Wanderlust Creamery co-founder Adrienne Borlongan discovered early on that the art of ice cream ran in her family. Her grandfather was a flavor chemist for Magnolia Ice Cream, a legendary brand in the Philippines. As a child, she devoured culinary magazines, eventually leading her to study food science at California State University, Northridge.
She inadvertently embarked on her calling as an ice cream maker after splurging $3,000 on a commercial gelato machine. While Borlongan was developing bar programs for a luxury hotel group, she used her spare time to experiment with unique frozen flavors. What began as a hobby morphed into a successful venture defined by a passion for global ingredients and storytelling through taste.
THE JOURNEY OF WANDERLUST
Borlongan co-founded Wanderlust Creamery with her business partner, Jon-Patrick Lopez, in 2015. Her work has since been featured in Condé Nast Traveler and the Los Angeles Times Test Kitchen. While the duo has opened nine shops across California, Irvine serves as their premier Orange County location. In 2024, Borlongan shared her expertise with the world by publishing her debut cookbook, The Wanderlust Creamery Presents: The World of Ice Cream.
Today, Wanderlust Creamery serves 11 signature flavors alongside a monthly rotating selection of seasonal offerings. The menu includes standout vegan and dairy-free options like Sticky Rice + Mango, and their signature browned butter and ube cones are crafted in-house daily.
A CONVERSATION WITH ADRIENNE BORLONGAN
We sat down with Borlongan, who shared her recommendations for newcomers, why Irvine was the perfect fit for her first Orange County location, and what flavor started it all. See her responses below.
1) What was the first ice cream flavor that inspired you to launch Wanderlust Creamery?
The very first inspiration was Sticky Rice + Mango. It started in 2015 as a dairy-free “rice cream” concept, inspired by the popular Thai dessert of sweet sticky rice cooked in coconut milk topped with slices of fresh ripe mango.
At the time, using rice as the base for ice cream instead of dairy felt like a completely new way to translate global desserts into a frozen form. That flavor set the tone for everything Wanderlust would become: travel-inspired, culturally rooted, and creatively reimagined.
2) What flavor(s) do you recommend for first-time visitors?
I always recommend starting with Sticky Rice + Mango, our original signature flavor featuring housemade rice milk, coconut cream, and swirls of alphonso mango.
Another must-try is the Ube Malted Crunch, which is a Filipino-inspired flavor with deep personal and cultural nostalgia. This flavor features malted milk, sweet purple yams, and crunchy malted milk pieces.
3) What is Wanderlust Creamery’s best-selling flavor in Irvine?
Our best-selling flavor at the Irvine location is Japanese Neapolitan, which is our signature trio of matcha, sakura (Japanese cherry blossom), and Hokkaido milk ice creams.
4) Why was Irvine an ideal city for your first Orange County store?
Irvine felt like a natural choice for Wanderlust Creamery’s first Orange County location. We had seen so many guests driving all the way to Los Angeles just to taste our creations, especially members of the Asian community who connected deeply with our flavors, stories, and cultural references. Opening here allowed us to be closer to a community that already understood our mission.
Visit Wanderlust Creamery’s Walnut Village Center location to taste Borlongan’s creations today!
Wanderlust Creamery
Walnut Village Center
14413 Culver Dr, Irvine, CA 92606
