Ice-cream VS gelato – Example from Maxim’s Penang

Ice-cream, the dessert that everyone love because it is so sweet, and hate because it is so sweet. Now, there is a new type of “ice cream” called gelato. You may know more about it from Wiki but here’s the sumarry.

	Ice Cream	Gelato
Country of Origin	US	Italy
Fat	> 10%	5% – 7%
Air	< 50%	25% – 30%
Egg York	Less	More
Milk	Less	More
Cream	More	Less
Production Interval	Long	Daily
Attitude	Fattier, more air means stuffier	Denser, fresher, healthier
Similarity	One scope is not enough

The table above speaks for itself. As a whole, gelato is aiming for healthier (and richer) customers.

Recently, there is a new Maxim’s Cake House branch opened in Air Itam. It is near T-Junction at Air Itam Wet Market. Not only they are selling cakes, they also sell home-made galato and have a dining place for customers to enjoy the gelato. Some of my friends complaining that their “ice-creams” are not tasty, so I paid a visit myself recently.

I ordered Whisky Cream, Tiramisu, and Mery Cherry flavors gelato which costs RM10.00 on the first visit. It is the most expensive item in the menu. Seriously the Tiramisu and Mery Cherry are really tasteless. More like a plain vanilla ice-cream for me. The gelato, however, is smooth.

After leaving, surprisingly I did not feel stuffy in my chest at all, which commonly feel after taking “overdosage” of ice-cream (due to more air in ice-cream). My lip also not feeling sticky which commonly feel after taking sugar-added stuff.

For the next visit, I noticed that most flavorings in gelato freezer had changed so I picked Ferrero Rocher + Banana flavors. Looks like they crunched Ferrero Rocher into gelato. Both are tasty.

There is a point collection card in which for each full scope purchased, you will entitle for 1 chop. Collect 15 chops and you will get 1 soft toy and 1 single scoop for free. However, the valid period is only 1 month.

As a whole, gelato may not as yummy as ice-cream since it uses less artificial favoring, it provides healthier alternative for ice-cream lovers.

Before I forgot, the shop also sells ice-cream cakes. A small one cost about RM32 and I bought one for my friend’s birthday with 10% discount.