Il Gambero and Pidapipó

It's not often that I go the city, but every once in a while, when I do make the trip into the heart of Melbourne, I realise what I have been missing out on. Maybe it's the sense of hustle-and-bustle that's missing in the suburbs, or the concentration of famed cafes and restaurants in such close proximity to one another, or even just the beautiful architecture, but there's a certain something in the city atmosphere which makes a trip to the city a pleasant journey every time. 

I have cousins who live in the city, and like those city-dwellers, enjoys great access to all the wonders of living in the city (unlike this poor schmuck who only gets to visit the big city sporadically, and is subject to the whims of Melbourne's public transport system.) A couple of months ago, we met for lunch at Il Gambero, an Italian restaurant that they recommended highly. I got there early, and like every foodie worth his salt, took the chance to surreptitiously google the menu for online recommendations. (If you ever eat out with me and think it's pretty impressive I know what dishes to order, it's probably only because I was fervently googling the restaurant from under the table.)  

We ordered a Smoked Salmon Bruschetta ($12.50). It came with a pizza base instead of the traditional grilled bread, and tasted amazing. My cousins warned that the base might be soggy (which was what happened when they ordered last time) but this time, the base was perfectly crisped and blistered.

Mark's special (L - $20) was delicious too, and I grabbed as many as I could while under the guise of sharing.

I also loved the Risotto Marinara ($23.90), which came with a generous serving of seafood.

The Princess (with penne, L - $22.90) was also very well-loved by my table-mates.  I actually dialed down the saturation of the photo because it's a little hard to believe how something can be so bright orange. It's a little spicy, a little zippy, and I'm not sure whether I liked it - but everybody else loved it.

Must-Try:
Smoked Salmon Bruschetta 
Mark's special
Risotto Marinara

 

After lunch, we made the short trek to Pidapipó, a renowned gelato place also in Lygon Street. It was another recommendation from my food-savvy cousins, who were already well-acquainted with Pidapipó many moons ago back before the hipsters got wind of it, back when it was a still pop-up cart operating on the northern side of Melbourne's CBD. 

Still, it's not too late for me to jump on the bandwagon and join the cool kids. The chocolate (single scoop - $4) was enticing (made with Valrhona chocolate!), and I chose it in a heartbeat. My veteran cousins opted for the Raspberry and Pistachio (double scoop - $6), the latter which came as good as any I've had in Italy. Pidapipó represented everything that I love about gelato: rich, dense, slightly sticky and packs a wallop of pure unadulterated flavour. That's the gelato I've come to know, love and crave. There's no nonsense such as sticking big chunks of pound cake into the gelato for a quick "new" flavour of the week, such as another "best gelato store in Melbourne" that would go unnamed... . Innovation's all good, but it irks me after style and presentation takes precedence over real substance. For real gelato, skip that overhyped chain (ahem...), and head over to Pidapipó instead.  

Update! Based on this Buzzfeed list trending for the past few weeks, we made a return trip to try their Hazelnut, Nutella and Biscotti Crumble Gelato. 

We weren't successful, but I did try several other flavours from this visit. Their Nutella Swirl is amazing, their Hazelnut was decent, and the Fior di Latte turned out well, and tasted like vanilla, until a quick searched on the internet translated it to "Milk of cow". I was expecting coffee... Like all the gelato I've tried from Pidapipó, the texture is smooth, creamy and udderly decadent. Ahem.  


At this point, it seems that mentioning Pidapipó's gelato is smooth and creamy is like saying their gelato is cold: It is pretty much guaranteed here. Get yourself down to Pidapipó, pronto, for one of the best gelato Melbourne has to offer.