N2 Extreme Gelato - Coolest Craze on the Block

Ever since watching Heston Blumenthal beat up ice cream in a bowl of liquid nitrogen on one of his shows, I’ve wanted to find out how they would actually taste in comparison to ice cream made by conventional methods. Finally Sydney has its own mad scientists experimenting with the magical N2, making ultra-fresh and super creamy gelato.

It is a courageous move opening a gelato shop right in the middle of winter, but the fun and innovative nature of N2 Extreme Gelato successfully attracted a crowd of ice cream enthusiasts, even on a wintry night.

The establishment resembles a science lab, with numerous flasks filled with different ingredients and large cylinder cans of liquid nitrogen. Once you’ve selected a flavour from their ever changing menu, the staffs in lab coats pour various components into the colourful Kitchen Aids. While the ingredients are churning, they blast liquid nitrogen into the mixtures. The result is an enormous cloud of smoke and, of course, the smoothest gelato!

The entire process takes a few minutes only, almost too fast if you are trying to take photos of what’s going on around you. Once the gelatos are made, you need to demolish them quickly – not only because they are lip-smacking, but they do melt pretty fast too.

Tonight I had their blueberry cheesecake and that is exactly what it is – luscious cheesecake with real blueberries… it’s so creamy and dreamy (especially when placed in front of the cloud of smoke). My bestie Lu ordered buttered popcorn – a sweet buttery gelato with traces of real popcorns. We agreed this would be a perfect movie snack and should be made available at all cinemas.

While we are there we had a quick chat with the owner, who happened to be experimenting with a new flavour. He offered us a spoonful to try and asked if we could guess the ingredients. “Coconut” we guessed, and we’re right. But there is something else… another ingredient in there we could not pick out, and would have to come another day to find out...

Blackboard menu with flavours updated every now and then

Flasks filled with yummy goodness

Adding ingredients into the Kitchen Aid

Adding N2 into the mixture

Moments before the birth of something magical :)

TADA... The Delicious Blueberry Cheesecake Gelato @ $6 for a big scoop
(I've already eaten some before remembering to take a photo!)

N2 Extreme Gelato

43/1 Dixon St  

Sydney, NSW 2000

Open: 7 days a week from 2pm – 11pm

Visited September 2012

Friendly advice: The owner is keen to test out new flavours, and you can submit a flavour on their website as I just did – Scrambled Egg & Bacon, inspired by Heston Blumenthal - I sure hope to see it on their menu one day :P