Berthillon ice cream on the Ile Saint Louis

I know that my preceding post is about dieting, but because it is hot and midsummer I wanted to repost this favorite 2015 blog post.

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Yesterday was hot. Very hot. I took the day off work, not because it was hot but because everyone takes time off during July and August. After my Pilates class, I headed to the river and to Berthillon glacier (ice creams and sorbets). It’s located on the small island of Ile Saint-Louis in the middle of the River Seine.

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What’s funny is that the original Berthillon ice cream parlor is closed during July and August!  Isn’t that a hoot?  Luckily, the Ile Saint-Louis is served with a half-dozen outlets.

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You either line up and purchase your ice cream as take-out or you sit inside and have it served to you. It was so hot I had to sit down inside. I ordered a chilled apple juice and perused the list of a dozen or so flavors ranging from fig to litchee to mandarin orange. Sorbet, or sherbet in English, has 30% less calories.  I ordered a duo of mango and cherry sorbets.

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Isn’t this gorgeous? Eating Berthillon is an event because the flavor is so intense and the taste so startling, you swear you’re eating a real mango and real cherries. Once the fruit sorbet eaten, I ordered a single scoop of rĂ©glisse. Never having tasted licorice ice cream before, I was curious. (I thought it would be black – photo below).  Again, the flavor bursts in your mouth. One scoop is 3 euros 50, two scoops 6 euros 50. For take-out, one scoop is 2 euros 50, two scoops 4 euros.  

I like that the word “flavor” in French is parfum. I like that metal and not plastic spoons are used. I like the edible wafer cup that the sorbet is served in, called a coupelle en gaufre, and I like that they offer a pitcher of water.

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Afterwards I strolled the streets of the Ile Saint Louis then made my way down to the river.  A hot wind was blowing.  …….to be continued.

2 thoughts on “Berthillon ice cream on the Ile Saint Louis

  1. I’ve never forgotten a visit to Berthillon, with my husband and a friend and her young child. We had sublime treats. Mine was a prune concoction, where the prunes had been soaked in Armagnac. Long spoons, glasses of water, and intense espressos.

    • Oh, yum (or miam, as the French say). I’m on vacation in a few weeks and will definitely make a return trip there. Right now it’s too hot to move (heatwave.)

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