. I had it, not once, not twice, always trying to calm my continuous screaming “cie cream for breakfasts?!”, that, well, it's not that far from having a croissant and a cafe au lait. Maybe just slightly decadent.

Combining ice cream soft serve with coffee was not a new idea in the city back then. Some time before the idea was realized by one of the most acclaimed specialty coffee roasteries, the avantgard of the third wave coffee monument in town - Coffee Collective, making soft serve more adult, more serious and savoury, but still utterly delicious.

Though it never disappeared from our culinary landscape, the dessert, which was previously connected mostly with sweets parlours by the sea boardwalks, now gained the interest of the chefs, entering contemporary gastronomy - and not just focusing on the sweet side of life.

Ben Zavil and Samina Raza, founder and owners of a successful Mrs Robinsons in Berlin, opted for a soft serve desired as a sweet highlight of their newly opened Cafe Freida. Cafe Frida, which works as a cafe with homemade pastries in the morning and a wine bar with light snack later during the day has opened in the Summer 2021 and instantly became a hit among Berlin’s food aficionados, playing with classics and giving them some signature touch. Burrata is served here with coffee husks syrup, perfectly buttery kouign amann are sprinkled with umami load kombu powder and morning eggs are served with mayo seasoned with tasmania pepper. Such a fresh touch received desserts, served throughout the day, perfectly to wrap up a small meal or just to indulge incoming guests craving for something sweet. Served in a classy and classic metal high-stem cups, Cafe Freida softies are prepared along with the core philosophy of the restaurateurs, who always focus on sustainability, local sourcing and building long term relationships with their suppliers, but also experimenting with foreign techniques applied to home products. That all has been successfully - and tasty - encapsulated in their cold desserts. Those are prepared using raw milk from the organic Erdhof farm, and served with seasonally changing toppings as the whey caramel with kombu sprinkles or foraged wild blueberries or - taking soft serve ice cream to a new level - with amazake and served with a wild rose syrup.

Soft serve ice creams, topped with chantilly and strawberries made into the premiere menu of one of the hottest openings of this Summer in Copenhagen - Esmee. Taking from the Belle Epoque style, Emee was founded by the one of the most successful restaurant group in Town, Sovino, who was joined a few months ago by the former chef of the Marchal restaurant (Hotel D’Angleterre) - Andreas Bagh.Esmee’s menu concentrated on the French classics served on more lighter and nordic way. And hee the dessert that is a take on the best that Summer can offer - fresh cream and fragrant strawberries - seems to be more than a perfect choice.

Various interpretations of soft serve are also to be found in the most hip restaurants across the pond. In the Summer list of citie’s best soft serve, web portal Thirrlist mentioned such  places as  acclaimed Italian venue Lilia ( milk ice cream seasoned with olive oil, sea salt flakes and fennel pollen), natural wine bar and pizzeria Leo (grapefruit brulee or peanut butter-jelly) or Milu - Hong Kong inspired cafe founded by th Eleven Madison Park alumni - where one can order soft serve in a flavour of egg tart topped with flakes of caramelized puff pastry​​.

How come all of the sudden soft serve hit our...soft spot? Maybe it’s the frustration of strange food fds, that made us look after something more familiar and reasonable. Maybe it's the culinary notalgia that regularly brings us back to the flavours and treats we were raised on . Maybe it's the culinary emanation of the grand comeback of everything that 90. Pick and choose. Or maybe just an appreciation of the pure dessert ideas that are a perfect medium to showcase a high quality ingredient in their purest form?  And eat your ice cream.