This lemon blossom gelato has been all over my feed for weeks, everyone going on about how pretty it looks and how good it tastes, so when we were at the Fitzroy market on Sunday there was no way I was walking past it, the shop is only about a ten minute walk from there. I’ve wanted to try a gelato served in a piece of fruit for ages, and this one comes from L’Arte Della Gelato on Brunswick Street, one of my favourite gelato shops in Fitzroy, it’s sitting on a 4.9 on Google and I completely get why. It had also finally warmed up after a few freezing days that felt like winter was back, which made it perfect gelato weather. I’d read that the queue was huge, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, and the spring special wasn’t the only thing I ended up wanting to tell you about, the rest of their menu and the winter hot chocolate are just as worth knowing about.
Every post I’d seen said you’d be waiting forever, but on Sunday it wasn’t bad at all. We stood in line for a few minutes, definitely under ten, and then we were inside. I think nearly everyone in front of us was ordering the same thing, so it moved fast.
What the lemon blossom looks like
They hand it over in a frozen, hollowed out lemon, like a lemon that’s been juiced, you can still see the pulp and the little membranes inside. They scoop gelato in, add some lemon jam, then repeat that a few times to build it up in layers, and finish with a flower on top with a bit more jam sprinkled over it. It’s so big when it lands in your hand! The two of us shared one and it was plenty. It really is like a little work of art, eating spring out of a lemon.
The lemon blossom flavour
It’s a lemon and ricotta gelato, so you get a really full lemon smell and a lot of milky flavour, with the jam adding a little bit of sourness. The lemon curd hidden inside was my favourite part, it gave it a different texture and I wanted more of it. But overall it was sweeter than sour for me, more like lemon custard than lemon, and I kept wishing it was sourer. If they pushed the sourness up a bit, I think the texture would be perfect.
The meringue flower
The little flower on top is made of meringue. It’s gorgeous, but I found it a bit too sweet.
The rest of the menu
What I love most about this shop is the flavours, they’ve got some really unique ones, and the menu board is worth a proper read. The three flavours we picked were all so good! You can ask the staff to let you taste a few before you decide, so just try whatever catches your eye and pick the ones you like. Their own website says free tastings are part of the deal, and they push the Matcha with Strawberry and the Saffron Pistachio as their signatures. The most popular one is the Biscoff cheesecake, so if you can’t decide, that’s the safe pick, you can’t go wrong with it.
The ube marshmallow flower hot chocolate
This one is the dreamiest thing I’ve eaten in ages. It’s a winter special, the Ube Marshmallow Flower Hot Chocolate, a torched ube marshmallow flower on top of a really rich hot chocolate, and you get to pick a scoop of gelato to go with it. The hot chocolate is so thick and rich, and the marshmallow melts straight into it, which is the best part.
My tip is to pick a gelato on the tart side, and save the marshmallow for the very end, because it’s seriously sweet! If you eat it first, it takes over the sweetness of the gelato completely. Hot, cold, soft, fluffy, it’s all in the one dessert. Because it’s a winter special, it may be gone now that it’s spring, so check their Instagram before you head over for it.
Inside the shop
The shop itself felt really comfortable, a nice place to be, and it’s an easy stop if you’re wandering around Fitzroy and fancy something sweet.
Where to find it
It’s at 191 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, directly across from the Gorman store. Their Instagram says they’re open daily from 12pm to 10pm, though Apple Maps has Friday and Saturday running until 11pm, so check before you go. The lemon blossom is a spring special, so it won’t be around forever.
Is it worth it
For the shop, yes, it’s easy to see why the rating is so high, the flavours are different from what you’d find at most places and the staff let you taste before you commit. For the lemon blossom, go for the look, it’s beautiful and big enough to share between two, but keep your expectations realistic on the taste, it’s sweet, closer to lemon custard than a sharp lemon gelato, and I’d have loved it with more sourness. If you’re not sure what to order, start with the Biscoff cheesecake.
We’ve got more Melbourne dessert spots in our cafe and restaurant reviews, and if you like trying new openings, we also wrote about a popular matcha cafe from Tokyo that opened in Melbourne.