Havre-aux-Glaces started with a spreadsheet. When Richard and Robert Lachapelle opened their first stall at Marché Jean-Talon in 2004, they weren’t ice cream pros—they were just two food-obsessed brothers determined to figure it out. Today, Richard runs the operation solo, but the founding principle holds: keep it simple, and let real ingredients speak. Sorbets are built on ripe Quebec fruit and cane sugar, not culinary theatre. Vanilla comes from Papua New Guinea, and the pistachios get roasted in-house. The result is some of the most balanced, honest frozen desserts in the city—no additives, no gimmicks. There are vegan options, coconut-milk bases, and the occasional wildcard (soursop, anyone?), but you’re just as likely to crave the chocolate or lemon sorbet, made to exacting, purist standards. With locations at Jean-Talon, Atwater, and beyond, Havre-aux-Glaces has grown, but never lost its roots: market-first, family-run, and quietly excellent.
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