Handmade Argentinian Artisanal Ice Cream in Tianmu
Baires Ice Cream is an extremely popular (and highly rated — check out their 4.8 rating on Google Maps!) spot in Tianmu serving, in our opinion, some of the best ice cream and sorbet in the city.
For what we were getting, we felt that the prices at Baires were more than reasonable: a single scoop of ice cream is only $90, a double scoop $160, and an entire 1000CC for $500 (no judgement here). You can even get milkshakes ($150), root beer floats ($150) and sundaes ($220) with your choice of ice cream flavours. Trust us — if it seems steep, it’s only because you haven’t tried it yet. Beverages are on the cheap side for Tianmu, with teas and most coffees running under $100.
They also have some excellent looking sandwiches and salads (you can grab them to go too) that we didn’t try but come very highly rated on Google reviews. Their sandwiches are around $150, and salads were upwards of $250. We watched enviously as the table next to ours received theirs, but we had sadly eaten lunch elsewhere — we’ll order them next time for sure!
Baires likes to experiment with all but their key flavours, switching them out as soon as they’re done. This can be disappointing if you have your heart set on a single one, but luckily they usually have around 30 different options to choose from that cater to a range of tastes and vary according to season. Some were very original and creative, such as goat cheese with honey or mascarpone cheese with mango — and despite being on the interesting side, were still absolutely delicious. There were also some flavours that felt very Western, too, such as sweet potato spice pie, or cake batter with sprinkles, or peanut butter cup. We were also very pleasantly surprised to find a select few that were made with alcohol, like x whiskey with praline pecans, sabayon (a European dessert made with egg yolk and white wine), and Cointreau chocolate — perfect for those days where you don’t want to make the choice between booze and ice cream.
After trying lots of delicious flavours, we finally ended up choosing a scoop of banana with dulce de leche. It’s hard to describe how downright delicious it was, but let us just say this: it was so good that we returned the very next week for more.
We tried even more flavours the next time we returned, our strong feelings of guilt quickly put to rest by the friendly Taiwanese owner with incredible English. While chatting with him, we learned that he’d spent way over a decade in the West, finally meeting his Argentinian wife in Switzerland, which is where the Baires Ice Cream journey began. After sampling a tonne of flavours, we finally ended up choosing Earl Grey tea and rum raisin.
Both ice creams were creamy and fantastic, easily the best we have had in Taipei, which is saying a lot considering some of the great ice cream we’ve had here (the one exception would be Nice Cream, but that’s gelato). Seriously, we can’t recommend Baires Ice Cream enough. If you’re looking for some respite from the summer heat and don’t mind making the trek to Tianmu, this is a wonderful spot to visit.
What’s the vibe?
Small cafe in Tianmu serving up some excellent ice cream, sorbet, salads, and sandwiches. It’s extremely popular with expat families and teachers and students at Taipei American School, which is just down the street. The owner is super friendly, with fantastic English.
Worth it?
We dare you to tell us it isn’t.
Would you go back?
We already have, but you’re darn right we will.
Last visited June 2019.
| Baires Ice Cream |
| Chinese Name: Baires 阿根廷冰淇淋 |
| Hours: 11am – 9:30pm Closed Mondays |
| Phone:02 2876 7927 |
| English Address: No. 460, Section 6, Zhongshan North Road, Shilin District, Taipei City |
| Chinese Address: 台北市士林區中山北路六段460號 |
