The Shop: Aqua S
Locations: Melbourne and Sydney, Australia; Auckland, NZ; Houston, TX, USA, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Our first stop in Australia was Melbourne, ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit as the world’s most liveable city for seven years in a row, from 2011 to 2017. It reminded us a lot of Seattle with a very cool vibe, great arts scene, super walkable and bikeable, and terrible weather.
Melbourne
One unique attraction in Melbourne is you can see penguins year-round at the St. Kilda beach! Though we missed them as we went there too early, so be sure to visit in the evening if penguins are on your list, but it’s a nice area to walk around regardless.
Other attractions we did enjoy included the Queen Victoria Market, which is fun to walk around and get delicious food, the National Gallery of Victoria, a free art gallery, and walking along the river at night and taking cool night pictures.
Aqua S
We wanted to find some unique ice cream in Melbourne, and headed over to Aqua S. Aqua S’s specialty is Sea Salt Soft Serve Ice Cream. According to their website, the idea of sea salt soft serve originally came from Okinawa, Japan, but they improved it by making it more Instagrammable. Yes, if you want your ice cream to be equally photogenic and delicious, than Aqua S is definitely worth a visit.
Have a look at their Instagram to get an idea of their creations. The Fairy Floss (cotton candy) seems to be the best option for a crazy picture, as it makes your soft serve appear to be floating on a cloud. But they have lots of other fun toppings, including grilled marshmallow, popping candy, and mochi.
Flavors
They always have Sea Salt flavor, and they have a few rotating flavors. When we went it was Easter-themed; they had Elderflower Vanilla and Honey Lavender. Examples of previous flavors include Rose, Green Tea, Taro, and Mango Cheesecake.
The soft serve colors are also beautiful- the sea salt is light blue, the honey lavender was a pale purple, and the cones are black. Just making your pictures that much better.
We ordered the Sea Salt and Elderflower Vanilla and thought it was delicious and not too salty. It was nice to have the sea salt paired with another flavor, but all sea salt would have been great too. It cost $4.50 (toppings cost extra), pretty reasonable in our opinion for a tasty and unique soft serve, so we’d definitely recommend it!