Apiary's Lavender Ice Cream

A Sunday's post-dinner dessert jaunt saw me and my companion joining the queue outside the door of Apiary at Neil Road for ice cream.

We weren't late- it being like 813pm or something- but already the place was crowded, and when we finally got in, were told that we had a 40-minute dining time. 

It didn't surprise me- there was a queue (still) forming outside the door, but it made me wonder just what formula they'd used to calculate the speed customers generally took to finish their order of waffle and/or ice cream. 

In any case, we complied. 

Apiary @ Neil Road is a two-story establishment. 

Downstairs on the ground floor is where you place your order and do takeaways.

Upstairs on the second floor is where you sit and dine on whatever you've ordered, be it ice cream, coffee, waffle, both, or all. 

We ordered a (flavored with brown butter) waffle with one scoop of Black Sesame, and, one scoop of Lavender.. 

There're lots of great artisanal flavors of ice cream out there these days, but Lavender (and Lavender alone) has to be my newest favorite on the list. 

It's so good that, if given a choice between the Blue Milk, the Dark Chocolate, the Sicilian Pistachio, the Nishio Matcha, the Hazelnut, Lavender or Caramelized Strawberry, I'll still go for the Lavender. 

And I'll want two scoops of it. 

If the rich depth of the Black Sesame ice cream surprised me, it was the taste of the Lavender that genuinely impressed me.

I've never been one to squeal delightedly about desserts or ice creams. 

But this one- after my first taste- I did. 

Especially since it went really well with the crispy waffle that we'd cut into quarters and then tried to decide whether we should eat both scoops together or one by one. 

In the end we ate both together, balancing out one scoop on one quarter, before shifting the melty remnants of it to the next one. 

Eating this scoop of purple-colored ice cream was, to me, like a dual sensory sort of thing. 

It's as if the scent of lavender so oft scented through my olfactory nose had instead now landed on my tongue.

And I was tasting what it was I previously (only) got to scent. 

It didn't matter that the Lavender was strong. 

I liked, no, loved it that way.

Never mind that the herbaceous properties of the Lavender flower (when in the milky ice cream) didn't make me feel calmer nor ease the knots in my head nor make me want to sleep. 

But it made me happier. 

And my tongue felt clean and fresh, and the chill, cold of the ice cream made me feel like I wanted some more.

It's got a distinctive floral taste, this (pure) Lavender ice cream from Apiary. 

There's the hint of an earthy mint. 

And there's that very, very subtle hint of the bitter in the second note after you've swallowed your bite of ice cream. 

I've been told that this flavor is an acquired one

"Like eating soap sia,"  

But, oy, I like it. 

And if I can, I'm gonna get myself a pint (or two!) of it one day. 

Just for me.