GELATO ME BABY!

This Thursday's theme is going to be ice cream, in case you hadn't already guessed. I could spell out the reasons for the ice cream theme but really, people, I am too busy mopping my brow and wondering if my hair is "playfully tousled" or just plain limp.

Let me preface my post by saying that I have a very, very long love affair with ice cream of all varieties including full fat, low fat, gelato, granita, fro-yo, ices and sorbet. I once spent three days in Florence and much to my travelling companion's chagrin, insisted on eating nothing but gelato and took to screaming "GELATO ME BABY" every time he asked what I wanted to eat. But let's let bygones be bygones...

Solferino
38 Wellington Street East

My current most favourite place to get ice cream, or rather, gelato, is Solferino, located just on the fringe of the St. Lawrence Market but close enough to still feel like a local, neighbourhood joint.

The gelato on offer is across the board delish but what I love more than anything is that the flavours feel really real. Only moments ago, I had the pineapple gelato and it was a delicate yellow colour and tasted just like crushed, fresh pineapple. I managed to get the gelato scooper dude to give me my current three faves together - blood orange, pineapple and banana. No creepy colours, just amazing, fresh flavours. They also do more "out there flavours" like avacodo, which I have tried but can't say that I will be eating on a regular basis.

Nevertheless, the selection is grand and all the flavours that I have tried so far I would recommend without hesitation and would eat again in a heartbeat including mochaccino, chocolate mint, dulce de leche, belgian chocolate (of course), chocolate orange, cookies and cream, strawberry, blood orange, banana, pineapple and vanilla.

Kid compatability: Baby Girl loves Solferino mainly because every time she goes in, the owners or employees give her little extras on her Belgian Chocolate gelato (is there any flavour other than "brown"), including sprinkles and amazing chocolate chips that she oddly refers to as "cookies". It can at times be a bit crammed and so it's not always possible to get a seat, but fear not, you can nip across the street to Berczy Park and enjoy your gelato sitting around the fountain. If you can ignore the local "colour" and the odd public urinator, it can be downright pleasant.

Other kid friendly pluses include: really clean and spacious bathrooms, sugar-free chocolate and vanilla flavours, the owners and staff are really friendly and helpful and don't mind doling out samples for the kids to try (errrm, did I already mention that there is really only one flavour in Baby Gir's vocab - "brown"),child size portions for $2.95 and the overall cleanliness and spaciousness of the place - it is possible to bring a stroller and not wonder if the other customers are going to lynch you.

So, as a homage to my misspent youth and my trusty travelling companion ...GELATO ME BABY!