wow, can't think of a title for this.

do you remember the days before the internezz when most information was word-of-mouth and you never bothered to check the facts? wait. sounds like the internet age anyway!

**

a cousin told me about gelatissimo; said something about this new gelato shop in greenbelt 5 in makati that was really, really good, and had all sorts of amazing flavours. and! the kicker was that it originated in cebu, which is like, a sort of beachy, sleepy town in the visayas, and how it was like, the best thing to ever come out of there since like, kenneth cobonpue ("who?", you say? well, g'wan, click on the link!) . i was all, "right on!" i could get behind a new filipino company especially if it was good. we decided to check it out after dinner.

when we got to the shop, i admit i was expecting something nice, but it was more posh than i had imagined. schmantzy sign, lots of product attractively displayed in refrigerated cases, intimate but adequate seating area. wow, sooo not beachy, baby.

and then i went to peruse the flavour selection and was really surprised--not only were there the standard flavours but semi-wacky ones like honey, toffee and malt, black sesame, cinnamon donut, teddy graham cracker biscuits, profiterole. which, you know, sound super sexy and less fattening in italian: miele, caramello e malto, sesamo nero, ciambellina di cannella...uh, teddy cracker di farina di frumento and erm, profiterole. i went with the cinnamon donut gelato which kinda blew me away--it actually tasted like a cinnamon donut, not just cinnamon, but also baked and cakey, too. but all in a spoonful of creamy, cool, smooth milky confection. bella scoperta! who whudda thunkit? not i said the fly.

i was really impressed with the product--not only was it some of the best gelato i'd had in the city, but anywhere outside of italy. i was told that it was so good that they had they opened up a shop in florence, italy. pardon my sopranos' italian but oogatz, they got some stugats to breeng this stuff to eeataly, youknowwhaimsayin'? but from what i sampled, i thought "yeah, okay! awesome. meravigliosa."

in the next few days i tried a few more flavours--the green apple sorbet, dark chocolate sorbet (pictured at the top of the post), pineapple, and rum raisin--all of them very, very good. the chocolate sorbet was actually quite welcome on a hot, humid and oppressive day--it was rich and dark like black coffee without the acidic bite, a little bit fruity and very, very light in texture, despite the strong flavour. the "weirdest" flavour i tried was a buttered caramel popcorn, which i don't know if i could recommend. it tasted exactly like lightly buttered, lightly caramelized popcorn, like something you'd get in a movie theatre. it also tasted sort of stale. like something you'd get in a movie theatre. at least it was authentic.

**

so. i was excited by this new discovery of mine, i was all blah blah blah love it! gotta try it! gotta tell everyone about it! so i thought i'd email a friend. while i was writing the email, i thought i'd check online if they had a website. and duh--i mean sí, certamente of course there is a website. which of course tells the REAL story, which is that it's a big ole australian chain and it's everywhere, and of course it's awesome, fool. i smacked my head, thought of some nasty things in italian to call my cousin the next time i saw him. then i thought "hm, i wonder what new flavour is out today?"


gelatissimo,
worldwide. but also
greenbelt 5, space 2-045, second floor
ayala center, makati.