Touted as the best gelateria in Australia with over 40 unique gelato flavors, Gelato Messina finally made the hugely anticipated move to Hong Kong this month.
Their first outpost, now open on historic Pottinger Street, or more commonly called "Stone slab Street" in Soho, offers more than 30 original flavors (from Australia) and then some.
They finally revealed their list of "Hong Kong Exclusive" gelatos this week and there were some pleasant surprises including flavors like egg tart, tofu fa and sugarcane.
Their first outpost, now open on historic Pottinger Street, or more commonly called "Stone slab Street" in Soho, offers more than 30 original flavors (from Australia) and then some.
They finally revealed their list of "Hong Kong Exclusive" gelatos this week and there were some pleasant surprises including flavors like egg tart, tofu fa and sugarcane.
I took the day off to get some office work done at home in the morning so I could sneak out for Messina's artisanal gelato after lunch. I arrived about an hour after their opening time of 3pm and surprisingly, there was only a short lineup of about 10 people in front of me. Not bad, I'll take that any day!
Of course, I knew exactly what I wanted before I pushed open the doors. Egg tart and Hong Kong milk tea gelato, and sugarcane sorbet!!!
$60 for one scoop, $70 for two and $80 for three. Well, I could do the math - 3 scoops is the best buy!
Interestingly, the snow white colored gelato on top was the sugarcane sorbet (I thought it would be in brown or dark green color?). I was curious of how it would stack up against Dangwenli's sugarcane sorbet and it didn't take long for me to find out the answer.
This was quite a lot better than Dangwenli's in my opinion. After all, Messina is much more experienced in gelato and sorbet making. The sorbet was much richer in sugarcane flavors and noticeably sweeter and more thirst-quenching. Very very nice.
Messina isn't the first to tackle Hong Kong style milk tea flavored gelato as they try to succeed in what many gelateria failed in the past. To be brutally honest, I thought it was a fail for me as well. The milk tea flavor in my opinion is best described as "black tea" but it didn't have the complexity of flavors from a typical Hong Kong style silk stocking milk tea. This was expected though cuz most westerners probably don't have enough background in the local milk tea to make it work.
The egg tart flavor (yellowish one on the right) was actually egg custard gelato with caramelized puff pastry which was added to resemble the puff pastry of an actual egg tart. Nice try but I am afraid this didn't do our little yellow baked goodies enough justice.
I didn't have the stomach room for the "imported" flavors so I guess I'm leaving the door open for a second visit, perhaps with Jelloman and little nugget who actually visited Gelato Messina at their Bondi Beach location back in 2017.
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: G/F 37-43 Pottinger Street, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Website: www.gelatomessina.com.hk
Opening Hours: 3:00pm - 10:00pm (Tue - Thu), 3:00pm - 11:00apm (Fri - Sun)
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