Five new Hamilton ice cream spots serve up different kinds of frozen dairy treats

Summer is nearly here - the perfect 30 C weather for that sweet, sticky ice cream to melt all over your hand.

We're not saying it's going to be a mess, but there are plenty of hot Hamilton days to come and plenty of new ice cream spots to try.

On the Mountain, just south of Fennell on Upper James Street, there is an unassuming house with signs for a barber, a jeweller, a money exchange and ice cream: Soryana Ice Cream & Cake is the place to be.

Palestinian-Syrian sisters Iman and Wafa Sasa opened the sweets shop this spring. The duo had an ice cream shop in Damascus, Syria, for seven years before opening up in Hamilton.

They sell Kawartha Dairy ice cream and also Arabic-style ice cream, which has a much different texture from the Ontario factory-made brand. This dairy-based frozen dessert is made with mastic, a plant-based resin, and it is coated with pistachio. Arabic ice cream is stretchy and gummy, unlike the smooth Kawartha Dairy blend, and sliced from rolls instead of scooped.

Soryana also sells a variety of sweet and savoury pastries. Their specialty is Sfeeha, a meat pie made with phylo-like dough from the Palestinian city of Ramla.

Check out Soryana 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday at 646 Upper James St.

Two new Hamilton ice cream shops are rolling out the sweet dairy treat Thai-style.

eZ Rolls Ice Cream opened at the end of last summer inside EZ-Mart at Strathbarton Mall. Flavours like lemon cookie, s'mores and blueberry cream cheese are mixed together and then poured onto an ice-cold tray.

The fast-frozen dessert is then rolled up and served in a cup.

eZ Rolls Ice Cream is open 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays and 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends at 1565 Barton St. E.

Diced Ice, opening soon at 129 Locke St. S., features the same rolled-out frozen dairy treat.

In Westdale, dairy dessert veterans OMG Ice Cream & Frozen Treats are weeks away" from opening, with renovations underway at their King Street West space.

The Brantford-based company is bringing soft serve, frozen yogurt, sandwich-style and more to Hamilton, their third location.

Maybe lucky customers will be able to find ice cream tacos on Tuesdays this summer at that 1047 King St. W. spot.

La Diperie on Rymal Road East, west of Upper Gage Avenue, is the place to be if you're looking for ice cream dipped in a wide variety of toppings.

The Quebec-based ice cream chain opened their first Hamilton spot in October inside a Mr. Sub. And there, they say, they are prepared to dip almost everything."

They offer ice cream, doughnuts, Cheesecake Factory cakes and more from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily (with slightly condensed hours Sunday) at 973 Rymal Rd. E.

If you really wanted to, you could order a La Diperie ice cream cake for delivery on Skip The Dishes.

Jeremy Kemeny is a Hamilton-based web editor at The Spectator. Reach him via email: jkemeny@thespec.com