Girls &Boys

Next door to Vegie Bar, the vegetarian institution that has held its corner of Brunswick Street since 1988, its sister venture serves entirely plant-based ice cream — soft serve and gelato built on a coconut-and-soy base, sweetened with rice syrup rather than refined sugar. The signature order tips a gluten-free cone of soft serve on its side and dips it in chocolate or raspberry, Mr Whippy logic rebuilt from scratch without dairy; the rest of the menu runs to cakes, smoothies, cold-pressed juices and spiced lattes in matcha and turmeric. It opened in December 2016 as an extension of the Vegie Bar family, sharing a yard with the restaurant and the venue Transformer next door, and has held its own in a strip of Fitzroy that has seen plenty of hospitality turnover since. A short stop for anyone working through Brunswick Street's food scene who wants dessert without leaving the footpath, and a fixture for Melbourne's vegan community specifically.