Five Places To Go To Cool Off & Indulge Your Sweet Tooth In Ditmas Park This Summer

With the hottest days of the summer upon us, we can’t stop thinking about cold treats — and, luckily for us, our neighborhood is full of them! Here are some of of our favorite spots to grab something that’ll cool you down and satiate your sweet tooth. We’d love to hear where you’ve been going to beat the heat as well — let us know in the comments below!

Chatkhara
964 Coney Island Avenue
718-552-2633
Kulfi is a South Asian ice cream, and Chatkhara on Coney Island Avenue has perfected the recipe — their kulfi is refreshingly sweet and creamy. If your kids like to explore new tastes, then the falooda kulfi — where the ice cream comes atop a bed of noodles — is for them.

Coffee Mob
1514 Newkirk Avenue
In addition to Coffee Mob’s long list of summer drinks — from cold brews to fresh squeezed lemonade and Iced Mookie chai — the Newkirk café offers selections from Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream, including sorbets and options for the vegans among us.

Hartwell Vegetarian
1017 Cortelyou Road
718-282-3931/718-282-3123
Hartwell has many a scrumptious dessert, from vegan carrot cake to brownies, but in these sweltering days there’s nothing we want more than the eatery’s vegan soft serve. There’s coconut and mango, and you have the option of spicing things up with a variety of toppings, including fresh fruit, Oreo sprinkles, chocolate drizzle, maple agave syrup, cinnamon, rainbow sprinkles, coconut flakes, and more.

Lark Café
1007 Church Avenue
718-469-0140
While there are plenty of iced drink options that’ll cool you off during these summer months, don’t forget that Lark also has People’s Pops — fresh fruit popsicles made with fruit from city greenmarkets. Plus, the café also offers CoolHaus ice cream sandwiches — two fresh-baked cookies with scrumptious ice cream sandwiched in between.

Purple Yam
1314 Cortelyou Road
718-940-8188
Chef Romy makes his own ice cream at Purple Yam, and he’s super creative with his talents, whipping up everything from such specials as white donut peach ice cream to soursop/Guyabano sorbet in Korean melon. Recently, we tried — and fell in love with — the blue cheese, mascarpone and corn, as well as the chocolate and sour cherry. There are also a wide variety of always-available options, ranging from purple yam and avocado to coffee and vanilla bean. There are also sorbets, including guava, coconut, raspberry, mango, and passionfruit.

For more ideas about where to go for cold treats around Brooklyn, check out this roundup from our sister site, City Kid Corner.

With additional reporting by Melissa Akar.