Beijing's best cheap ice lollies and ice creams

Our favourite cheap summer treats to beat the heat

Lucky for us sweltering bunch, Beijing has a abundance of perhaps the most effective and universal air-conditioning known to man – the ice lolly. Impossibly cheap, impressively diverse and astoundingly ubiquitous, the frozen treat is your best friend this season.

Prominently located on virtually every street corner from the outskirts of Fengtai to the north side of the Great Wall, chest freezers offer a reliable trove of cooling relief. Avoiding the sometimes hard-to-find and pricey ‘premium’ imports, we came up with a list of the best frozen treats out there. We only had three requirements: the treat had to be common enough to be found at, at least, one shop in a block radius, the treat couldn’t cost more than 10RMB and it had to be a worthy indulgence for its caloric value.

Green tea ice cream sandwich

Why we like it The Fanggao (square cake) is one of our all-time favourites. It’s by far the neatest to eat; its wafer sheath keeps everything in place while you chomp through chewy rice cake, sweet bean paste and airy green tea ice cream. The flavours are muted, which speaks to the quality of the ingredients, but this sweet treat has our number. If green tea isn’t your thing try the strawberry variety, but we always find the artificial berry flavour medicinal and cloying.

Ask for Fanggao Hongdou Nuomigao (方糕红豆糯米糕). 

Price From 2RMB

Strawberry fruit bar

Why we like it Sporting what very well might be most badass name for a frozen fruit bar ever, Northeast Boss stands out as a local Beijing favourite for its wide variety of flavours and availability at virtually every freezer we pillaged. Our favourite is the strawberry fruit bar, thick with clumps of actual strawberry pulp and even the occasional seed. It’s the only strawberry option that passes for genuine and doesn’t have that medicinally tinged artificial strawberry taste. In fact, Northeast Boss’s pink pop actually has a richer texture and tastes better than some of its much pricier rivals. The chocolate and lemon varieties are also good, and a whole lot easier to come across, but both come up short compared to the real-fruit taste and refreshing properties of this delightful strawberry ice lolly. Buy five – we heard fruit’s healthy.

Ask for Dongbei Daban Caomei (东北大板草莓). 

Price From 1RMB

Magnum white choc and almond crunch

Why we like it Magnums are as close as we got to the ritzier imported ice creams and, quite frankly, they absolutely kill it – shame on you Ben, Jerry and Haagen-Dazs. The white chocolate performed much better than the dark and milk chocolate versions that we tried (which are still pretty good, to be honest). Creamy and smooth, the vanilla ice cream is a good match for the buttery white chocolate, while the almonds add a nice crunch and subtle nuttiness.

Ask for Menglong Baiqiaokeli Jianguokouwei (梦龙白巧克力坚果口味). 

Price From 8RMB

Cornetto triple dark chocolate cone

Why we like it With the richest chocolate flavour in the cone category, the triple dark chocolate Cornetto still can’t stand up to its premium rivals, but it’s about as close as you can get. The cone is lightly flavoured with chocolate and the smooth chocolate ice cream is topped with a hardened drizzle of chocolate and a smattering of crispy baubles of – you guessed it – chocolate. If you’ve always thought it’s not ice cream unless there’s a crunchy wafer cone, this one’s for you. BREAKING: Look out this summer for the elite piece in the Cornetto SS18 collection – the Oreo x Cornetto collab (7RMB) that is offensively tasty.

Ask for Keaiduo Feichang Qiaokeli (可爱多非常巧克力). 

Price From 4RMB

Frozen mango bar 

Why we like it As far as fruit-flavoured options go, this is the most vibrant and authentic tasting. Unlike its equally cheap competitors, this mango pop has a strong mango taste and smooth texture, despite the lack of cream and proper mango purée. Real mango juice makes all the difference and helps set this pop apart from the rank and file of mango-shaped frozen options. Oh, and did we mention it’s fat-free?

Ask for Bingjia Mangguo (冰+芒果). 

Price From 2RMB

Green mung bean bar

Why we like it Of all the legume-based treats we tried, the Meadow Gold mung bean bar is our favorite. Sweet, grassy and with a pleasing floral finish, this local favourite is not only a worthy sweet pick-me-up, but according to TCM, green mung beans help the body stay cool. Get off my case, mooom, it's medicinal.

Ask for Meidenggao Lüdou Shanaiyou (美登高绿豆沙奶油). 

Price From 1RMB

Honeydew melon bar

Why we like it Although it’s hard to say that any of the melon-flavoured treats came close to equalling a bite of a freshly sliced wedge on a stick, this frozen honeydew melon bar wins us over with a subtle flavour and slightly chewy consistency. The flavour hovers somewhere between under-ripe cantaloupe and cucumber, but the effect is sweet and cooling – not to mention palate-cleansing – relief. It’s a bit of an odd ball, but perfect for lovers of melon and mild flavours.

Ask for Mengniu Hamigua (蒙牛哈密瓜). 

Price From 2RMB

What's that? You want even more ice cream? Hit 'Read more' for the kreme de la Kremlin of Beijing's Russian ice creams.

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