As the temperature soars, Five of the Best editor Wendy Hargreaves dishes up the scoop on her favourite frozen treats in Melbourne.

BOOZY ICY POLES

Order online at Popstic

Four Pillars’ Bloody Shiraz Gin as an icy pole? Yes please. Or maybe a sweet Brown Brothers Moscato frozen on a stick? Mojito? Strawberry Daquiri? Popstic does them all on a stick ($7.50 each) in super-cute shapes ready to cool you down in more ways than one (home delivered in dry-iced boxes of 24, which is a bit late for today’s scorcher, but you’ll be ready for the next one). Look out for Popstic’s ice cream cart on the Yarra River side of Federation Square (weather permitting), serving non-alcoholic sorbets on a stick (the mango/coconut is da bomb) and ice cream sandwiches in choc chip biscuits. Popstic also make their own waffle shells in the shape of little tacos, filling them with French vanilla ice cream and dipping the top in chocolate with your choice of sprinkles, coconut or peanuts ($7.50).

KULFI AT HORN PLEASE

Horn Please, 167 St George’s Rd, North Fitzroy, (03) 9497 8101

Melbourne’s favourite Indian chef Jessi Singh took NYC by storm, and lucky for us he returned to Melbourne last year to one of his original restaurants in North Fitzroy. Open daily from 6pm, Horn Please serves some of Melbourne’s freshest curries, but the star attraction on a hot day is the Kulfi, a hand-made Indian ice cream that’s smooth, dense and intensely creamy with the heady flavours of cardamom, honey  and pistachio or lychee and honey. It arrives at your table in a long, frosty metal mould, and the waiter pulls it out with a flourish. You can also try Jessi’s kulfi at his new Chinatown restaurant Daughter in Law.

FRIED ICE CREAM

Weekends in the Queen Street Plaza, Queen Victoria Market, city

In a new take on the old-school Chinese restaurant, Phat’s weekend Queen Vic stall deep fries generous scoops of vanilla ice cream in a light batter, creating a perfectly crisp and crackable coating. Choose your own sweet toppings like caramel sauce, popcorn, jam and mini marshmallows.

WHOOPIE MAC

Meatball and Wine Bar, 135 Flinders Lane, city + 105 Swan St, Richmond

Choose your own adventure with this giant ice cream sanga. Three types of rich, chewy cookies, three flavours of ice cream and three different sauces to drizzle on top. Choc + vanilla = heaven.

FROZEN COCKTAILS AT THE ESPY

Hotel Esplanade, 11 The Esplanade, St Kilda 

Catch the cool change as soon as it sweeps in from the south west at the Espy, serving the ultimate grown-up treat – a frozen slushy made with Tanqueray Servilla Gin, citrus and tonic ($15). For something with a bit of spice, go for the Dark ‘n’ Frosty, a slurpy combo of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum, ginger, lime and bitters ($15).

Wendy writes online at fiveofthebest.com

PIC: Getty Images