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My North Island culinary quest has come to an end. I've sampled ice creams and gelato from every major destination Lou and I have stopped in. The rough guidelines I set myself were sample either tastes native to New Zealand or the place's flagship flavours, both if possible.
Here are the results in chronological order, marked out of 10 Mr. Whippies:
1) Valentino's - Auckland
Flavours: Boysenberry
Zabajone
Zabajone is basically a custard gelato and boysenberry is akin to raspberry only more tarte. So essentially I had an uber posh raspberry ripple.
6/10 Mr. Whippies + 1 ninety nine for free samples.
2) Movenpick - Paihia
Flavour: Manuka Honey and Almond
The lovely vanilla base really showcased the honey and the almonds. This is a great combination anyway, but manuka honey adds a little bit of a herby, almost savoury edge to the sweetness.
8/10 Mr. Whippies.
3) Gelatamore - Cambridge
Flavours: Mango
Passionfruit
Dark Chocolate
Unfortunately the name is a misnoma. What you get is pure sugar and paste, not gelati. The level of acidity and neon yellow glow in the passionfruit scoop meant you could distinguish it from the mango. Tasty enough, but nothing special.
4/10 Mr. Whippies
4) Lady Jane's - Rotorua
Flavours: Black Doris Plum with Creme Fraiche
Dark Chilli Chocolate with Raspberries
These were two of their 'Premier' scoops. They certainly lived up to the distinction. They also went extremely well together. The black doris was creamy and smooth with a light tarteness, which kept it from being overwhelmed by the gorgeous dark chocolate. The only tiny gripe I had was that there wasn't quite enough heat from the chilli for my taste.
9/10 Mr. Whippies + 1 Ninety-Nine for informative staff.
5) Suju's - Havelock North
Flavours: Vanilla Bean
Chocolate
The major selling point of Suju's is their use of 'green' milk (untreated/raw). So I stuck with the classics here and let the ingredients do the talking. The results are something quite special. Even though it was milk chocolate rather than dark, there was still so much less sugar. The flavours really stood out. This also marks my first real vanilla, which is always a little taste of paradise.
8/10 Mr. Whippies + 1 Ninety-Nine for ingredients.
6) Onga Onga Tearooms - Onga Onga
Flavours: Hokey Pokey
Cookies and Cream
In this instance we're dealing with Tip Tops, one of the big names in New Zealand ice cream. It's good stuff, that goes without saying. Hokey Pokey is a very Kiwi flavour, basically a creamy honey comb. Both flavours were pretty tasty, but not spectacular.
7/10 Mr. Whippies.
7) Rush Monroe's - Hastings
Flavours: Blackcurrant
Passionfruit
This is the name in New Zealand ice cream and Hastings is it's home. There's a lot of history, plenty of awards and one huge mustache lying at it's foundations. So I went for two of the award winners. The wonderful thing about these was that you could taste the real fruit in them, but they were still gelati, not sorbet. The blackcurrant was marvellous, but not quite as interesting as the black doris. The passionfruit was so fresh and equally creamy. Rush Monroe's lived up to the hype, but didn't blow me away.
8/10 Mr. Whippies.
8) Gelissimo - Wellington
Flavours: Pistachio
Violet Crunch
The last stop on the North Island was an absolute gem. So much so that I'm going to have to write a follow up blog dedicated to all the awesome things about Gelissimo. Everyone we met there was great, especially Graham, Gelissimo's owner, who came out and chatted to Lou and I for ages before ushering us in to try his latest competition entry and prototype flavours that hadn't been available to the public yet. To keep it fair I'll stick to talking about the flavours above. I love pistachio ice cream, but have never had it as a proper gelato before. The flavour of the nut hits you first and then you get the full creaminess that is so thick it's almost buttery. I chose pistachio because I thought it might make a good contrast to my other choice. "One woman says it 'tastes like Purple'" was how Violet Crunch was described to me. It won a silver award in 2011 and is unlike anything I've ever tasted before. At first it was almost vanilla-like, but then this pocket of perfume popped on my palette. Very floral, quite sweet, but not overpowering. For me there was a vague sense of love-hearts.
9.5/10 Mr. Whippies + 4 Ninety-Nines for endless free samples (including secret prototypes), amazing staff, chatting passionately with the owner and ingredients (they also use nothing but organic wholemilk).
In conclusion, if you happen to be near any of these establishments, they are worth popping into. However Suju's, Lady Jane's and Gelissimo are worth travelling to.
Check back soon for a full account of my time at Gelissimo.
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