La Casa Gelato
La Casa Gelato
1033 Venables Street
Vancouver, BC
Why would somebody want some gelato/ice cream on a chilly spring day? Well, you know how it goes “I scream…”. Well, not really, I just wanted a post about dessert and I was in the area so here it goes.
La Casa Gelato’s claim to fame is that they have over 200 flavours (218 in store), which brings the important question… Quality or quantity? I guess I was about to find out. When I arrived, I found out something odd: This place is quite popular, as, despite it is not really accessible (only one bus route passes nearby), it was quite full the day I was there. Still, does popularity translates to something good?
When it comes to gelato/ice cream, there are a couple of favourites. While I did find some of them (pistachio, for example), I couldn’t help myself look for some of their offerings. After all, with 218 options… However, some did raise eyebrows. Rice? Wasabi??? I wonder who order those and for how long those have been sitting there.
I ended up ordering a two scoop and chose longan and… Durian!!! Huahahahahahaha!!!! That’s right! That fruit shunned by a lot of people. I have never had it and was curious on how bad it could be. And, yes, I asked for a sample but a sample is not the same as a whole scoop. But, wait, are those two scoops or… three??? Yes, there was a small mishap. I asked for longan and durian, with the durian one on the top but, after scooping the longan, the owner (based on the pictures on their website), scooped lychee instead. When he realized the error, he just scooped the durain on the top instead.
So how were the scoops? The durian was not that bad. If the taste of the gelato/ice cream was representative of the actual fruit, I won’t hesitate on eating it. As for the lychee/longan, I must say I couldn’t distinguish one of the other. I think the lychee one had small chunks of the fruit but, otherwise…
That brings the next question: is it as good as people make it to be? My answer is no. Noticed that, so far, I have listed it as gelato/ice cream, rather than one or the other. The problem here is the following: my concept of ice cream is that product we are all familiar with, i.e., that churned dairy product whereas gelato is the more denser Italian version. In this case, La Casa Gelato’s offerings were a bit too soft, even for the ice cream definition. As a result, I did not enjoyed it as a gelato and, as ice cream, well, to soft. Would I come back? Most probably no, unless somebody drags me here. As for the 200+ flavours, I guess for some, that will work. Not for me, mainly because I am the people who usually stick with the basic flavours.
It’s basic ice cream but it’s so fun going there with someone. The aloe vera tastes like soap. I like the rice and black licorice though!
Hmmm… We seem to be going to the same places… Same tastes? Yah, I think the gelato is overrated.. Yes, my favourite flavour is….. Vanilla! Boring I know, but I like it!
Jessica, I bet you’ve had aloe vera drink. That stuff is awesome!
Jessica, yeah, I know it is basic ice cream, just that they call it “gelato”!
Sherman, well, we both have gone to places nobody has blogged previously as well, hehehehehe. The ones “in common”, just happened to be the “popular ones”.
There is nothing wrong with vanilla… Actually, since it is THE basic flavour, if they screw up vanilla, you might as well skip the rest…
218 flavors eh…That is a lot to choose from. I think my mind would wander after reading the first 100 and I’d go back to the classic pistachio. But, speaking of your mixture, I once had three scoops (banana, strawberry, chocolate) and taking a little bit of each in a mouthful created a delicious ‘banana split’ angle.