Tag Archives: ice cream

The cream scene

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Kariton Sorbetes, 50 Leeds Street, Footscray.

Think there’s a buzz and hububb, a pronounced air of delicious trendiness, surrounding Footscray’s new Filipino gelati joint?

You’re right!

Bennie and I first check it out a day or so after it opened.

It was Australia Day and 34C.

Yet still, as spied during our drive-by, the queue was something like 50 metres.

Um.

No thanks.

We’ll wait until the fuss has died down.

Maybe this year; maybe next.

But then, just days later, on a Saturday of lunching and market shopping – when you’d expect the crowd to be just as intense – we find the place pretty much deserted.

So in we go.

Looking at the Kariton FB page and website, we’d somehow gained the impression the place is mainly about fancy pre-made specialties.

Think “curated”, “styled” or maybe “designer-constructed”.

So we are thrilled to discover that in addition to such fridge items, Kariton does indeed serve up a range of flavours by the scoop and in cup or cone.

Yay!

It’s a neat place to hang while slurping.

Seating is down to a plain wall-side bench, while we prop at the stand-up bar at the window.

Bennie goes with ube halaya, described as “creamy purple yam (ube) gelato topped with our rich and decadent ube jam, preserved blackberry and malty, toasty latik (caramelised coconut curds)”.

For me, it’s a scoop of buko pandan – “velvety coconut and pandan gelato with pandan jelly, candied coconut and crispy, toasted pinipig (rice flakes)”.

Wowee, this is some really great stuff and absolutely worth every cent of the $5.50 admission fee.

The experience is quite unlike Italian gelati – and seemingly a lot more creamy.

I reckon Kariton will become a regular for us when we’re in the icy mood.

In the process, we’ll no doubt check out some of the more adventurous flavours.

Though we’re bound to be cautious when it comes to ingredients such as durian and fish sauce!

That’s my gel

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Gelati by d’Asporto, 3/11d Murray Street, Yarraville.

As if we aren’t spoiled enough in the inner west for ice-cream and gelati … along comes Gelati by d’Asporto.

Under the auspices, of course, of the namesake pizza/pasta/Italian joy restaurant just around the corner and – also very much part of the same family business – another eatery at Rifle Range shopping centre and the fabulous kiosk at Williamstown Beach.

The new gelati shop is all smiling business and no fuss – just ice delights and a couple of standing/leaning tables to enjoy them.

Given the plethora of eating – and coffee – options in Yarraville village, this streamlined approach makes all sorts of sense.

I make my first visit, as a guest (see full disclosure below), with high expectations that are easily met and even surpassed.

Prices range from $4.80 for a single scoop and upwards – pretty much regulation gelati prices, in other words, but on the excellently cheap side given the quality at hand.

My twin scoop deal for $6.80 strikes me as a fine deal.

The flavour line-up (see below) is agreeably concise.

My first-up selections …
Mascarpone and fig – creamy, heavenly.

And mildly flavoured, as is usual with this ingredient combo.

Bacio – really, really superb.

Largely thanks to the inclusion of wonderfully crunchy hazelnuts.

I pay another visit the next day and go for the choc mint – and it, too, is lovely.

Will we be back?

Yes.

Over and over and over …

Opening times are 2-10pm Mondays-Thursdays and 11am-10pm Fridays-Sundays.

(Consider The Sauce enjoyed Gelati by d’Asporto as a guest of the management and we did not pay for our sweet treat.)

I scream, you scream

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ic8

 

Sourdough Kitchen, 172 Victoria Street, Seddon. Phone: 9687 5662

It would be glib and inaccurate to proclaim, for the purposes of this story, “summer’s here and so is ice-cream season”.

Truth is, we eat the stuff all year round and even when the weather is at its most dismal.

But there’s two new kids on the block in the west and we really feel obliged – haha, our sort of obligation! – to give them a spin.

Gelati and/or ice cream?

See here for a handy explanation of the difference.

If anything, we prefer gelati, if only because it’s more likely in our world to mean in-house production by people we dig at places we love – see here, here and here.

But we never get too technical, snobby or hipster about it …

Sourdough Kitchen – long-running and beloved community fixture, source of regular work commute coffees as well as the occasional sandwich and more – and now doing their very own gelati line-up.

 

ic7

 

Bennie is well pleased with his single scoop cone of chocolate gelati ($4).

It’s soft in the gelati way, with much of it oozing down the cone – so I have no way of gauging value for money in terms of serving size.

There’s no such problems with my cup scoop of Christmas mince pie (top photograph).

This is sensational – a bit like rum-and-raisin or cassata, with plenty of fruit and texture.

It makes me smile.

Lots.

 

ic9