I do love my dark chocolate, but when it comes to ice cream and milk
shakes, I stand by vanilla. The simplicity of that flavor is so
comforting to me. Actually, my dirty little secret is that I really
REALLY love vanilla soft serve, so much that I've made certain that it
will be my last meal ( along with a few other things!).

Can't defend vanilla, too boring. Black and white is my jam. That or strawberry!

i love Vanilla, better than Chocolate. It's way more versatile, and goes
with anything. There's an old bakers adage that says you can have Vanilla
without Chocolate, but no Chocolate without Vanilla.

Either vanilla or chocolate is okay with me. But what I think is absolutely necessary is malt. Not the powdered stuff but real barley malt syrup. A tablespoon in any shake elevates it to heavenly.

I've always thought that the reason vanilla shakes have gotten a bad rap is because of that horrible, shitty fake vanilla flavor the mass producers use. It stands no chance against even a crappy chocolate-lite or fake strawberry flavor. Give me true vanilla bean (especially Tahitian!) and I'll take vanilla as often as anything else, probably more often than chocolate. Personally though, I've always gravitated toward slightly more unusual (at least by mass-market standards) fruit flavors such as pineapple or orange. The one I'll never pass up however, is peanut butter.

Right now we have the NoMI Milkshake on our In Room Dining menu, which is layers of chocolate espresso sauce, chocolate malted milkshake, and Tahitian vanilla bean milkshake, with swirls of bourbon butterscotch and brownie chunks. The best part of selling one is the leftover bit, and honestly, although I am absolutely a chocoholic, my favorite part is the Tahitian vanilla bean shake. We use 20 tahitian vanilla beans in each batch of ice cream.

I prefer a vanilla shake to chocolate when paired with salty foods, like french fries. It's just more of a crisp, clean and refreshing flavor than chocolate.