Vanilla or strawberry?

Milkshakes from places around the Twin Cities show promising delights

A silky taste of milkshake slides up the straw and trickles into your mouth. The chilled milk and creamy ice cream are an adventure for your taste buds. I tried a strawberry and vanilla milkshake from The Bad Waitress, Hi-Lo Diner, Grand Ole Creamery, Sebastian Joe’s, and The Malt Shop. Let’s get to the tasting!

The Bad Waitress has a smooth and tasty strawberry shake. Because this shake has real pieces of strawberries, it tastes really fresh. I would suggest this shake to strawberry lovers! On the other hand, The Bad Waitress’s vanilla shake was not as good. It just tasted like milk with whipped cream. There are better vanilla shakes out there. Let’s check out some other places! The Bad Waitress also has chocolate, caramel, and chocolate banana milkshake. Each cost $6.95. They also have a vegan vanilla milkshake for $9.95.

Hi-Lo Diner’s shakes were very thick, if they melted it a little more it would have been better. But they were still very good! For the strawberry shake, there weren’t any fresh strawberries, but the creamy flavor made up for it. The vanilla shake was also creamy, however, there wasn’t much vanilla flavor. This ‘shake’ was more like ice cream in a glass, but it was good ice cream. Hi-Lo also has chocolate, butterscotch, oreo, mint oreo, banana, and s’mores costing $9 each.

Grand Ole Creamery’s strawberry shake was not good at all. It had a very strange flavor that tasted like soap. There was a good consistency, but they used a blender so the weird flavor could be soap from when they washed the blender container out. The vanilla shake was better but not amazing. It was thick but had a pretty strong vanilla flavor. Grand Ole Creamery’s shakes can be made with any flavor of ice cream they have available. One milkshake costs $6.05.

I really like the strawberry flavor of The Malt Shop’s milkshake because the real strawberries and the ice cream had a sweet strawberry flavor. The vanilla shake was pretty thick, but it had a super great flavor and was silky and smooth. The Malt Shop also has endless flavors so there are plenty of options to choose from. The cost ranges from $5.25-$7.25. I guess the name, ‘The Malt Shop’, really says it all!

Sebastian Joe’s has great milkshakes and they are the winners! The vanilla was very smooth and tasted authentically like vanilla. They didn’t have strawberry so I tried their salty caramel. The caramel shake had a great consistency. It was also delicious and caramelly with a strong flavor. A medium milkshake costs $7.95 at Sebastian Joe’s.

After tasting these milkshakes from around the Twin Cities, I have come to the conclusion that Sebastian Joe’s has the best milkshakes. The consistency was perfectly smooth and tasted authentic to each flavor, it was amazing. I would definitely suggest a shake from Sebastian Joe’s for an afternoon treat!

What makes a good milkshake?

A good milkshake has an impactful flavor. The more authentic and bold the flavor, the more I am going to enjoy it. Using a good quality ice cream is also important to get a strong flavor. In addition, a good milkshake must have a creamy texture and a smooth consistency. A thin milkshake is too much like milk and a thick milkshake is too much like
ice cream. Milkshakes are all about ratios of milk to ice cream. To define the specific ratio, I looked for more of a smoothie consistency than a soupy consistency. There is too much milk when it is able to be sipped out of the straw, like water, but too little milk when it can’t get up the straw. Once the right ratio is achieved, a good milkshake is made.

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