Cousins Anita Ly and Tiffany To grew up as best friends and share fond memories of digging spoons into a tub of Neapolitan as kids. The duo still eat ice cream together — but now, it’s for research.
Starting in 2019 as a pop-up in their family’s restaurant, John’s Breakfast & Lunch, the cousins opened a shop in Crescent Heights in 2023. There, Ly and To create unique ice creams with Asian ingredients, influenced by their Chinese-Vietnamese backgrounds. You’ll find flavours like Viet coffee, Hong Kong milk tea, pandan and ube, as well as North American-influenced flavours like sea salt Skor. Milk also rotates distinctive seasonal flavours, many created through collabs with other local businesses.
We caught up with Ly and To to get the scoop on all things ice cream.
What is it about ice cream that you love so much?
T.T. “In our first generation-Canadian households, cookies and cakes were never really a thing, but ice cream was. Food was the main love language — a way to express love, connection or bring joy. Whether reaching for a pint after a long day at uni, sharing a pint with dad or through those painful breakups, ice cream always has a way of mending the soul.”
A.L. “Aside from the family ties and our own memories, it’s a chance to be creative — you can throw anything into ice cream! The driving force for us is to represent and share our roots. We saw this gap in Calgary’s food scene when we initially started our business.”
What are some of your favourite ice cream memories?
T.T. “On his days off, my dad would pick me and my brother up from school in Saskatoon. There was a red double-decker bus that served ice cream he would take us to. I would always get tiger-tiger — that was my go-to flavour. Even now, if there’s something tiger-flavoured, I always get it.”
A.L. “When one of our parents would buy one of the huge tubs of No Name-brand Neapolitan ice cream, and all the cousins would go in with spoons and just crush it. I would always go for the strawberry.”
What’s something that only ice cream nerds would know?
T.T. “There’s a science behind making ice cream. The whole process is a three-day thing — we mostly use a custard base … so we have to cook it first, then we have to age it overnight in the fridge, and then we can finally churn it, but after that it’s still not ready — you have to freeze it again overnight.”
A.L. “All of the ingredients we use are fresh. Everything is handmade in small batches by us, so we get to feel and touch all of the ingredients. You learn a lot about good products. People sometimes ask if we can do a sugar-free [ice cream], but that might mess up the texture.”
110, 1000 Centre St. N., milkicecreamclub.ca, @milk.yyc