Gelateria Primavera (Spring Street, Melbourne)

Interesting flavours

In my research for the  best Melbourne gelatos in Melbourne, I chanced upon Spring Street Grocer or rather Gelateria Primavera, just located at the Eastern end of the CBD, just opposite Parliament House.

I don’t know about you, but unlike some who faithfully stick to just one flavour no matter which ice cream shop they visit, I like variety. But that’s also my weakness – I would always encounter a difficult time a long and hard struggle in choosing the flavours I want. I am attracted to the novel, but like the tested and traditional…life’s pretty complicated when it comes to choosing ice cream isn’t it? But secretly, I would like to try all the flavours in one go, but even though are no constraints on the wallet, there are constraints on a certain line.

Anyway, my first encounter with Primavera was after a meal at The Imperial. Primavera is just a stone’s throw away from The Imperial. So it made for a good excuse to head for some gelato.

The prices are $5 for one flavour, $7.20 for one to three flavours and $8.20 for one to four flavours…can’t remember. But having overspent on dinner, I had to settle for one flavour, so I opted for something rather novel and unique – the cardamom, saffron and pistachio.

The gelato was milky and smooth, but I felt it lacked something – maybe it could have been milkier. Meanwhile the cardamom, saffron and pistachio blend had a nice spice to it which remained in my mouth for quite a while. There were bits of pistachio embedded in the gelato. I can’t say I like this flavour very much.

My second time at Primavera was on Monday after a night’s out with some classmates at Mamasita (I won’t be blogging on this as I didn’t take photos). I was craving for some gelato and decided to stop by Primavera (since I was already on the east end) on my walk home. I decided to go for a more Asian flavour – coconut pandan. This flavour didn’t disappoint. It was aromatic and tasted like kaya (coconut milk and egg jam scented with pandan leaves). Both the taste of the coconut and kaya was pretty pronounced and I felt I was back in the tropics of Singapore.

My third time at Primavera was last Saturday. I decided to go for three flavours. I had a taste rest of the rose lassi which I didn’t particularly take to. Instead I opted for rice pudding vanilla raisin, hazelnut and the non-dairy dark chocolate orange.

I enjoyed the rice pudding flavour with the speckles of vanilla bean and specks of rice. The dark chocolate orange was fulfilling without being too cloying. The hazelnut was decent.

While Primavera’s gelato may not be as luxurious as Pidapipo, it is certainly one of the more decent artisan gelatos in the CBD area that is worth a visit every now and then.