Duck Island Ice Cream Cafe in Hamilton opened on June 3, after a building and fit out of about six weeks. It was the brainchild of owners Cameron Farmilo, Morgan Glass and Kimberley Higgison, who all have a background in hospitality, previously owning Chim-Choo-Ree restaurant.
The location was chosen because it is elevated on a corner site across the road from the spacious Steele Park. Currently the team consists of four to five people. The chef Ka-larni Ianusi was the dessert chef at Chim-Choo-Ree for about four years before joining the Duck Island team.
Farmilo, Glass and Higgison designed the fit out, with a focus on simplicity, and features a large display cabinet showcasing around 20 flavours at one time all made from scratch.
No pastes or preservatives are used on the menu, with the flavours seasonal and always changing, and are mostly created by Glass and Ianusi. The flavours consist of roasted white chocolate and miso, toasted marshmallow, toast and jam, popcorn, black sticky rice cream, rhubarb and szechaun, apple pie, black berry and sage. The influence was mostly from American ice cream parlours, with inspiration taken from trips to San Francisco and New York parlours.
Duck Island Ice Cream
