Casa Del Gelato

OMG yes. I mean, seriously.
There are quite a few gelato places scattered around this part of Lygon, but nowhere beats Casa Del Gelato. Umpteen flavours, super generous serves, good prices, and you can have three different scoops per pot. Chocolate and coconut are a killer combo. I’ve read a lot about the jasmine flavour so I’ll be going back for, you know, research purposes. It’ll be tough, but a Unilocaler’s just got to do it. You’re welcome.

I love this place with authentic gelato made with fresh ingredients, I’m old school and love cassata and the chocolate.

Melbourne’s best gelato! I love the jasmine flavour. Plus they have great vegan options too.

Back in my uni days, I used to drive from the bottom of the Dandenong Ranges specifically to go get gelato from Casa Del Gelato. Orange and Mint. Two completely clashing flavours, but totally delicious anyway.
Despite the competition that is around these days, the place is always packed on a hot day and is a constant crowd favourite. Now I’m inner South, I still cross the river, especially for my delicious hit.
There are way too many flavours to choose from and are all equally delicious. Choose carefully!

No points for ambiance, but the cinnamon is very, very good and the ricotta is also a strong contender.
Just to prepare you though, on the surface, Casa Del Gelato is not much to look at. Admittedly, I am a bit of an ice cream elitist. I worked for a company that made 360 flavors of their own gourmet ice cream from incredibly high quality ingredients imported from around the world. It is quite possible that I no longer have fingerprints from hand-​forming hot waffle cones that I made from scratch. And when it comes to buying ice cream on the street — unless you are in Italy — there is 1 cardinal rule: do not under any circumstances buy ice cream from a shop that looks like it caters to children. No offense munchkins, but you have a totally different pallet.
So when I arrived Casa Del, I had some very serious reservations. The cones are coming out of a box, the place looks very plastic and a bit cheesey, munchkins abound, and the tables outside were covered with melted ice cream. But I gave it a shot and have to second the recommendations here, ricotta and cinnamon flavors are both very good.

My favourite ice cream place in Melbourne since 2008. Enough said.

There’s a lot of competition in the gelato market on this stretch of Lygon street. I’m a fan of Il Dolce Freddo over the road, but when I’m in the mood for slightly more classic flavours I venture to Case De Gelato for a small cup of three flavours — maybe chestnut, almond and cherry. Or almond, banana and vanilla?
The Jasmine is one of their more unusual flavours — it’s takes just like you ate a bar of soap. But in a good way.
There’s soy based gelatos for the lactose intolerant and a whole selection of chocolate based gelato for the chocolate freaks amongst us. YES!
The queue may be long, but it moves quickly and you’ll be scarfing down iced treats in no time.

I have to back Mark on the Ricotta call — effing amazing! Excuse my french but it is really that good it will make you curse. Like a rich vanilla, mascarpone in both texture and flavour. Perfection.
I fell similarly in love with the Baci Kiss.
The Italian lady who runs Casa Del Gelato is totally sweet too and I love that you can get up to three flavours in the small serve.
Choosing three flavours — difficult. Choosing just two flavours — stressful. Choosing just one — cruel.

Ok, so i’ve been back and had the difficult task of choosing only three new ice creams to test out:
Egg Nogg was very creamy and satisfying.
Jasmine had a subtle flavour, but was very refreshing.
Watermelon wasn’t as strong as i thought it would be, but it did taste a lot like real watermelon without that fake artificial flavour you can often get.

Nothing brings me to the realisation that I have a serious case of first world problems more than when I go to Casa Del Gelato. There are just so many yummy flavours that I get serious cases of brain freeze before I take my first lick.
Luckily enough for me the staff at Casa Del Gelato are all friendly and happy to a) give me plenty of samples before I buy and b) when I still can’t make my mind up they graciously decide for me, always making good choices. I have tried going in there when I have other important life decisions to make and sought to get advice, but they tend to just laugh in my face and tell me I need to lighten up and have a cone of chocolate gelato.

What? WHAAAAAT? No-one’s had anything nice to say about the ricotta? The *best* icecream flavour in all of Melbourne?
Shame on all of you. I’m leaving Unilocal.
*Puts badge and gun on desk*
Fine, you can like what you like, I guess. But seriously, if you’ve not been here, the ricotta is amazing. My advice would be to mix that up with the cinnamon icecream and the green apple sorbet. You’ll end up dead of starvation, because there’ll be nothing else you want to eat.
Final expert tip: eat them in the square next door — there’s a drinking fountain which is working 95% of the time, you’ll be able to clean your hands afterwards.

The queues are always horrendous, and I can only imagine what it would have been like when it was chocolate month a little while back. It looks like any old ice cream, sorry, gelati joint, with the various gelati piled high in the tubs and the multicoloured choices enticing you from every angle. To be honest, I love my icecream, but am skeptical when it comes to claims like «best gelati in Melbourne». Gelati is gelati is gelati, and unless they’ve got a flavour fairy in the back I wasn’t really sure how they were going to distinguish themselves from the many other great places around town.
I asked if anything was gluten-​free, and was met with such a look of disdain that I would even dare ask if they put nasty gluten in their product that I instantly shrunk to half my usual size. Not so bad, because I’m already like a kid in a candy store in these places, and being (now small) with a seemingly endless choice of flavours I think my mind boggled at the options. Yes, coeliacs, you can eat here, just avoid the biscuit based items on the menu.
There isn’t much experimentation in choices, but simple can be wonderful as I have found every time I’ve been here.

When I first laid eyes on Casa Del Gelato I scoffed at what I thought was a conceit: «A whole house of gelato? Not possible!» I’m now big enough — in part thanks to subsequently scoffing a vat of gelato — to admit that I was wrong.
A decidedly retro looking little gelato shop in Carlton’s Italian precinct, Casa Del Gelato sells a range of sorbets, soy ice creams and, predictably, a veritable slew of gelato.
Beautifully kitted out like an old fashioned 1950s gelaterie, Casa Del Gelato excels at favourites such as stracciatella (vanilla with dark chocolate shavings), pistachio and chocolate and also offers lesser known gelato flavours such as candied fig.
I ordered a small tub with four different flavours, which came in at $ 6 and more than satiated myself and my not-​hungry-​until-​the gelato-​actually-​materialised companion.
Next time I’m having my gelato in one of Casa Del Gelato’s frankly sinful looking chocolate dipped sugar cones. And I’m not sharing. Officially my new (gelato) house away from home.