The Hindu Business Line : Creamier than ice-cream

Mumbaikars are in a perennial search for exotic cuisines to pamper their palates. And Bandra is naturally the most popular haunt for such foodies. The most recent and exciting addition here is Amore (love or passion in Italian), a gelato parlour.

Gelato is a frozen dessert made from milk and sugar, which is available in many flavours. The ingredients are super-cooled while stirring to crush ice crystals as they form. Gelato has less than 35 per cent air, and is dense.

Though gelato has become a generic Italian word for ice-cream, it contains no cream. It is also used in other countries to refer to ice-cream prepared in the Italian way.

Gelato comes from the Italian word gelare, or "to freeze." It is typically made using some fresh fruit or other ingredients such as chocolate — pure chocolate, flakes, chips, candies, truffles etc, nuts, small candies, sweets, or cookies.

At Amore, the Italian master-gelatiere, Costanzo Malatto gets Mumbai swooning over his classic Gelato and sorbetto, which is gelato made with water and without dairy ingredients. While the joint is really small, it overflows with customers who are very curious about the "flavours for the day", as they are not mentioned against the tub and are changed every day. "That is part of the whole experience," says Yasser Ali, Chief Operational Officer, Amore. He adds that as gelato is prepared fresh daily, the flavours are determined by the availability of the best fruit in the local market.

The staff then takes you through a tasting session, while educating you on the flavours. Having taken your pick, you can dunk into the cup or waffle; the gelato feels creamier than ice-cream. It has to be enjoyed at the right temperature. "We do not parcel gelato since we want people to enjoy it the way it is supposed to be. You cannot take it home and freeze it."

The ambience at Amore is pretty clean, though the dearth of seating space is a downside. The flavour to pick is Tiramisu, which is gelato combined with cake, Belgian chocolate, ladyfinger cookie and raisins. "I do come here quite often as I can eat this without worrying about the calories," says Anshu, who is delighted by the fact that the gelato is very low in fat content (0-8 per cent) as against about 20 per cent in the regular ice-cream.

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