Special scoops

Dog-eared novels aside, the best summer reading right now seems to be the specials board at Gelato Messina in Darlinghurst. It's shot through with humour, surprises and unexpected characters the King even makes a cameo in Elvis The Fat Years: his oversized waistline and appetite inspires a fatty mash-up of peanut butter gelato with banana jam and fried brioche.

Hello Sailor syncs pink grapefruit with aperol sorbet while Danny Two Times is a double-hit of citrus: yoghurt and marmalade gelato paired with flourless orange & poppy seed cake. Names aside, other flavours have attention-seeking factors, too.



When I was accidentally within ice-cream-buying distance of Gelato Messina on the weekend, I cursed myself for mistiming my visit I'd just finished a filling breakfast at The Falconer and had zero stomach room for anything else. But it turns out that you can't actually walk past Messina without requesting at least one scoop it's a universal law (or at least one that reigns strongly on that stretch of Victoria Road).

So after a long peer at the display case, I had the Cardamom with Apricot Puree the lively, bracing spice and the jammy-sweet fruit making the greed worthwhile.

And, because it's hard to minimise any order at this gelato parlour, I even had a Ti! ny Cone< /b> topped with Raspberry and Rosewater as a chaser. It's a light, unexpected and summer-perfect flavour, the kind that evokes a mood-lifting hum as you walk the streets, the rhythm of footsteps punctuated by cone-finishing bites.

As for the next installment of Gelato Messina specials I imagine that will probably be must-read material, too.

Gelato Messina, Shop 1/241 Victoria St, Darlinghurst NSW (02) 8354 1223, www.gelatomessina.com.au. You can also get 'Flavour Alerts' by following Gelato Messina on Twitter or Facebook.