Chris V.
Yelp
San Jose, one of the holy grails of SF ice cream is now in your backyard. Or Pruneyard, as it were.
Humphry Slocombe is an excellent ice cream shop which I was fortunate enough to try and love several years ago at their original San Francisco shop. My trips to SF are few and far between, so imagine my surprise when I was checking Yelp during my recent trip back to San Jose and saw that there was a Humphry Slocombe now open in Campbell.
I was able to find parking around the perimeter of the Pruneyard and took a brief walk to what I recalled as a former ice cream shop. As I suspected, Humphry has replaced the Tin Pot Creamery off the Main Street central area of the Pruneyard. They were also willing to provide samples of their 12 available flavors, so I got to try some before I felt the pressure of more incoming guests behind me.
Serengeti Sunset, a jazzed-up blood orange, was a fun start; I didn't realize until later that it's a limited-time flavor to commemorate the Orpheum run of The Lion King. XXXL Chocolate happens to be vegan, and vegan can be better since there's less flavor to interfere with the rich chocolate; serendipitously, such was the case this time. Honey Graham was sweet and rich, and if I'd had more room or cold tolerance, I may have included it in my order.
In the end, I defaulted to two familiar flavors for my Double ($8.50) cup. I neglected to specify which flavor should go on top, so I dove into Vietnamese Coffee first. It was as rich and milky as you would expect to taste in a sweeter take on Vietnamese coffee. The texture was creamy, and unlike some reviewers experienced, it didn't have any odd salty aftertaste. I did overhear the manager saying that the ice cream is produced off-site in either SF or Berkeley, so perhaps they had an off-batch? I found nothing wrong though.
Then it was time for their flagship flavor, the Secret Breakfast. I would give 5 stars for access to Secret Breakfast alone, and they delivered. The bourbon and caramel are a fantastic combo and thoroughly satisfied my taste buds despite how cold the weather was. The corn flakes are fun too, although they kinda felt more chewy than crunchy.
Pricing is just fine compared to other high-end ice cream shops. And by that, I mean Salt & Straw. But please note that they don't offer Secret Breakfast over there.
Humphry Slocombe is an awesome destination for ice cream. I'm so glad that the drive is much shorter for me now when I'm back home in San Jose with family.