Where to Find the Weirdest Ice-Cream

“This pretty soft-serve mecca looks like a pastel-hued cloud – an ice-cream Instagram heaven, if you will. At Aqua S, cones are topped with creamy swirls of blue, pink and lilac ice-cream and come with a salty twist. You can go straight-up sea salt (a concept from Okinawa in Japan) or add one of the 100-plus flavours to your mix, such as taro, black sesame, watermelon/pear or coffee/milk/tea. Then go crazy with the toppings. Popping candy will give it texture, while fairy floss wrapped around the cone will make it look like a pillowy cloud. - Sarah Norris, Sydney”

“Leigh Devlin has been the go-to guy in Brisbane for outrageous dessert creations for years. First with his Doughnut Bar kombi van, but more recently at Eat Street Northshore with Double Good. Its most Instagrammable seller? The One in a Melon – creamy watermelon soft serve dished up in a fresh watermelon wedge. Very Queensland, and no cones required. - Matt Shea, Brisbane Editor”

“This beachside gelateria is a one-man show. Bottega Gelateria owner Adrian Macri makes everything – including nut pastes and caramel – from scratch, by hand and in small batches. Hazelnut is the jewel in the crown (Macri imports the world’s “queen” of hazelnuts from Italy’s Piedmont region) but he also flexes his creative muscle with evolving daily specials: think lavender, baklava and rosewater, fresh-persimmon sorbet, Japanese black sesame (grounded and roasted in-house) and akbar mashti (saffron-infused milk, rosewater and house-roasted pistachios). There’s also a chocolate fountain, which, on occasion, pours the recently developed pink “ruby” variety. - Daniela Frangos, Adelaide Editor”

“Perth’s standard-bearer for frozen Italian desserts isn’t so much weird as it is unusually good. Chicho Gelato owners Carly and Chez De Bartolo sweat the little details – seasonal ingredients, no fillers, everything’s made in-house – which helps explain why standard gelato flavours such as pistachio and chocolate taste anything-but. They still know how to party though. In addition to their own “new-wave” flavours (such as black-sesame grilled banana), frequent collabs with chefs have yielded non-standard-issue flavours such as speculoos, white chocolate, salted egg yolk and – purists will probably want to close their eyes – Cheezels. They even rock vegan combos: here’s to you, lemon myrtle, macadamia and mulberry. - Max Veenhuyzen, Perth Editor”

“The ice-cream at this technicolor city spot is broken down into three categories: weird, weirder, and weird AF. You won’t find vanilla bean or choc-chip at Weirdoughs, but if it’s eggplant-lavender, salted caramel and bacon, or sweet potato with chilli-pecan you’re after, welcome home. And the entire menu – from the ice-cream to the croissants to the doughnuts – is as vegan as the fit-out is iridescent. - Ellen Fraser, Melbourne Editor”