N2 Extreme Gelato

329 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 3065
Date visited: 1 December 2013


AS, MerlinFan and I had already planned to hit N2 Extreme Gelato after our lunch on this balmy 30 degree day.  Parking wasn't a hassle with AS as driver this time =D

N2 Extreme Gelato was packed to the front door when we arrived.  Fear not, most of the people had already had their orders taken and were mainly waiting for their names to be called.

The price is listed as follows: 

Cute.

Unfortunately N2 Extreme Gelato takes cash only :(  We paid up and headed around to the fish-bowl / aquarium-like work station where other patrons were watching and taking photos of the staff whipping up ice cream with full out theatrics of clouds of swirling white mist.

Before

After 

It wasn't long before our names were called - we collected our ice cream and headed down the back where there were wooden park benches and quirky grass turfs attached on the tops of crates for patrons to perch, giving the entire seating area a picnicky, park-y feel.

We each got a different flavour to try.  

The Lemon Meringue Pie was already sold out by 1.30pm (unbelievable!) so MerlinFan had the next best thing - the Blueberry Meringue Pie.

Blueberry Meringue Pie $8

MerlinFan felt the blueberry flavour did not jump right out at her and she made me add that to be fair, she thinks blueberries usually don't have much taste anyway =P.  She liked the meringue and the salty sweet crumble, but felt in a way they overpowered the blueberry.

AS the super adventurous had the Mango Sorbet.

Mango sorbet $6

This was really nice, smooth and didn't have that artificial mango taste that MerlinFan was extremely picky about and able to detect a mile away.  This got her tick of approval.  

To be honest, none of the flavours on offer today particularly rocked my boat and admittedly I was tempted to have mango sorbet as well, but forbade myself to because I was hoping to get something that could make an interesting picture.  I was curious about the Me So Happy (aka milk gelato with miso caramel peanuts), but having the gelato whipped up on order also meant you can't taste test - and I didn't want to be stuck with a $6 cup of something I couldn't finish <cheap>.

I had the White chocolate macadamia and green tea fudge.  

White chocolate macadamia + Green tea fudge $6

Boo.  Looked so vanilla and oh look, with a white spoon too.  XP

This was a cup of creamy, sweet milk chocolate interspersed with little pieces of macadamia nuts.  I couldn't detect any green tea flavour in it at all to the point that left me wondering if I had been mistaken and they were two different flavours after all.  And yes, I'm still wondering.

Making gelato with liquid nitrogen does give it an exquisitely silky, smooth texture that you don't get with your run-of-the-mill ice cream.  It's also served at the perfect temperature of -6c so it still has that nice resistance without the meltiness of a soft serve, if you know what I mean.  Overall, a novel and interesting concept - an ingenious idea.  Taste-wise, a little underwhelming based on what we tried today.  Perhaps it was just the flavours on offer today - from what I have seen they have other intriguing flavours that I would have loved to try, namely banana peanut crumble, kaya toast, peanut butter and jelly (OMG), coconut honeydew & sago, and Pretzella… who knows, perhaps there may be a next time.  Never say never.

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