It’s ice-cream … but not as you know it.
A new artisan, “small batch made from scratch” ice-creamery business is about to open its doors on the Sunshine Coast for a unique foodie experience.
Nathan Wallace and Kathryn Wood were on a culinary adventure in New York in 2017 when they tasted some of the best ice-cream they had ever eaten.
Kathryn was mid-scoop when the lightbulb moment hit and she exclaimed: “We should open an ice- cream shop!”
The Wallace & Wood Artisan Ice Cream concept began.
The fit-out of the store is underway on the ground floor of Seanna Residences at Bokarina Beach, with the grand opening likely later this month or early January.
“We have come from a small business background, but we are new to owning an ice-cream store,” Nathan told Sunshine Coast News.
“That said, our kitchen at home is like a commercial kitchen.
“We are massive foodies and love to make food from all over the world.
“We love making homemade ice-cream as it really tastes nothing like the stuff in supermarket freezers.
“Our main motivation was offering something different.”
The couple acknowledges that our region boasts many authentic gelato outlets but few, if any, offer traditional ice-cream which has its origins in French cuisine.
“Our recipes are styled on the New England brand of ice-cream which is denser and creamier than gelato,” Nathan said.
“Equally important to us was the artisan element. We don’t use any milk powders, artificial colours or flavours – no funny stuff.
“We are meticulous in sourcing our ingredients. We love to source local.
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“We use Maleny milk and cream, as the quality and flavour are unparalleled.
“The vanilla beans we use are grown and processed by a lovely family in Mt Mellum and we use fresh in-season mangoes from North Queensland.
“When items cannot be grown/produced locally, we source from anywhere in the world that does it the best – pistachios from Italy, coveture chocolate from Belgium or authentic Taiwanese brown sugar.
“Taste and purity is paramount to us and never to be compromised. We think this will be well received on the Coast as locals value a genuine, unique offer.”
Tastebuds will be salivating all over the region at the thought of blueberry cheesecake ice-cream with Graham cracker crust, and the malt with cookie dough and choc-covered pretzels – Nathan’s top picks.
Kathryn’s faves are the vegan choc brownie and pistachio.
“Something we are very excited about is our first limited-edition sundae offer: brown sugar boba with milk tea ice-cream (dairy or vegan options),” Nathan said.
“We are honoured to be partnering with the one-and-only Xing Fu Tang to supply the hand-crafted boba pearls.
“We have a dedicated vegan cabinet which houses six vegan flavours. Some favourites are the vegan choc brownie with toasted almonds and choc chunks and milk and cookies.
“As with dairy, we will bring in new limited-edition flash flavours periodically to keep things interesting.
“We are very proud of our vegan recipe as it’s so dense and creamy. It’s pretty much identical to our dairy ice cream in texture.
“We think it will be a destination store for vegans as it’s very hard to find vegan ice-cream.
“We underwent a lot of product testing and had someone tell us that they’ve been eating vegan ice-cream for 10 years and ours is by far the nicest, creamiest one they’ve tried.”
True to their artisan ethos, Nathan and Kathryn will make everything in-store.
“Our motto is small batch from scratch so everything from the ice-cream base to the mix-ins like brownies, cookies, swirls and choc chips is made fresh in-house,” Nathan said.
“We also make waffle cones and both dairy and vegan options of hot fudge and whipped cream.”
After popular Bok Beach Café closed its shipping container shopfront on the corner of Longboard Parade and Bokarina Boulevard in March this year, residents, walkers, cyclists and beachgoers have been without a designated local coffee haunt.
But The Wallace & Wood Artisan Ice Cream will fill the void, while also offering a selection of fresh pastries.
“We’re very excited to be using Slide coffee who, like us, are committed to producing an exceptional product,” Nathan said.
“We will also offer customisable shakes and sundaes.
“There will be seating but we’re assuming a lot of people will take away with the park and beautiful Bok beach so close.
“We will be a bit different to most ice cream shops as we will open early morning for takeaway coffee and pastries. Stay tuned to our socials as we will update everything shortly.”
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