Located at: (1) 60a Pedlar Street, Galle, Sri Lanka; (2) Food Studio @ Colombo City Center, 137 Sir James Pieris Mawatha, Colombo 02, Sri Lanka; (3) Caramel Pumpkin, 38 Ward Place, Colombo 07, Sri Lanka

Last visited on: 02 Mar, 2019

The fact that the name ‘Isle of Gelato’ is, advertently or otherwise, phonetically similar to ‘I love gelato’ seems like the most apt thing that could have happened. “Artisanal”, “perfected”, “fresh, natural ingredients” are some of the descriptive words they use on their Instagram bio. And once you’ve has a bit of their product, you can fathom that they’re true to their word. It beats me as to how I missed out on this delightful gelato experience prior to their opening at Colombo City Center, but now that I’ve discovered this little gem, myself and my family have paid countless visits to CCC just for a cup or cone of Isle of Gelato (IoG). There are three standard sizes – Small priced at LKR 450, Medium priced at LKR 700 and Large priced at LKR 900. They also recently introduced take-away tubs (yay!) which are priced at LKR 1,800.

IoG has quite a unique and interesting range of flavours, some of which are truly reflective of our local produce and flavours. And as much as there are many more that I’m yet to try, I’ve definitely found my staple favourite in their Holy Grail. Despite not being big on ice cream, this is one flavour that I can’t seem to have too much of. Chocolate ice cream with salted caramel and peanut brittle makes for an absolutely happy and delicious and irresistible combination. I love it! And the best thing about IoG’s ice creams is that they don’t leave you feeling thirsty or sticky in the throat when you’re done. And that, for me, is just fantastic.

A second flavour that I enjoy is their Puttalam Sea Salt and Caramel. The name speaks for itself in terms of description. The sweetness is gently but perfectly cut off by the saltiness, with an added crunch of peanut brittle. A firm favourite among the fambam.

I’ve also tried their Almond Mochachino, which was lovely too. After all, who would say no to a combo of chocolate, coffee, almond and caramel, right? This was my choice on a day when my beloved Holy Grail was not on the front display, and it turned out to be a good enough alternative – although I still cheekily go back to my No. 1 on almost every visit.

IoG’s Instagram page is almost just as delightful as their gelato, and I’ve been seeing several interesting gelato desserts in their posts – sandwiches, semi-domes, popsicles and the likes. So, on our last visit, we veered away from the usual and opted for some other stuff.

I went for the Honeycomb Gelato Bar (LKR 690), which looks quite a bit like an éclair. This was a combination of honey gelato infused with spongey bits of home-made honeycomb, topped with a fine layer of beautifully smooth chocolate and a few more crunchy/chewy pieces of honeycomb. The latter bit was a great touch in terms of texture, I thought. And as a whole, it was something quite interesting and surely worth trying. The delicious chocolate complemented it perfectly too.

We also tried out their Gelato Popsicle (LKR 350) which seemed like your everyday choco-coated vanilla ice cream stick. But goodness, it was levels above and beyond in taste. Which, in hindsight, shouldn’t come as a surprise since IoG know their gelato inside-out and do a swell job with the taste and quality of their product.

Do keep up the fantastic smile-inducing work, guys! And to anyone who hasn’t tried this stuff as yet – what on earth are you waiting for??

Yummy Rating: 4.5 / 5.0