Overview
N2 delivers gelato as fresh as it gets. As in, frozen right there, on the spot, within a few minutes of you placing your order. If you've already seen this miracle at work in Haymarket, you'll know that the secret to its extreme speed is liquid nitrogen. And if you haven't, there's now a new shopfront where you can watch it happen: 184 King Street, Newtown.
Since setting up their first Sydney store in 2012, and expanding to Melbourne in 2013, N2 has had no trouble attracting queues. This is due not only to the fact that their gelato seems to appear by some magical spectacle — created by goggled, white-coated lab workers and accompanied by billowing water vapours — but also to their focus on left-of-field flavour profiles, often inspired by local happenings. The Newtown N2 team has already used T2 products to create a Flutterby iced tea and turkish apple sorbet and Young Henrys lager to whip up a beer and prawn crackers gelato. There's also a Thai-influenced number, yuzu coconut sorbet, which features cocoa nibs, freeze-dried mandarin, a choc top and a syringe of kaffir lime syrup.
The menu is always changing, and you can even contribute by submitting your very own flavour idea. Do be aware that any requests calling for fat-free, diet-style desserts or requiring artificial flavours or colours won't be fulfilled. N2 prides itself on its use of full-cream dairy products, sourced from local farms, and its 'real', fresh ingredients.
The menus at both the Newtown and Haymarket shops will evolve in sync — you'll find the details plastered in chalk across the walls. Aesthetically, they're in league, too, with the new shop taking on the original's industrial look: step ladders instead of conventional seating and a black interior splashed with yellow hard hats and bright scaffolding.
N2 Newtown is open between 1pm and 11pm every day. You'll find it at 184 King Street.
Image by Eddie Hart.