RivaReno Gelato, Surry Hills

Miss Piggy dined as  a guest of RivaReno.

RivaReno is the latest gelato store to hit Sydney - all the way from Italy and it's bellissimo (that means yummy in Italian, right)?

It's a bit of a change of pace for Aussie gelato-lovers who are used to wandering into their store of choice and browsing mounds of colourful gelato, piled high - tempting us to order more than "just the one scoop" we've popped in to treat ourselves to.

At RivaReno you'll find all the gelato safely tucked away in their refrigerated containers. This allows the gelato to be stored at a slightly higher temperature to what we're used to, making it more soft and less icy and altogether just lush and creamy.

The various gelato flavours (of which there are many - I should know I tasted them ALL!) are made fresh each day - each batch taking about 20 minutes to churn out in the RivaReno "lab".  Milk is the top quality stuff from the alps bordering France and Italy and the gelato is made using traditional Italian recipes.  I'm please to report that the eggs used in RivaReno's gelato are free range.

Our tasting starts with the sorbets - a lighter, milk free gelato, that is based primarily on fresh fruit. The flavours of the fruit are really evident - each sorbet tasting exactly like its name sake. The are light + refreshing and I almost feel guiltless eating these.

From left: lemon sorbet; raspberry sorbet; and peach sorbet

We move on to the granitas next. I'm not really sure of the difference between sorbert and granita to be honest (they're both flavoured water, right?) other than the texture. The sorbet is much more firm and holds it shape whilst the granita almost looks like a frozen, though slightly defrosted slushie (60 million Italians just rung their hands together in horror at that less than profound statement of mine).

From left: Pink grapefruit granita; passionfruit and raspberry granita; and Pina Colada granita

Lastly we move on to the 60% milk-based gelato. My only advice here is that if you are slightly lactose intolerant like I am DON'T taste all the gelatos...you will be sick. Many of the gelato flavours are true-blue Italian, based on recipes from the motherland such as the fior di panna, or cream gelato, that was our first foray in the gelato here. Other flavours have developed over time and due to customer demand such as the decedent New York New York . 

There are a lot of flavours on offer here. Tell the staff what you're in the mood for and they'll happily doll out a few samples until you're ready to commit to your gelato of choice.

RivaReno is at 280 Crown St, Darlinghurst. They open from 1pm til late.