Hello Popolo!

Popolo Artisan Gelateria

Address: 172 King Street, Newcastle 2300

Website: www.popologelateria.com.au

If you’re staying woke, you’ll know that while I’m not a hardcore dessert lover, your girl is a huge fan of iced confections and I swear I have a sixth sense when it comes to sensing a new vegan dessert option hitting a Newy business. Recently my sweet sense started tingling and that’s because Popolo Artisan Gelateria had opened its doors!

In one of King Street’s cutest little cluster of buildings, Italian owned and operated Popolo is the perfect partner to the family’s other business – Napoli Centrale (they’ve got vegan pizza too!) Perfectly designed signage and exterior give you a hint at what’s to come when you step inside this clean and cosy little shop.

Growing up lactose intolerant, owner Alfonso didn’t have access to much dairy-free gelato which inspired him to create a more diverse range of vegan-friendly flavours for Popolo. The fruity flavours are made using about 50% fruit, utilising what’s in season and sourcing as much local produce as possible. You know how sometimes fruity gelato is hella icy and/or watery? Popolo’s fruit flavours are so smooth and somehow super creamy? I tried all 5 fruity flavours on offer when I visited and my faves were the mango chilli, rockmelon and blood orange!

Chocolate, banana chocolate and chocolate blood orange are just a few of the non-fruit based flavours on rotation. Alfonso likes to switch up the kind of chocolate used each week but it’s always single origin and fair trade (this week it’s Peruvian). Chocolate lends itself so well to non-dairy gelato because often milk can detract from the true flavour of chocolatiness (and we wouldn’t want that, would we?!)

Popolo’s gelato-makers have been trained by experts in Italy and certainly know their craft when it comes to making deliciously frosty treats. All gelato is made on-site at King Street and you can even see all the action through the glass wall at the back of the store while you wait to get your fix.

Compared to a lot of vegan ice cream and gelato ordered by the scoop, Popolo’s prices are pretty hard to beat. A couple of scoops in a cup or cone will only set you back $6.80 – I’m sure I’m not the only one who has paid more than ten bucks for something similar. Plus you know you’re supporting a local business that supports other local businesses, so there’s always that too!

Get in to Popolo ASAP, fam. This summer is going to be LIT.