The Top 5 Places to Get Ice Cream in Dubai | Haute ... - Bacio Gelato

CHANGE MARKET : DUBAI ▼
TOP 5 CITY Dubai CATEGORY All
The Top 5 Places for Ice Cream in Dubai
Read 483 Times
1. Morelli's
Haute Living
NEW YORK
JUNE/JULY 2012
VIEW FLIPBOOK +
A Dubai favorite, unlike heavier American ice cream Morelli’s uses a lighter, custard base of milk with sugar and eggs. This
yummy and less filling mixture creates an ice cream with a smooth and creamy texture as done for Italian gelato. The original
Morelli’s Gelato opened in 1932 in Broadstairs, Kent, United Kingdom and now has shops all over the world with its flagship
store located in Harrods in Knightsbridge, London. Specialty sundaes and inventive flavors, you’ll find shoppers stopping by
Morelli’s at all hours of the day.
+971 43399053
Dubai Mall
The authentic Italian gelato at Bacio Caffe & Gelateria was recently voted to be one of the best ice cream parlors in town. It’s
light, creamy and made from the freshest ingredients. Apparently, a little gelato every now and then can be good for you
according to owner and Bolognese native Cesare Celli. Be sure to try one of Bacio’s signature gelatos: a mix of chocolate,
hazelnut and crunchy coco chips- a gelato experience not to be missed.
Al Barsha
+971 43232949
www.bacio-gelato.com
3. Cone Street
JBR walk is filled handsome eateries, restaurants and cafes but until recently was lacking a good ice cream parlor. Cone Street,
the cute and cozy gelatoria located on the first floor of the Rimal building is a great addition. Choose from a wonderful variety of
ice cream flavors and then take a stroll along the scenic JBR with your gelato in hand.
JBR Walk
+971 44486401
4. Marble Slab
For those who love a more filling ice cream make your way to Marble Slab, the original ice cream parlor straight from Houston,
Texas. Choose from your favorite ice cream flavors and toppings and watch while specialists use the “frozen slab” technique to
mix and mash your order into a yummy concoction. Located in 35 US states, Canada, Puerto and the United Arab Emirates, this is
American ice cream at its best.
Mall of the Emirates
+971 43411182
www.marbleslab.com
5. The Ice Factory
Launched five years ago by Danish entrepreneur Soren Bo Anderson and Iranian business man Habib Yaraghi, the Ice Factory was
founded with the precept to create ice cream which was truly fresh, free from artificial ingredients and high levels of sugar. All
milk used is fresh from local dairies in the UAE, sugars are kept to a bare minimum and the fruit is as fresh as can be. What’s
more is that at the end of the day all leftover ice cream is given to charity!
JBR Walk Bahar Building
+971 48871074
www.theicefactory.ae
by Rebecca Anne Proctor August 1, 2012 11:20 AM
Related Posts
821 PEOPLE LIKE THIS ON FACEBOOK

July 10 2012 | Last updated less than one minute ago
gulfnews.com
Life & Style | Food
Lovin' spoonful
There's a small - but vehement - group of people in
the UAE who feel very strongly. About gelato.
By Natalie Long, Deputy tabloid! Editor
Published: 23:54 March 31, 2009
Image Credit: Arshad
Ali/Gulf News
The brainchild of interior designer/gelato fanatic Lina
Bargash and Bologna-born gelato maestro Cesare Cellie,
Bacio serves up the kind of ice cream that people will
travel miles for.
There's a small - but vehement - group of people in
the UAE who feel very strongly. About gelato.
Apparently, there was nowhere in the country serving

the real thing - until a few like-minded people put their
heads together and opened Bacio Gelato in Al Barsha
last month.
The brainchild of interior designer/gelato fanatic Lina
Bargash and Bologna-born gelato maestro Cesare
Cellie, Bacio serves up the kind of ice cream that people
will travel miles for.
Actually, ice cream is kind of a misnomer; as gelato
fanatics will tell you, there's a world of difference
between the lurid bubblegum-flavours you get in the
mall, the long-life supermarket brands and a true gelato,
with its fresh ingredients and, most importantly, an
unsurpassably creamy texture.
Bacio Gelato is a case in point: Cesare prides himself
on freshness, making many of the flavours on a daily
basis, especially the fruit flavours. Every morning you'll
find him at Lulu hypermarket, picking out the best of the
day's fruit - strawberries, mangoes, lemons, melons. If
the strawberries that day are no good, then sorry, no
fragola for you. He'd rather have it that way than serve
bad gelato.
Since he's got about a dozen flavours to choose from,
however, it's likely you'll find something special any day
you stop in. Of course there's a classic vanilla, although
Italians aren't really fans of the plain stuff, says Cesare.
But it goes down a treat in my favourite Italian dessert,
affogato, or "drowned": a creamy cupful of vanilla with a
hot espresso poured over.
Gelato owes its popularity to that smooth texture, which
comes from being served at a warmer temperature than
regular ice cream and its lower butterfat content - about
10 per cent compared to ice cream's over 20 per cent.
All that means it melts faster - and you get all the flavour
faster too. Ever notice how really cold things don't really

taste of much?
That's not a problem with the slightly warmer gelato. Try
the mango, for example: it's fragrant and the smooth
texture replicates the feel of a really ripe mango. Or the
hazelnut (my personal favourite). The sweet,
unmistakable nuttiness shines through with every
spoonful, as it does in Bacio (the name, meaning kiss in
Italian, refers to a famous brand of chocolate-hazelnut
candy), where shards of toasted hazelnut nestle
together in a rich chocolate-nut gelato. It's Nutella for
grown-ups. Bacio Gelato is in the Baron Hotel Building,
behind Lulu Hypermarket near Mall of the Emirates. Tel:
04-3232949

Food
Food
Nice ice baby
After a vigorous taste test at Bacio Gelato, Karen Iley
reckons gelato maestro Cesare Cellie has got it licked
For kids, ice cream is the bee’s knees.
They could quite happily slurp away
on strawberry, chocolate and vanilla
until their brains froze over. We parents,
however, reserve the cool stuff
for special treats, suspecting that it’s
laden with fat, and packed full of
preservatives, colourings, emulsifi ers,
stabilisers and a whole host of other
nasty additives their little bodies
don’t need.
But, here’s the real scoop: if you
stick with the quality fresh stuff, ice
cream can be good for you. It was
with such happy thoughts in mind
that I skipped down to Al Barsha
to sample authentic Italian gelato at
34 Time Out Dubai Kids October 2009
Bacio Gelato Italian Caffè & Gelateria.
The gelato maestro, Cesare Cellie, is
a cuddly bear from Bologna. Typically
Italian, the owner and gelato chef is
convivial, expressive and passionate
about what he creates to the point of
fanatical and, while he forgives me
when I persistently refer to his carefully
crafted gelato as ice cream, I can
tell it’s kind of getting on his nerves.
‘The trouble is,’ he patiently explains,
‘is that gelato translates into ice
cream, when, in fact, it means frozen.
Gelato is quite different to ice cream.’
It certainly is. I know, because
I sampled every variety in the shop.
Softer and denser than ice cream with
a far more intense fl avour, the fruit
concoctions are incredible. A mouthful
of mango whisks me back to days
in Africa where I picked the plump
fruit from the ground, split it with my
fi ngers and wolfed it down in all its
sticky, sweet glory. The lemon – more
like a sorbet (I can say that without
incurring Cesare’s wrath) is sweet,
sharp and utterly delicious. And,
oh, the creamy, nutty fl avours are
astounding. You can really tell the difference
between the hazelnut, the pistachio
and the walnut – none of that
random nuttiness here – while Bacio
Gelato’s signature concoction (a mix
of chocolate, hazelnut and crunchy
choc-chips) will quite possibly bring
tears of joy to your eyes.
Surely something so delicious
cannot be good for you? Oh yes it can,
says Cesare. ‘Gelato contains only four
to fi ve per cent fat, while commercial
ice creams have around 13 to 16 per
cent fat,’ he says. ‘The nutty gelato
are amazing – they’re really
healthy,’ he adds, taking a
spoonful of pistachio, his
personal favourite. ‘They
have protein, vitamins,
power, energy. In fact,
in Italy, gelato is often
an alternative to lunch
or dinner in summertime
because 200g
contains everything you
need and is rich in liquid
– just what you need.’
So, what’s the secret? For the fruity
fl avours it’s the freshness of the
ingredients. Every morning, Cesare
trots to Lulu Hypermarket to fi nd the
tastiest, juiciest, ripest fruits to create
that day’s display. What’s in the gelato
cabinet depends on the fruit in the
shop. Melon and pineapple were popular
over the summer, dates are good
now, and expect to see a fi g concoction
popping up soon. Strawberries,
Cesare says, are ‘simply something
that must be’ and that’s what he’s
whipping up for us today, using just
an average-looking, if rather large,
hand blender and a batch freezer. ‘It
tastes like strawberries!’ I exclaim
after stealing a spoonful of ‘fragola’
as it oozes out of the freezer. I immediately
feel rather foolish. I have, after
all, just stood and watched him blend
the mix and know it contains nothing
but fresh fruit, ice and a little sugar.
The Bacio Gelato team prepares
gelato the way mama (or papa) used
to make. For the creamy versions, that
means pasteurising their own ‘fi ore
di latte’ (fl ower of the milk) – a luscious
base of milk, sugar, cream and
condensed milk. To this, Cesare adds
the fl avours, be it fi ne Belgian chocolate,
nut pastes imported from Italy
or caramel and pine nuts (Carapino
– you’ve got to try it).
‘The most important thing,’ says
Cesare, thumping his chest with such
force that I jump, ‘is the heart. The
love, the attention, the passion – this
is the secret of success at everything.
I see my daughter
licking the gelato
display case
You have to put your heart and soul
into something like this. You have to
believe in it, you have to love the product
and you can’t take any shortcuts.’
As I sip my ‘affogato’, a divine
combination of quality Italian
espresso with a scoop of
fi ore di latte or hazelnut
gelato (affogato means
LET THEM
EAT CAKE
Why not try a gelato cake for
a special occasion? Pick your
two fave flavours and Cesare
will create a cake especially
for you to share with
friends and family
‘drowned’ in Italian),
I briefl y wonder if
such high standards
will be lost on the
unsophisticated palates
of children. But
then I see my daugh-
ter, having demolished
one scoop of strawberry
and another of chocolate, licking
the gelato display case. Now that’s
what I call customer endorsement.
Bacio Gelato (04 323 2949). Open
Sun-Thu 7am-10pm; Fri-Sat 10am-
10pm. Gelato scoops start at Dhs10,
takeaway tubs cost Dhs44 for 500g,
Dhs79 for one kilogram. Gelato cakes
cost Dhs185-Dhs205

Screaming for
gelato
Gelato’s taken over Dubai –
here’s the best
AFFOGATO
What would gelato be without a
traditional affogato? It’s basically
gelato drowned in espresso. It’s like
an ice cream fl oat, but for grown-ups.
Dhs18 at Morelli’s Gelato, The Dubai Mall
(04 339 9053)
ROASTED ALMOND GELATO
Napoli gelato prides itself on its exotic
fl avours, but does just as well when it
keeps things simple. We love the toasty
goodness of the roasted almond gelato,
which is creamy and sweet without
being overly saccharine.
Dhs12 at Mall of the Emirates. Other
locations: Ibn Batruta Mall and Deira
City Centre
GELATO CAKE
The family-run Bacio Gelato (owned by
Italians) takes special orders for their
cakes, which are the height of creamy,
and are super fresh. The hazelnut and
biscotti combination mustn’t be missed.
Dhs185-285 at Bacio Gelato, the Baron
Hotel Building, Al Barsha (04 323 2949)
Umm ali
Khan Murjan Restaurant
Wafi ’s underground souk serves up the most
decadent umm ali in the emirate. This formidable
dessert comes packed with sultanas,
pistachios and slivers of almonds and coconut.
Dhs18. Wafi (04 324 4555)
Souffl é vanille
Refl ets
It should come as no surprise that for ethereally
light souffl és, one need look no further
than Refl et. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Pierre
Gagnaire dessert if it
didn’t have some clever
twist. The souffl é
is encrusted in a
strawberry compote
and served with
a strawberry and
poppy ice cream.
Dhs140. InterContinental
Hotel, Dubai Festival
City (04 701 1111)
MOST
40s
DESSERT
Best desserts
Rasberry charlotte Rare
We love that Rare, our favourite steakhouse, has taken
on such a lovably old-fashioned pudding. There’s nothing
dated about their version of the humble tiered cake though.
Vanilla and chocolate sponge frame layers of Bavarian cream,
a piquant raspberry jelly and another cream made from mixed
summer berries. Dhs50. Desert Palm (04 323 8888)
Zucotto
Ronda Locatelli
The cake may come out looking like it’s
sporting jheri curls made from thinly sliced
jam roly-poly, but don’t let that put you off.
Beneath the cake is a layer of hazelnut and
chocolate trifl e that lends a sublime airiness to
the heart of ice cream that lies beneath.
Dhs45. Atlantis (04 426 0750) •
MOST
SIMILAR
TO AN
OUTDATED
HAIR-DO
Arabic delights
Sweets can seem daunting to the
unfamiliar eye. So here’s a glossary
BASBOUSSA
Otherwise known as ‘namoura’, this
semolina-based cake is made with a
mixture of cinnamon, lemon, rosewater
(or sometimes orange blossom water)
and usually topped with an almond.
BAKLAVA:
This ubiquitous sweet is made with
layers of phyllo dough and crushed nuts
(usually pistachios). A good soaking in
honey makes them lovely.
GHRAYBEH:
These melt-in-your-mouth, ring-shaped
biscuits are made of little more than
fl our and powdered sugar. They’re fun to
eat, as they seem to vanish once they
hit the tongue. Myriam Joudet
August 6 – 13 2009 Time Out Dubai 23

The List
Cold Dubai
Yes, you read right – there really are some really chilly spots in Dubai. Here are 25 cool
ideas (although we’re not entirely sure about how good they are for the environment).
Edited by Becky Lucas
1
The Lounge at The
Palace Hotel (04 428
7888). It’s an outdoor
shisha place, where
the air-con seeps out from
the surrounding doorways
to create an artifi cially cool
al fresco spot. Hmmm.
2
Times Square’s arctic
Chill Bar (04 341
8121). How long can
you last in minus 6C?
3
An ice carving class
with chef Mark at Al
Bustan Rotana (04
705 4818), from Dhs140.
4The plunge pool at
the Aviation Club
(04 282 4122) or
Al Maha Desert Resort
(04 303 4222).
5
Uptown Bar’s terrace
at night (04 406
8999). If not cool,
it’s at least bearable.
14 Time Out Dubai July 9 – 16 2009
6 The
infl atable
snowball
or the mountain
thriller, a
128m-long family
sledge, both at Ski
Dubai (04 409 4000).
7
Any cinema. It’s the
one time of year
we don’t moan
(as much) about the AC.
8
The Dubai Mall’s ice
skating rink (04 437
3111). Or, for those
who prefer old-school,
Hyatt Regency (04 209
6550) or Al Nasr Leisureland
(04 3371234).
9
The Mercure Grand
hotel (03 783 8888)
at the top of Al Ain’s
Jebel Hafeet. Apparently
it’s a whole two degrees
cooler up there.
10
The aquarium
at The Dubai
Mall, during a
dive. Maybe you’ll get a
chill thinking about the
nearby sharks, too.
11
Sitting on a
speeding boat
following a dip
in the sea. Bound to get
the goosebumps rising.
12
The Russianpacked
mall
in Al Fattan
Towers on the JBR
seafront. The aircon is
so intense it makes your
eyes ache.
13
The ice shower
at The Fair-
mont’s Willow
Stream Spa. Only for the
brave (04 311 8800).
14
The fl oor in
your tiled
kitchen.
If you lie on it naked.
15
Dubai’s airconditioned
bus shelters
– well, the ones that work.
16
17
Certain desks
in your overcooled
offi ce.
Cool Summer
Nights at
Aquaventure
(04 426 0000). The
combination of wet skin
and blow-up doughnuts
by night does the trick.
18
8888).
19
The Address’s
chilled infi nity
pool (04 436
The caviar-fi lled
ice bar at The
Terrace in the
Park Hyatt (04 602 1234).
20
The freezer at
Bacio Gelato in
Al Barsha (04
323 2949). Tasty, too.
22
21
In front
of the
fridge
– if you allow the
cabbagey wind to
blow over you.
Bank lobbies
near the ATMs
– should you
need to cool off in the
middle of a walking trip.
23
The edge of the
lake at the Irish
Village (04 282
4750). Roll up your trouser
legs and stick your feet in.
24
25
Mushrif Park’s
shaded outdoor
pools.
A sun-starved
pool in Hatta.
It’ll take your
breath away. Desert
Rangers (04 222 2808).

Feed the art
With a new gourmet deli
and several shops offering
home-grown treats, Dubai
fi nally has a culinary scene
that it can call its own.
Now, what to eat?
Gourmet Station
The crowds have yet to fl ock to the
Oasis Centre’s newly opened Gourmet
Station, but it’s only a matter of time.
While Dubai has a handful of
speciality stores, none boasts the
incredible culinary selection of this
new, fancifi ed deli. On a recent visit
Time Out discovered a few kitchen
must-haves.
Núñez de Prado organic
olive oil
The Núñez family has
been making this oil since
1795. While most olive
oils are pressed, allowing
mills to squeeze a kilo’s
worth of oil from 5kg of
olives, Núñez de Prado’s oil
is made from crushed olives.
The oil is allowed to drip into
collecting vats naturally, requiring
11kg of olives to produce a kilo of oil.
It is not an oil you cook with, it is an oil
you drizzle. This multi-award winning
product is renowned in the gourmet
world for its sweet, grassy fi nish – a
taste so pure it’s a waste to cloud it
with heavy fl avours.
1l, Dhs82
Regina Pasta
As any Italian chef will tell you,
freshly made pasta beats the dry kind
any day. But making pasta from
scratch can be a chore. Enter Pasta
Regina, the company run by Italianborn
Dubai resident Stefano Brocca.
Brocca supplies many of Dubai’s fi vestar
hotels with his homemade pasta,
and he even runs his own restaurant,
Stefano’s, in the Marina Walk. Now,
he’s selling his pasta to the public. The
pasta may be made in Dubai, but it’s
produced from fl our and bottled water
imported from Italy.
100g, Dhs14
Cornish Sea Salt
The sea water in Cornwall is incredibly
pure, meaning that these fl aky salt
crystals (thin shards that melt on the
tongue) have a fresh, clear taste absent
in other salts. Also, Cornish Sea Salt
retains more than 60 naturally
occurring trace elements,
giving it a rich, mineral
fl avour that makes meat sing.
125g, Dhs13. 225g, Dhs27,
500grams, Dhs54.
Gourmet Station, Oasis
Centre (04 515 4050). Open
Sun-Thu 8am-10pm, Fri-Sat
8am-11pm
The Dubai Mall
On the lower level of The Dubai Mall
sits a handful of exquisite
gourmet shops. We did the
rounds, and discovered
that surprisingly
some things are best
made in Dubai.
Forrey & Galland
macaroons
The brainchild of
two French
chocolatiers, all
the products at
Forrey & Galland (a
revival of a renowned,
but defunct Parisian
label) are handmade. The
rich chocolates and airy
macaroons (among the best we’ve ever
tasted) are produced in the UAE, and
the boutique in The Dubai Mall is the
brand’s fi rst and only retail outlet.
There is nothing artifi cial about the
fl avours present in these macaroons,
and they are so light they nearly fl oat.
Pistachio macaroons come with a
creamy, fresh interior, and are
followed up nicely with a
rose macaroon, which
comes imbedded with
crushed rose petals.
Forrey & Galland,
The Dubai Mall (04
339 8850). Open
Sun-Wed 10am-
10pm, Thu-Sat
10am-midnight,
Dhs420 per kg
Cocoa Sampaka’s
Major Cacao Origins
The Barcelona-based
chocolate company is one of
the few that is involved in every
part of the chocolate-making process,
from selecting the cocoa bean through
to manufacturing the product. As a
result, Cocoa Sampaka understands the
nuances of the different beans, and
brings its understanding to the
consumer in the form of the Major
Cacao Origins collection, which
assembles chocolates from the main
chocolate producing countries in the
world, including Venezuela, Grenada
and the Ivory Coast.
Cocoa Sampaka, The Dubai Mall
(04 434 1427). Open daily 8.30ammidnight.
One box of 16 pieces, Dhs50
Galler, Kaori
In order to stay fresh, Galler has
introduced a new, fun chocolate
concept. Kaori is a sort of culinary
calligraphy set, with several chocolate
sticks representing a calligraphy brush
and ink in the form of three fl avoured
pots (strawberry and balsamic, saffron
and yuzu, for instance). Go ahead,
make your tongue that blank canvas.
Galler, The Dubai Mall (04 339 9604).
Open Sun-Wed 10am-10pm, Thu-Sat
10am-midnight. One box, Dhs150.
Other location: Wafi City (04 327
3120).
Cornish Sea Salt
retains more than
60 natural trace
elements giving
it a rich fl avour
Mall of the Emirates
Bacio Gelato
This family-run gelateria is easy to
miss, tucked away behind the Mall of
the Emirates in Barsha’s backstreets.
But a round-up of high-end gourmet
goods would be incomplete without
mention of Bacio Gelato. Made without
dies or preservatives, this Italian-style
ice cream is vibrant and pristine
tasting. It may seem strange to dig into
a beige pistachio, but rest assured it’s
only because pistachios aren’t really
green. The ice cream really is delicious,
however. Pair a sundae with a
cappuccino and eat in, or buy a kilo
and bring the gelato back home for an
indulgent night in. If you’re really lazy,
they also do home delivery.
Bacio Gelato, The Baron building, Al
Barsha (04 323 2949). Open Sun-Thu,
7am-10pm, Fri-Sat 10am-10pm. Half
kilo Dhs40, one kilo Dhs70.
May 21 – 28 2009 Time Out Dubai 31
Food & Drink