Cool comfort: Why Australia loves its gelato (even in winter)

This month, Australia’s gelato giant Messina touched down in Singapore, opening in bustling Chinatown. Serving 40 flavours – including five Singapore-only creations such as durian, kaya toast and teh tarik – it felt like a natural next step for a company with over 20 years of skin in the gelato game.

Born in Sydney and now boasting more than 30 stores across the country (plus two in Hong Kong), Messina can be credited with kicking off Australia’s gelato boom. Over the last decade especially, Aussies have developed a love affair with it, embracing gelato as a dietary staple, not just a summer fling.

Why the year-round craving?

It starts with the weather. “In Queensland, ice cream sales actually go up in winter,” says Michelle Bell-Turner from Cairn’s The Dairy by Mungalli. “People escape the southern chill and head to the tropics.” Cue balmy afternoons, beach strolls and, yes, an ice cream in hand. Even in states like New South Wales and Western Australia, where winters are mild, ice -cream never really goes out of season. “It suits our laidback, outdoor-loving lifestyle,” adds Kariton Sorbetes owner, John Rivera.

But it’s not just climate. Australia’s palate has grown bolder and more global, with gelato riding the wave of Italian culinary influence. “It’s seen as premium,” says Adriano Macri of Bottega Gelateria. “Lower fat, warmer serving temperature, more flavour intensity. It’s a texture and taste thing.”

And, of course, it comes down to craft. Aussie gelaterias are making small-batch magic with native ingredients and seasonal flair. “Keep your flavours interesting, work with the seasons and people will scoff it down no matter the time of year,” says Emma Nicholas-Jennings from Miinot Gelato. Or, as Rivera puts it: “Who doesn’t love ice-cream? Whether it’s hot or cold – it’s the best treat.”

Here are some of Australia’s coolest spots to get the scoop.

Melbourne

Miinot Gelato

Miinot Gelato in Pascoe Vale isn’t your average gelateria. In their self-described “tiny boutique”, Emma Nicholas-Jennings and Gary Jennings churn out small-batch gelato using hyperlocal produce – sometimes from their neighbours’ backyards.

Flavours shift with the seasons and their mood: the G.O.A.T blends caramel, vanilla, brownie chunks and salted caramel swirls; Pavlova tastes like an Aussie summer with passionfruit, strawberry compote and crisp meringue; and when feijoas are abundant, their sorbet bursts with zingy, floral punch. Can’t handle the suspense? The daily lineup drops on their Instagram account, @miinotgelato.

Brisbane

Lick Ice Cream

A Queensland icon for over two decades, Lick Ice Cream can be found everywhere from luxury hotels to supermarket freezers. In 2023, food and wine enthusiasts Simon and Yvette West took the reins, keeping the brand family-run (their two daughters work in-store between university classes).

Walk into any of their three Brisbane stores – The Barracks Shopping Centre, Graceville or Wilston –and you’re met with the warm scent of roasting nuts, bubbling caramel and fresh fruit. Everything is made from scratch using top-notch ingredients and a rich custard base of cream, egg yolks and sugar. With over 30 flavours on offer, crowd-pleasers include nut brown butter with almond and sea salt, smokey burnt honey and zingy lemon curd.

Sydney

Mapo

Before opening Mapo in Newtown in 2019, Matteo Pochintesta was designing buildings. Now he’s designing delicious gelato flavours. A serendipitous internship at Ciacco, one of Italy’s top gelaterias, sparked the switch. “Learning the secrets of gelato in Italy made me want to bring that tradition home,” he explains.

Provenance is everything here: jersey milk and cream from the Southern Highlands, peak-season fruit and zero additives. Don’t miss the sea salt caramel spun with Pepe Saya’s cult-status cultured butter, or the Sicilian pistachio – salted, lightly roasted and smooth as satin.

Mapo’s second outpost opened in Bondi Beach in 2021, with a third set to land on Oxford Street later in 2025.

Kariton Sorbetes

Kariton Sorbetes was born during Melbourne’s 2020 lockdowns, a creative endeavour for founder and chef John Rivera. “It started as a way to escape the confines of my home and create something that brought joy,” he explains.

Rivera’s vision is inventive flavours rooted in the Philippines and Southeast Asia – comforting for those who grew up with them and a welcomed discovery for others. Five years on, Kariton has three Melbourne stores and, as of May 2024, a Sydney outpost in Burwood. “Sydney is full of avid, curious eaters,” he says. “Opening an outpost there was a no-brainer.”

The menu offers regulars and rotating specials, but the best-seller remains: ube halaya, an ode to Filipino dessert traditions. It layers earthy purple yam gelato with gooey ube fudge, blackberry jam and toasted coconut curd. Rich, slightly savoury and bright with tang, it nails every note.

Perth

Dumbo Gelato

What began as a sibling passion project is now one of Perth’s must-visit gelato spots. After a flavour-finding trip to Italy, Kane Hipper and Stevie Gale launched Dumbo in Scarborough in December 2019, pairing classic Italian methods with natural ingredients and low refined sugar.

Dumbo’s flavours nod to Aussie nostalgia. There’s lamington, violet crumble (a chocolate bar with a crumbly, honeycomb toffee centre) and the daring Vegemite and cheese: salted caramel reimagined with a salty umami kick and mascarpone gelato for decadent balance.

The crowd favourite though is Nutella crunch. Silky gelato made from Bronte hazelnuts, ribboned with Nutella and finished with a scatter of roasted hazelnut pieces – a rich, creamy, crunchy ride in every lick.

Chicho Gelato

Step into Chicho’s Mount Lawley outpost and you’re not just ordering gelato, you’re watching an edible performance unfold. Through glass walls, mixers whirl, honeycomb crackles and gelato is piped and spun before your eyes.

It’s the latest evolution of Carly and Cesare “Chez” De Bartolo’s gelato empire, which began with charming Sicilian carts in 2013 and now includes stores in Northbridge and Fremantle.

Flavours include classics like vanilla and strawberry sorbet (when in season), as well as decadent options like salted caramel crack and dark chocolate nougat made with 70% Ecuadorian dark chocolate with house-made nougat using hazelnuts and almonds.

Cairns

The Dairy by Mungalli

At this sunny Cairns creamery, it all begins on the farm. The Watsons – of Mungalli Biodynamic fame – have been producing organic milk in the lush Atherton Tablelands for decades. Beth Watson, daughter of founder Robert, launched The Dairy to celebrate that milk at its best: rich, velvety ice cream made with biodynamic cream from pasture-raised cows, free from chemicals.

Flavours pay homage to the tropics: the Daintree pairs dark chocolate with tangy Davidson’s plum, while other standouts include tropical ginger with fennel and raspberry, or the ever-classic mangoes and cream.

Each scoop is a tribute to the land and the hands that nurture it. “We want every visitor to feel the care we put into our farming, our food and our community,” says Michelle Bell-Turner.

Adelaide

Bottega Gelateria

After eight years immersed in Italy’s gelato scene – including a stint at Bologna’s famed Carpigiani Gelato University – Adriano Macri returned to Adelaide with a mission: to revive the lost art of traditional gelato-making. In 2019, he opened Bottega Gelateria in breezy Henley Beach (followed by stores in Glenelg and Prospect), embracing a slow food ethos and pure ingredients.

At Bottega Gelateria, each batch is made fresh daily, with a menu that spans continents: from matcha and hojicha to black sesame; saffron and rosewater; banana dulce de leche and Uncle Gino’s homegrown figs. But it’s the Salted Riverland pecan with maple syrup that steals the spotlight, scooping up awards at festivals and from Florence to South Australia.