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| - The glowing reviews drew me here and I can say they're spot on. The small shop is almost hidden in a non-descript strip mall just at the corner of Kerr and Lakeshore. The signage font is pretty tiny so it can be easily missed while driving.
When you walk in, on the left sits all the goodies and the rows of gelato beckons you in. I've had a few gelatos in Toronto and this place has some flavours that can stand up against them. There are some that aren't as good as Boreal, La Paloma, or Simply but at least half of them are worth the trip to this little shop.
We tried White Chocolate Velvet, Chocolate Noir, Hazelnut, Cappucino, Sea Salt and Caramel, Lemon, and Wild Canadian Blueberry. I'll start with the ones that blew my socks off. Chocolate Noir is amazing. It's made with Valhorna and with no sugar added. The flavour depth is amazing. It's very rich and has a strong pronounced chocolate flavour without being sweet or cloying. It doesn't have that bitterness that some people associate with dark chocolate either. The texture was very smooth as well.
Another fantastic flavour is Hazelnut. Most nut flavours tend to disappoint but this one was amazing. I've had hazelnuts (that were old mind you) that tasted less like hazelnut than this gelato. It's very smooth and the hazelnut flavour starts subtlely at first on your tongue but then it becomes very pronounced after a bit. It's not an overly sweet flavour. It's true to the taste as if it has been just roasted. It's a nice toasted and buttery hazelnut.
Another great one is their Cappucino. It's a robust strong coffee flavour that knocks energy into you. It's another smooth and creamy texture. It has no bitterness in some gelatos I've had.
The ones that are good but other places go can do better are Sea Salt and Caramel and Lemon. They're good but I've had other gelatos where it's either a better and smoother texture (the lemon wasn't as smooth as other places) or that the flavour isn't strong (I detected very minimal sea salt in the caramel).
The White Chocolate Velvet is a lovely texture but the flavour is very subtle and in a multi flavoured scoop combination, it almost loses it's place. The Wild Canadian Berry wasn't as strong as I hoped. The flavour was a bit diluted in comparison to the other flavours and the texture was a touch grainy. Overall, ALL the gelato flavours we tried are good but definitely the Chocolate Noir, Hazelnut, and Cappucino are stand outs. I'm definitely coming back to try more!
As for other items, we were able to snag 2 macaron. The pistaschio and sea salt with caramel. The pistaschio macaron was a great texture. It was freshly made the day before and it has that perfect meringue crispy crust with a soft (but not mushy) centre. This held a nice buttery middle. The pistaschio flavour wasn't as strong as other places (like Ruelo or Lemon Tree Bakery in St Lawrence Mkt) but it was well made with perfect feet and proportion. The Sea Salt and Caramel was divine. The flavour was wonderful and you can taste the sea salt with gave a nice savoury component to the sweet caramel. The caramel macaron had the perfect balance between filling and cookie. I really loved it.
The service wasn't cold as described by Liam but I can see how the owner could come across that way. She knows and loves her products and come across as being 'too strong' with her opinions about what works or make comments about your choices. I think she was lovely to us and very personable. I highly recommend this place for dessert if you're in the area!
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