Melbourne is a big place. In our travels around the city we have eaten lots of fantastic gelato and explored unfamiliar neighbourhoods, discovering far more than just new gelaterie.
On a busy Saturday morning Benny and I found ourselves in Niddrie – a long way from our regular haunts. Keilor Road was a hive of activity, with lots of enticing cafés and bakeries already pulling in customers.
Our objective was gelati, and Gelateria Millefiore was our target. With barely a nod to the “thousand flowers” of its name, the gelateria’s minimalist all-white décor is punctuated by some fantastic retro signs (Fiat 500, Lambretta…).
It’s a pleasant place to sit with a gelato, or with a coffee and cannoli, watching the world go by. There is ample seating, either inside or outside on the very wide footpath.
The gelato cabinet is right at the front of the café, and holds around two dozen flavours, including both dairy and non-dairy options. Our friendly server told us that she made all the gelato in-house daily from natural ingredients. We were a bit alarmed by the lurid colours of a couple of the flavours – rainbow and bubblegum – but we suspect these aim to appeal to younger customers. The rest of the flavours had subtle colours more indicative of natural products.
I chose a couple of classics – pistachio paired with lemon sorbetto, served in a cup. The pistachio was excellent, and the lemon was up with the best I have tasted – exceptionally smooth and creamy, with a tang suggesting freshly zested lemon rind had been swirled through only moments before.
Benny opted for coconut, in a cone. He described it as excellent – smooth and creamy with a great coconut taste.
Along the way we also sampled hazelnut (excellent), custard (very good) and mandarin (definitely tasting of fresh fruit, but not nearly as good as our benchmark from Davey Mac’s).
If you do happen to explore beyond Gelateria Millefiori’s gelato cabinet, you will find a tempting range of cakes (although these are not made in-house).
And with loads of other intriguing cafés close by, Niddrie is well worth further investigation. We will be coming back!
Very friendly service and excellent old-school style gelato – we would be very happy to return to Gelateria Millefiori.
UPDATE: Gelateria Millefiore has closed.
Gelateria Millefiore
338B Keilor Road
Niddrie Vic 3042
T: (03) 9379 1888
W: www.facebook.com/Millefioricafe/
