EmeraldPark's NanaShake is getting some positive press in today's Toronto Star newspaper,..... there's also a video in the link which I can't figure out how to post,....
WARNING:,.... this stuff is addictive!!! I've seen entire families and extended families camped out at NanaShake on weekend days eating this NanaShake frozen dessert. Very odd sight because the rest of the EmeraldPark food court is empty with stores under renovation or sitting as empty stalls,....
https://www.thestar.com/life/food_w...akes-ice-cream-a-treat-without-the-guilt.html
Nanashake’s ‘ice cream’ a treat without the guilt
North York shop offers frozen, banana-based ‘healthy dessert.’
By
MICHELE HENRYStaff reporter
9:18 AM, Wed., May 25, 2016
North York shop offers frozen, banana-based ‘healthy dessert.’
Michele Henry learns to make banana-based vegan frozen desserts at Nanashake.
They beckon to us with their creamy ganache or flaky crust or gooey interior — but there’s no denying the post-gorge regret of cake or tarts or, say, double salted caramel ice cream.
There is certainly no escaping the sugar coma, headaches, fatigue and bloating that comes with them.
“I’ve always loved ice cream but hated the way I feel after eating it,” says Yazeed Yasin, 39, entrepreneur and “healthy dessert” advocate.
His love of the sweet stuff, but distaste for the guilt that comes with it moved him and his wife, Tamara Aldip, 36, to open
Nanashake, a kiosk in a North York food court that deals in frozen, banana-based, non-dairy “ice cream.”
Since it opened just a couple of months ago, it’s become the talk of the town. Customers have been driving from all over the GTA and beyond, including Oakville and Peterborough, Yasin says, for a mouthful of this frozen “plant-based” treat.
Nanashake has been doling out about 1,000 servings a week, they say, which adds up to about 300 pounds of bananas.
Nanashake co-owner Tamara Aldip holds a vegan, banana-based ice-cream treat at her and her husband's North York shop. (J.P. MOCZULSKI / FOR THE TORONTO STAR)
“What brings a smile to my face is when an omnivore goes ‘oh my god,’ I don’t need to eat ice cream anymore,” Yasin says.
His product has also brought a contented hum to his tummy.
After immigrating with his family to Canada from Abu Dhabi a couple of years ago, Yasin decided to go on a health kick. He asked Aldip, a former banker and passionate cook, if she could make him a “healthy dessert.”
Taking on the task with gusto, she scoured the Internet for recipes and began concocting variations of what is now their own unique version of fruit-based “ice cream.” Their family went bananas for it, so to speak.
That’s when Yasin, a former marketing manager, put on his “entrepreneur hat,” he says, and the business was born. Since Yasin, Aldip and their two young children live in North York, this new mall, just south of Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave., was a great location, they say.
Nanashake is easy to find in the small but bright food court, which has many entrances, including one on Beecroft Rd.
Early each morning Aldip and the company’s only other employee, product developer Irena Bjelica, 29, hand-make the banana-base of their frozen dessert, blitzing bananas and other secret ingredients. Then eaters can enjoy a variety of items made from it: soft serve ($4.99 for a single serving), popsicles ($2.99 each), even a secret, off-menu Nanashake “ice cream” sandwich ($7.99).
Nanashake offers seven types of soft serve, including “rosey pistachio” which is laced with rosewater and pistachios, and another type infused with spiced date with cardamom, giving these desserts a unique Middle Eastern flare. Nanashake does an affogato, which is a cup of soft-serve drizzled with a shot of espresso. They also have crumbly toppings.
Whatever the flavour, this is an ingenious treat that hits the spot. It’s light on sugar and feels like ice cream on the tongue, but is definitely easier on the tummy. It’s smooth and creamy with a hint of welcome texture. Its taste bears only the faintest hint of bananas. And the mascot is an adorable — what else? — monkey!
Why not choose this over ice cream?
Got an idea for Sourced? Email mhenry@thestar.ca
https://www.thestar.com/life/food_w...akes-ice-cream-a-treat-without-the-guilt.html