Swooning Over Gelato

Last month I was invited to the launch of Swoon. These guys have brought proper gelato to Park Street in a variety of flavours and coffee from local roasters Extract Coffee plus proper thick Italian hot chocolate, there are plenty of things to sway the eye. Swoon is quite the swanky venue, the luxurious decor makes it feel somewhere special to come for a little treat. The team gave us a run down of how gelato is made and sourcing the produce, mostly local, Pullin's Bakery brownies for their chocolate brownie flavour for example. We were brought samples of their Swoon on a Stick, superior to Magnums in every way and a variety of options I particularly enjoyed the coconut sorbet wrapped in dark chocolate, like a fancy Bounty. For those of you are just looking for a little taste they offer monoporzione a small shot size of fior di latte (flower of milk) basically the creamiest and purest form of cow's milk mixed with either raspberry or dark chocolate sauce and topped with nuts. These are particularly special, so creamy and indulgent, perfect for me really because I don't have a big sweet tooth.

monoporzione 

As for flavours of gelato it is an embarrassment of riches. And they offer at least 4 sorbettos for the dairy intolerant or vegan. The chocolate sorbetto is so creamy and rich it is hard to believe it hasn't got any milk in it. And it's no wonder everything tastes so good, owner Bruno even went to gelato University Carpigiani, near Bologna, where he met former teacher and now head gelato chef Luisa. Yes that's right there is a university where you can specifically learn the craft of gelato. And they clearly passed their course with flying colours because this is the best tasting gelato I've ever had, certainly better than most of the ice cream equivalents I've ever sampled.

ice cream cake

If you have a fancy dinner or lunch planned definitely consider purchasing one of their ice cream cakes, we were brought a slice from one and it was simply heaven on a plate. Swoon is something a little bit special and definitely worth a visit I personally recommend hazelnut, cherry cheesecake, apple pie and bacio. However the pistachio and coffee was praised highly by fans of those flavours, The salted caramel is also excellent but very rich it almost tastes like liquid butter, absolutely indulgent. I have returned to Swoon a few times since we were invited along to the launch and the standard remains high, they will always let you sample a few flavours if you can't decide what to order.

Peppa pig (strawberry and white chocolate)

Bruno and his team have created some great products and although Winter was an ambitious time to launch it seems to be thriving for which I am delighted as it's a great addition to Bristol and no doubt will be most welcome when it starts to heat up a bit in the Summer months. I was invited as a guest to the launch on the night and so samples were free but this did not impact my opinion and I have since returned a few times as a paying customer. To find out more about Swoon check out their website.