Gelato Messina

Overview

Gelato Messina has been around since 2002 and it aims to make ice cream the way it was done a hundred years ago. More than forty flavours are made daily on the premises and come at you via paper cup or waffle cone. Coffees and milkshakes are of a craftsmanship that tastes as artisanal as the main event, and there is a display of very beautiful ice-cream cakes before you even reach the main cabinet. Look out for the wild strawberry sorbet centre with vanilla semi-freddo and strawberry gelato, on a base of marsala and strawberry syrup-soaked sponge, finished with piped meringue and wild strawberries 'juliette' ( serves ten).

And oh, the cabinet. Intensely-coloured sorbets in flavours like raspberry and blood orange; deep-coloured chocolates and caramels that seem to be made of velvet; swirls of cinnamon, fruit, nuts and biscuit that bear witness to the fact that these recipes get their flavour by actually putting in the things that they take their name from.

Messina is a little bit of a hole in the wall and a very popular one at that, but it is worth fighting your way through for a look at (and a taste of) the wonders within.