A cup of taster spoons is perched on the counter, daring adventurers to try palm sugar, blood orange or black sesame flavored gelato and sorbet sitting in bright tubs under the fluorescent lights. Swift, skilled hands curve a slice of gelato around a waffle cone, then another, creating petals one by one. Twenty more petals follow. Two or three colors are wrapped together, creating an artisan-crafted gelato flower, piece by piece.

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Hidden away in a mall off George Street in Sydney, shareholders Scott Vijitsanguan and Ben Chitmitrechareon opened i-Creamy Gelato eight months ago with Pratamawadee “Pat” Sapsitthiporn, who serves as store manager and fellow shareholder.

 

“It is a challenging job for me to create each flavor and when I see customers like the new flavors, it's quite a good thing,” Sapsitthiporn explained.

 

Available each day, the artisanal gelato shop offers 26 flavors with a rotating cast of 100. New flavors are added to the line-up every month and all are made in-house daily. The shop uses particular flavors for the flowers because they will firm and hold their handcrafted shape, but all the flavors are available for scoops or samples. Along with traditional flavors like chocolate, salted vanilla, caramel, strawberry and lemon, i-Creamy offers a variety of Asian-inspired flavors such as jasmine milk, thai-milk durian and tea.

 

“I like the durian flavor,” Sapsitthiporn said. “Durian is a kind of fruit. It is very popular in Asia, especially in Thailand. It is very stinky...either you love it or you hate it.”

 

Currently, i-Creamy employs nine staff members, four of whom make the gelato in the back room. Customers can expect to pay $6.90 (U.S. $5) for a two-flavor flower and $8.90 (U.S. $7) for a three-flavor flower.

 

Visitors can sample i-Creamy’s products from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.