Saturday, June 09, 2007

Ice cream time

Now that summer's here, we have a permanent stash of ice cream in the freezer usually a couple of pints of Haagen Dazs - Belgian Chocolate and Vanilla Bean . For some strange reason, Haagen Dazs Spain doesn't sell pints of vanilla ice cream (I checked their website) so we have the Macadamia Brittle instead.

When we want a real treat though, we head to Marbella where we always end up at Giangrossi which opened soon after we arrived here. It's an Argentine-style ice cream parlor with modern interiors and Lavazza coffee. Favorite flavors: Dulce de Leche granizado (Dulce de leche with chocolate bits)and Chocolate amargo (bitter chocolate).

So, where else have I had really good ice cream? Try these places:

Le Bilboquet in Montreal (1311 rue Bernard Ouest, Outremont) where lines snake outside the door and onto the pavement in the summer months sometimes even until midnight. Favorite flavors: coconut and chocolate orange.

Paris' Berthillon on the Ile Saint Louis has so many flavors of ice creams, from white chocolate to gingerbread and sorbets, from passion fruit to lychee. Buy a cone, sit right by the Seine where you'll have a close-up of Notre Dame. Favorite flavors: Moka, Chocolat noir and mangue.

In Buenos Aires, there's an ice cream parlor in almost every corner but set apart from the rest is Freddo which opened in 1969 and has recently undergone a makeover. The homemade charm is gone but the ice cream is as good as ever. Favorite flavor: dulce de leche (could there by any other?)


If you want to try and make some of your own, check out David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop - a real ice cream bible.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have found a good one, Amorino, in Nantes, France, but I know they have several stores in Paris as well (see their web site). :)

Gourmet Traveller said...

Thanks for the tip! I'll try it next time I'm in Paris.

Anonymous said...

Argentinian Dulce de Leche granizado sounds heavenly! I am still on the "should-i-or-shouldn't-i" fence on buying an ice cream maker...I really want one but I don't know how many time I'll actually use it :)

Gourmet Traveller said...

hi joey,

get the ice cream machine and "the perfect scoop" book - it'll be so much fun to make your own ice cream at home. Added your blog onto my favorites list - nice work!

firenze said...

hi there. I love your site, am a foodie too...am Bea the friend of Tara, we met last year in Marbella. Gelatos are perfect during the summer..I love Gian Grossi's Dulce de Leche and Amargo,those were staples during my summer in Madrid. A few of my favorite gelaterias in Florence are GROM, Vestri and Vivoli. Yummy Ice cream! Enjoy the summer and keep on blogging!

Gourmet Traveller said...

Thanks for the tips Bea! Where are you now? I´m in San Sebastian at the moment so check in on my blog next week when I post some new things.