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2016-07-24
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When I was planning my trip to Italy, the number one thing my friends all told me: Eat as much gelato as you can because OMG....you'll understand why when you do. And I did. I pretty much had a two scoops of gelato every single day. Ok. To be more honest, I had gelato in the afternoon and gelato at night. It got to the point that I could figure out which places served excellent artisan gelato and which places were really poor factory made ones. And which ones were factory made but still fairly g
Grom is one of those factory made gelato that is fairly good. I wouldn't say it was the best in Italy, but it served it's purpose as they have a number of shops throughout Italy that are easy to find. The chain is also found throughout the world and now Hong Kong, inside IFC. No, this shop is not artisan gelato but factory made. Factory made, you say? But it says all natural ingredients, etc, etc. Yes. It's owned by Unilever. They have also since expanded their gelato with cookies, drinks and granitas. Just consider this the Starbucks of gelatos. They bring decent quality gelato to the world, in mass production style. I'm not saying it's bad. I love Starbucks. It's just not the best.
The Hong Kong branch is found inside IFC in a small take away style shop. Their menu (English only) is simple. They have not only gelato but coffee, shakes and cookies. It appeared that they will rotate their flavors for when I came they had a list of flavors for July.
Like all good gelato found in Italy, it's placed inside stainless steel buckets that are covered up. Ask any Italian who will tell you to only eat gelato if it's covered up in a bucket and not those ones that you see over the counter. This ensures the temperature of the gelato will be maintained so it will always be soft and creamy.
Ordering is done at the cashier. You then bring your receipt, show the gelato scooper what flavors you want and away you go!
You can choose a cone or cup. If choosing a cup, they have 5 cup sizes but currently, they do not have mini.
Boyfriend and I shared a large cup of three flavors for $79. The flavors we chose? Pistacchio, stracciatella and gianduja. I was excited as I expected HUGE scoopfuls of gelato for when I ordered in Italy, I ordered a small of two flavors (costing me around 2 euros) and it was so huge, I was full for quite some time.But somehow in Hong Kong ... the scoops were small. I had to look back at my vacation photos to see if I had remembered incorrectly the scoop size. I wasn't wrong at all. The scoop size in Hong Kong is a lot smaller. Not just a tiny bit smaller but A LOT SMALLER. It also cost more so that made it doubly sad.
Tastewise? The three flavors I chose were what I considered the best when I travelled. Here? The pistachio was quite good. Very rich and strong. Gianduja was the clear winner. Tasted like taking a spoonful of Nutella and sucking on it. But saddest of all? Stracciatella. Not good at all. It just tasted like milk. There lacked the bits of chocolate chunks found throughout so it would have a crunchy texture. I was clearly disappointed with that flavor and wouldn't order it again.Another odd thing. Why did it melt faster than when I had this in Italy? I was inside IFC? An air conditioned mall? In Italy, I was standing under a blistering sun at 27C. My gelato didn't melt so quickly in Italy under those conditions. Why did it melt here with air condtioning? Strange.
Though more expensive and a bit stingy on the amount as compared to Italy, I would be back and try the other flavors. Why? Because I love gelato and I miss a good quality one.
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