N2 Extreme Gelato

February 2, 2013

After breakfast we wandered through the drizzle a while and lingered longer in the spectacular, space-bending Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Though it was hardly the weather for it, we walked on to N2 Extreme Gelato, which I'd read about on The Unbearable Lightness of Bring Hungry last year.

This gelateria's name hints at what's in store: odd-ball flavours churned on the spot using Kitchen Aid mixers and liquid nitrogen. The theory goes that this minimises ice crystallisation and yields a smoother gelato. It also creates much "wow, science!" vapour, enveloping the bench and staff with every order placed. N2 has augmented this spectacle with a number of lab props: single gelato serves are stored in beakers, employees don white coats and thick glasses and a cage in the corner stores vintage measuring devices.

N2 staff tinker with new flavours regularly. I was disappointed to miss out on their widely popular buttered popcorn formulation, and was faced with choosing amongst caramelised cheesecake, plain old pandan, choco chew, draw the shortstraw, sour cream chocolate, mango sorbet, sour thyme, walrus delight and mojito ($6 each).

I always feel a strong gravitational pull toward chocolate, but I resisted and tried drawing that shortstraw (pictured right). This had a sweet, smooth coconut base that was churned with tiny strawberry and shortbread pieces. Though I prefer chunkier mix-ins, I reckon I turned up a winner.

Michael's mojito evoked much lime, a sly slurp of booze and no mint - it was refreshing if not totally true to its namesake.

N2's website also notes that their gelato is served warmer than most, around -6°C rather than the usual -14°C or even lower. The intention is to increase flavour perception, though many bloggers have noted that these scoops also tend to melt much faster! That's the second law of thermodynamics for you. We'd tipped the balance in our favour, visiting on a cool-ish 21°C day, and didn't notice any deleterious effects.

flavour archive - click to embiggen

While the nitrogen clouds and uniforms are a bit of a gimmick, I like N2's inventive spirit and flavour rotation (which they're keeping a record of in store, see above). It definitely warrants replicate visits.

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N2 exploded onto Sydney's food scene last August, with more than 70 reviews since then. It gets the thumbs up from On the roof eating cake, Chicobel, From Fries to Foie Gras, Food Blog: When the world stops spinning, WashedUpDonuts.com, Eye Eat, Jugernauts, The Ortolan's Last Meal, girl in a food frenzy, futago_u, Jenius, kissheartLOVE, Home of Saleem, Miss Feather's adventures in Sydney, Berry Basket, Hey Man Now You're Really Living, FoodiePop, the unbearable lightness of being hungry, yummy food nom nom nom, My Hunger will go on, irene's getting fat!, when the stomach rules the mind, In celebration of..., JENisHUNGRY, A foodie's dream..., Hungry Hungry Monkey, Welcome to the Inner Fattie, Sydney Hotspots!, Excuse Me Waiter!, Disclosed Wonders, Christine Thai, Sir and M'lady Dine Out, mon evasions, Virelya's, baking with maggie, KatCakes, the indolent cook, shopoholicsneedfoodtoo, PLAN-MB, DoublePhammy, Cooking Crusade, EESH, Crystal Noir, Petit Fours, EKougi & Food, Adelaide Feeds A Uni Student, Gourmet Getaways, jess from sydney, Melbourne Food Snob, cravingsofafatgirl.com, just add sequins, Trick Of Fate, Sheer Gluttony, The Hungry Plum, Napoli Restaurant Alert, Missy Ness' Food Train of Thought, Belly Rumbles, Gastronomic Encounters, My Summer of Love and Miserable Mustard. It's been met with ambivalence on thelamstock, The Food Diary, food is our religion, Dandy, Hungry Hippos Blog, The Random Foodie, NEVER TOO SWEET, polyphagia and the sushi diaries, and worse on JUST DESSERTS, delectably degusting and Drink Drink Eat Eat.

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N2 Extreme Gelato
43/1 Dixon St, Sydney
gelato cup $6
http://n2extremegelato.com.au/

Accessibility: I believe there's flat access from street level. The pathway inside is reasonably wide but can get crowded. Menu options are written high on a blackboard; ordering, payment and pick-up occur at a low-ish counter. We didn't visit the toilets.