I love the whole 1950s vibe of TuttiFrutti. Hot pink and lime green – now that’s a colour combination you can’t ignore. Vintage knick-knacks. Neon ice cream sign. And the mural of the gorgeous 1950s pin up girl.
It had been almost two years since I last visited TuttiFrutti. That was on a hot day at the height of summer and the queue for gelato stretched along the street outside. TuttiFrutti was very, very popular.
Jonah and I were visiting Mornington on Cup Day. It was super quiet. There was scarcely a soul to be seen in Main Street, and trade was slow.
The gelato is made in-house, with an emphasis on local and seasonal produce. There were a couple of dozen flavours offered, with a mix of dairy and non-dairy (vegan) options. If you are lucky, you may be able to eat your gelato at one of the tables inside, soaking up that 1950s atmosphere, or outside on the footpath.
Both Jonah and I opted for fruit flavours in cones. He chose blood orange sorbet, paired with passionfruit sorbet. I had mango sorbet, with sour cherry yoghurt.
The texture and the flavours were good, and servings were generous, but everything was let down by being over-sweet. The cherries swirled through the yoghurt were gorgeously sour, but the yoghurt had been sweetened so much it had lost any yoghurt-y tang.
This puzzled me. It was a massive change from my previous visit when we were very happy with our gelato. Was TuttiFrutti having a bad day? A modification to the ingredients? Or is this development catering to local tastes? The kids were certainly loving it.
Maybe it is how the locals prefer their gelato. The friendly server warned me that the dark chocolate sorbet wasn’t to everyone’s taste. I bought a take-home pack of dark chocolate and blood orange sorbet – Benny had been promised some gelato. But we felt that even the dark chocolate was very sweet.
Who wouldn’t be charmed by TuttiFrutti’s retro 1950s décor? The flavour and texture of its gelato were quite good, however everything we tried was too sweet for our taste. But the locals seemed happy.
TuttiFrutti Artisan Gelato
5 Blake Street
Mornington Vic 3931
T: (03) 5975 9597
W: www.facebook.com/TuttiFrutti-Artisan-Gelato-128548350530509/
