1 July 2014
Whilst not exactly an official challenge I was given the idea by 'The Urban List' ( http://www.theurbanlist.com/melbourne/a-list/50-things-do-melbourne-under-50 ) and decided to create my own sweet challenge that I had been looking for.
I will therefore be attempting to eat all the Gelato flavours at Gelato Messina in one sitting (not including Sorbet). At the moment the website lists 24 different signature flavours and 6 weekly changing specials. So 30 flavours and 30 scoops to be eaten and completed.
I will organise details in the next week or so but let me know if u would like to join either for casual ice cream or to join the challenge.
27 July 2014
On a surprisingly sunny and warm Sunday afternoon we headed North to Gelato Messina for my third food challenge on my list. I was joined by 5 friends who had come to support and sample (albeit a lesser amount of the top rated Ice Cream in Melbourne). After everyone arrived we had to wait in the surprisingly long queue as i clearly underestimated how popular the Smith Street ice cream bar would be on a Sunday afternoon in winter at 230pm with a little bit of sunshine.
After waiting for a little while i presented the waiting girl with the bowl i specifically bought from home (a giant mixing bowl). After a look of shock and laughter she realised i was serious in my request to eat 1 of every Gelato flavour and looked nervous on how to proceed. She finally returned with her manager who took control, offered the use of the blast freezer to cool the bowl for additional time before the ice cream would melt.
After 5 minutes in the blast freezer he returned with the bowl and proceeded to scoop the flavours into the bowl. I had returned to the table before being presented with the full scale of my challenge at which point he stated that he had unhelpfully added some additional scoops to the mixing bowl despite my explanation of the challenge (the one time I haven't wanted free additional ice cream).
As such the bowl had the 30 scoops of ice cream plus by own estimation we counted 4 double ups of flavours. With the estimated 34 scoops (and over 5L of ice cream) the giant mixing bowl was nearly full of ice cream and represented a challenge.
Again not sure why they included 8 spoons as it was just me and i had bought with me a proper desert spoon for proper eating. Starting slow but steady i made good progress through the mountain of ice cream as the timer slower ticked along and amongst looks and comment of amazement, disgust and wonder including my favourite of a man who just announced 'holy f*cking sh*t' as he walked behind me and saw the half finished contents of my bowl.
After a while the size, creaminess, surprising chunks of ingredients and a terrible hunched seating position around the low table took it toll on my speed and finally my ability to consume anything further. With the consistency turning to soup and my stomach close to bursting i was forced to give up my attempt about 5 scoops short of my goal by a particularly overpowering coffee ice cream hit (my least favourite flavour). I had been beaten and broken just short of my goal and was forced to tip the remaining soup like ice cream away.
As an aside note this was amazingly good ice cream with proper hits of real flavour using real ingredients rather than syrups or pastes. My favourite was one of the weekly specials - Rococo, a mix of chocolate, honey and coconut gelato with pieces of crunchy sticky nougat although it would be hard to go wrong with any flavours.
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