When Kem Coba’s pink awning goes up, it’s a sure sign that summer has hit Mile End. Since 2010, Ngoc Phan and Vincent Beck have been drawing lines down Fairmount Avenue with their small-batch ice cream and sorbets, crafted without preservatives or shortcuts. Phan, a pastry and chocolate chef trained at Montreal’s ITHQ, and Beck, a French pastry chef turned ice cream maker, channel their restless creativity into flavour combinations rarely seen elsewhere—think durian, pandan, coconut-mango, or salted butter caramelized in-house. The shop’s name, meaning “third auntie’s ice cream” in Vietnamese, hints at the intimacy behind the operation: a neighbourhood institution built on personal history, family ties, and obsessive attention to craft. With a second location now open in the east end, Kem Coba’s fanbase only continues to grow—and yes, the wait is part of the ritual.
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