We thought Melbourne had reached its frozen treats peak when Jock's Ice Cream hit us with a dessert wine topaque swirl last year, but now here's Gelateria Primavera, managing to blow our minds one more time with gelati and sorbetti that capture flavours so sharply it's like eating in high definition.
Don’t get a cone. You want a clean cup (a big one) at this icehouse. Not that their stubby wafer bowls aren’t the business. Everything here is, from the fat Italian pistachios that gelato maestro Massimo Bidin insists on importing, to a stand-and-sip shot of espresso. You just don’t want any biscuit messing with your scoops.
Sure, you may start with the clean base layer of fior di latte that’s just sugar, milk and cream, but then comes the sucker punch of mango and orange sorbet and the undeniable, almost savoury nuttiness of roasted hazelnut.
The marble-lined gelateria fills the foyer of Spring Street Grocer, what's about to become a fully fledged smallgoods game changer when owner Con Christopoulos (the European, City Wine Shop) opens the deli section in a few weeks.
Pick from the menu hastily scribbled on butcher’s paper on the wall and then don't mess around. Bidin churns daily using what's good - raspberries on our visit, with mascarpone – and the fresh stuff disintegrates fast.
They're open all day, so close out the night with a scoop of cardamom, turmeric and pistachio (Christmas!) or swing by in the AM for a watermelon and mint sorbet breakfast dessert. No judgment here.