How to spot good gelato from fifteen feet away

This is news I can use! And yes, even crappy gelato is still delicious.

And the best gelato I had in Florence was at a little place under the main bridge. Holy hell, I still dream about that place.

Am I the only one who wants ice cream to be smooth? If the price of using actual strawberries instead of strawberry flavouring is chunks of strawberry in my ice cream, then give me flavouring. I also don’t want vanilla bean in my vanilla ice cream. Give me vanilla extract and keep your little pebbles. They ruin the texture.

I had a grapefruit gelato in Prague more than ten years ago that I still remember with fondness and longing. Why did I read this article so early in the day? I’m ravenous now.

Yeah because the Brits are known for their tasty food.

The problem is most artificial flavor taste more “intense” but subtly different than the real flavors. Most people especially the younger ones are trained on those artificial flavors since childhood. Artificial is the norm by which they judge flavors. So when they encounter e.g. natural strawberry flavor it is thought as inferior and not the “real thing”.

You’re German, right? I’ll take criticism of British food from people of most nationalities, but…

For a lack of better options to decide this issue:

9 vs 4

Actually there are 10 3* restaurants in Germany, apparently:

¡ Restaurant Bareiss, Baiersbronn
¡ Schwarzwaldstube, Baiersbronn
¡ Amador, Mannheim
¡ La Vie, Osnabrßck (new)
¡ Aqua, Wolfsburg
¡ Vendôme, Bergisch-Gladbach
¡ Waldhotel Sonnora, Wittlich/Dreis
¡ La Belle Epoque, Lßbeck
· Victor’s Gourmet Restaurant Schloss Berg, Perl
¡ GästeHaus Klaus ErfVille, Sarrebruck

At a glance at the first two (and that’s enough, because no restaurant ever puts their menus up in an easy to find/read fashion), and going by the names of others, seems like they are dominated by French cuisine, though, not German.

Admittedly, it’s even worse in the UK. Only Heston Blumenthal’s isn’t French. Does remind me of something, though. I once heard that Bray (pop: 8000) was the smallest place to have two 3* restaurants. The next smallest is Strasbourg.

Would I upset you more if I said I find German beer boring? :wink:

At a glance at the first two (and that’s enough, because no restaurant ever puts their menus up in an easy to find/read fashion), and going by the names of others, seems like they are dominated by French cuisine, though, not German.

That could be a result of the source of the ratings though. A not uncommon complaint about the awarding of Michelin stars is that, all other things being equal, they’re more likely to go to restaurants serving French cuisine than other varieties.

Copper bowls are known to help make more stable meringue, because of chemistry. I have no idea how that chemistry would affect gelato, but the copper might very well have made some real difference.

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I had the best gelato of my life at Bar Fontana Di Trevi, right across from the Trevi fountain. Stracciatella & hazelnut, I think. Christ.

That might have been the place I had the hazelnet and pistachio; the tour guide assured us it was the best gelato place in Rome.


This morning I dreamed about going back to the Emporia place in Florence.

The U.S. Government has a standard for what can be called “ice cream”. It must have at least 10% fat, among other things. Most premium ice cream is 14% fat or higher. Since most gelato is between 6% - 8% fat, it cannot be legally be labeled “ice cream” by its sellers.

Pistachios are naturally green. They get their greenish coloring from chlorophyll. Often times, the nut paste used to make pistachio gelato has additional chlorophyll to ensure it stays the same green that the nuts have in their natural, uncrushed state. This is a natural additive and not at all the same a artificial green food coloring. So just because the gelato has a greenish hue does not mean that artificial chemicals or coloring was used. It was probably made with all-natural pistachio nut paste (which is essentially the same as a natural peanut butter but made with pistachios instead).

Well, guess I know what I’m on a quest for this weekend. dreams of cupcakes stuffed with pistachio paste and pistachio sandwiches

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