JJ Hings

Just steps from the Canal Saint-Martin, the warm air carries the scent of buttery biscuits, hinting at the call of a sweet break. The culprits are the cones of ice cream made on-site from einkorn flour and brown butter. In this spot already well known to ice cream fanatics, Julia Bell imagines her flavors as stories: apricot and sparkling wine, milk cream and cherry, cookies and raw cream, corn, melon or strawberry from Brittany. Her creations are born from a scent, a dessert or a dish tasted, a memory or even a person. This continues a passion for ice cream that began in her childhood in New Zealand. A former pastry chef, initially trained on the savory side, Julia Bell opened JJ Hings in 2024 with her husband, Guillaume Kern, following a noted ice cream pop-up at Ten Belles. Committed to short supply chains and the seasons, they buy their fruit directly from producers and source Jersey cow milk. From sorbets to ice creams, and cookies for ice cream sandwiches to floats combining ice cream and soda, everything is homemade. Once the ice cream is in hand, something of childhood resurfaces: rich full-fat milk, generous flavors, sometimes surprising, regressive or disorienting. Then comes the thoughtful stroll toward the Canal Saint-Martin, the mind a little elsewhere, nostalgic. To savor something good, down to the last crumb of the cone.