Bella Gelateria

After a perfectly fantastic afternoon shopping for girlie things at Winners, lusting over expensive cheese at Whole Foods, a stroll through the Vancouver Art Gallery and an earlier lunch at Gyudonya (which I will post soon), I wanted to cap off my solo trip to downtown with a treat.

I headed off to Bella Gelateria, which, having been there once before with a friend from work after a downtown meeting, I was able to find easily this time.

There are too many Fairmont Hotels in downtown!

Inside the charming shop, you’ll find all the ingredients displayed front & centre.  The two gelato machines imported from Italy will probably be churning away as small batches are made throughout the day.

I placed my order for a two-flavoured cone – which, oddly enough worked out to $6.66 (a pretty sinful total, if you ask me! 🙂  ) and took my creation outside.

Noir chocolate & cherry gelato

Now this is a serious ice cream cone!  I paired the “Noir” chocolate gelato with Cherry gelato for a sort of “chocolate-covered cherry” effect.  The chocolate was quite intense, with lots of tiny cocoa nib pieces strewn throughout.  It wasn’t bitter, but it was very dark, at 85% cocoa content.  The cherry gelato was very creamy, with small pieces of what were probably bing cherries.  They were real for sure – I got just the tiniest itchy tingle in my throat (I’m allergic to many fruits 😦  ).  As delicious and high-quality as the first time I had it – Bella Gelateria has clearly set the bar for gelato in Vancouver.