Gigi’s Gelato

Here’s the scoop: when Milan-born chef Luigi “Gigi” Pozzoli moved to Melbourne in 2020, he struggled to find the gelato he’d grown up eating. So in 2022, he and wife Sue Yong opened the bright and airy Gigi’s Gelato in Yarraville Village. The gelateria churns out traditional and experimental gelati, along with cakes and dairy-free sorbets.

You’ll find Yong in the front of the store, scooping out gelato and sorbet from the stainless-steel pozzetti. Flavours range from the classics (such as fior di latte, hazelnut and pistachio) to the more inventive, like pumpkin pie with amaretti biscuits.

Out the back, Pozzoli makes everything from scratch. He’ll churn a few new flavours into the rotation each day, depending on his mood or what he’s feeling inspired by. Take the pancake-flavoured gelato, which was inspired by his work as a travelling salesman in the US, and is laced with strawberries and maple syrup.

Other flavours nod to those he grew up with, including a decadent cherry-chocolate number that imitates the classic Italian chocolate Il Boero. Pozzoli’s gelato take is a flavour bomb where tart cherries are soaked in Maraschino liqueur for 40 days and mixed through his chocolate gelato. He started it as special, and regulars lament the days that it’s not available. You can order all the flavours in a cup or cone (and have the latter drenched in 70 per cent dark chocolate straight from the fountain).

But it’s not all about the milk and cream here. There are also dairy-free sorbets, including crowd-favourite flavours like watermelon, mango, and lychee and raspberry. Pozzoli, a trained pastry chef, also makes cakes including lemon meringue, a gelato-based spin on the French opera cake, and panettone stuffed with zabaglione – a variation on the afternoon snacks his nonna made for him growing up. This gelato shop, just like those in Italy, is mostly grab-and-go. But there are a few seats by the front windows if you prefer to stick around and savour your scoops.