Find the shop
Chelsea · Outaouais · Québec

Where summer
sings.

An artisan ice cream shop at the gateway to Gatineau Park. Small-batch scoops churned each morning from Quebec cream, wild berries and pure maple — under one striped pink-and-butter awning.

See today’s scoops Hours & map
32Rotating flavours
100%Quebec dairy
5 minFrom Gatineau Park
Two-scoop wild strawberry and vanilla bean ice cream cone from La Cigale Ice Cream in Chelsea, Quebec
Quebec cream & milk
Outaouais berries
Vegan sorbets daily
Gluten-free cones
01 — Our story

A small shop with a loud summer song.

La cigale — the cicada — is the unmistakable voice of a Quebec summer. We borrowed the name for a shop that does the same thing: marks the season with something joyful, fleeting and made by hand.

Founder of La Cigale Ice Cream in her Chelsea Quebec kitchen, in a butter yellow apron

Made the long way, on purpose.

Every batch starts with cream from a family dairy outside Wakefield, eggs from a farm down the road, and fruit that was on a bush forty-eight hours earlier. Nothing is shipped in pre-mixed, nothing is rushed.

“If we wouldn’t feed it to our own kids on a Sunday afternoon, it doesn’t go in the case.”

14h

From farm to freezer

Strawberries picked Tuesday morning are in your cone by Wednesday evening.

Fresh Outaouais strawberries, raspberries, vanilla pods and Quebec maple syrup on cream linen
02 — This week on the board

Six scoops, changed weekly.

Flavours rotate with whatever the Outaouais is giving us this week. Here’s what’s in the case right now.

Scoop of wild Quebec strawberry ice cream by La Cigale, Chelsea QC
N° 01Signature

Wild Quebec Strawberry

Fraises sauvages from a Wakefield grower, folded into cream the same afternoon.

Fresh Dairy Best seller
Honey lavender ice cream scoop at La Cigale Ice Cream Chelsea
N° 02House blend

Honey Lavender

Steeped Gatineau Hills lavender, raw wildflower honey from a Cantley apiary.

Floral Dairy
Pure Quebec maple cream gelato by La Cigale
N° 03Quebec classic

Pure Maple Cream

Single-origin amber syrup from a sugar shack on the Wakefield road, twice.

Local Dairy
Lemon curd ice cream scoop
N° 04Bright

Meyer Lemon Curd

Slow-cooked curd swirled through cold-set custard — sour, sunny, sharp.

Tart Dairy
Raspberry rose petal sorbet at La Cigale Chelsea Quebec
N° 05Vegan sorbet

Raspberry Rose Petal

Outaouais raspberries crushed cold with organic rose water and a whisper of lime.

Vegan Gluten-free
Madagascar vanilla bean ice cream scoop
N° 06Always on

Madagascar Vanilla Bean

Real pods, split & scraped, with a butter-rich custard base. Honest. Quiet. Lovely.

Classic Dairy
03 — The craft

Four mornings, four steps, every cone.

What happens between sunrise and the first scoop served at noon.

01

Pick & sort

Fruit arrives before 7am from growers within an hour of the shop. We sort by hand at the back bench.

02

Steep & infuse

Cream sits with vanilla pods, lavender, or fresh purée — overnight, slow and cold for full aroma.

03

Churn small

Ten-litre batches in a copper churn. Soft, dense, low overrun — the way ice cream used to be.

04

Scoop & serve

Into the case at 11:55. The first cone goes out the door five minutes later. Sells out most evenings.

Fresh strawberry puree being poured into a copper ice cream churn at La Cigale

Nothing here is shelf-stable.
If it’s in the case, it was made this morning.

Served at −12°C for soft, scoopable texture — never the rock-hard freezer-burned stuff.
Interior of La Cigale Ice Cream shop in Chelsea Quebec with pink tiled counter and vintage freezer display
04 — Inside the shop

A pink-and-butter little corner off Highway 105.

Two old-fashioned scoop stations, a vintage glass freezer with the flavours on view, a porch with three benches and a perfect view of Old Chelsea’s main street. Bring the dog.

  • Dog friendlyPatio bowls of cold water on the porch all afternoon.
  • Vegan options dailyTwo sorbets & an oat-milk scoop, always on the board.
  • Gluten-free conesHouse-pressed rice flour cones, baked Friday mornings.
  • Walk-ins welcomeNo reservations — the line moves fast and the porch is the wait.
06 — Find us

Five minutes off the Gatineau Park trailhead.

We’re an easy detour after a hike on the P1 trail, a swim at Meech Lake, or a Sunday drive up from Ottawa.

La Cigale — Chelsea, QC
Summer hours

May 15 — October 12

  • MondayClosed
  • Tuesday12:00 — 21:00
  • Wednesday12:00 — 21:00
  • Thursday12:00 — 21:00
  • Friday12:00 — 22:00
  • Saturday11:00 — 22:00
  • Sunday11:00 — 21:00
134 Chemin Old Chelsea Chelsea, Québec J9B 1J3
Five minutes from Gatineau Park P1 trailhead
Twenty minutes from downtown Ottawa
Off-season The shop is seasonal — pints are sold at select Outaouais markets through winter. Subscribe below for the spring re-opening date.
07 — Stay in the loop

One short letter per season.

New flavours, the spring re-opening date, and the occasional invitation to a Sunday tasting on the porch. No spam, no chatter.