You say gelato, I say GILATO
Frozen desserts and year-round delights
Address: 1000, de la Gauchetière West (RC-28)
Phone: (514) 759-0608
Website: www.fusionmontreal.ca (under construction)
Style: gourmet ice cream parlour, frozen desserts eatery
Hours: Mon - Fri 7 AM to 7 PM
Saturday 11 AM to 6 PM
Sundays closed
Ah, ice cream. Nothing says summer like frozen desserts, and la crème de la crème is, quite literally, gelato. Made with milk instead of cream, this traditional Italian dessert is denser and more refined, yet packing less calories, than regular ice cream. A win-win situation for foodies and fashionistas everywhere.
The store opened its doors in December 2007---right in the middle of a snowstorm.
A great place to enjoy these frozen treats all-year round is Fusion Montréal, located a stone’s throw away from the indoors skating rink at Bonaventure. The store also sells fair-trade coffees, chocolates, preserves and customizable gift baskets. Manned by husband-and-wife owners Mona Elbahar and Hazem Kamal, the place has an intimate yet streamlined feeling, with its mix of sleek décor and old-fashioned comfort food.
The concept of Fusion Montréal is to offer an indulgent yet wholesome dessert experience to customers. Strong emphasis is placed on using all-natural ingredients (no flavouring syrups here), organic when possible, as well as encouraging people to buy local. The gelato is made in-store, the pastries at the owners’ home and the chocolates at a friend’s shop in the South Shore. The fusion part of the menu, a work still in progress, is a frosted granite counter where patrons will be able to mix and match the many flavours, toppings and fresh fruits to create their own frozen dessert. The idea is inspired by Coldstone Creamery, a parlour on the US Virgin Islands where Mona and Hazem used to stop by while working on crew ships. This fusion of desserts will also soon yield gelato-inspired drinks (imagine sipping a raspberry-lemon sorbet infused into a 7up or Perrier for lunch), as well as gourmet cupcakes.
Like a kid in a candy shop…so many flavours to choose from!
But make no mistake, the big draw here is and will always remain the freshly spun gelato. Soft, velvety and intensely flavourful, it’s hard to resist. Fusion offers 18 flavours, including both traditional gelato (such as chocolate, pistachio, caramel, coffee and truffle---the bestseller), as well as more fruity ones that are similar to sorbet (mango---yours truly’s favorite, raspberry, orange). The store also creates its own flavours, such as neige (white chocolate, coconut and hazelnut), and offers to serve it in a waffle bowl, a cannoli, into a milkshake or as “skinny dip” (a scoop of gelato in a waffle bowl and covered in the homemade hot chocolate).
Prices range from 4.25$ (taxes included) for one scoop (adorably nicknamed “J’aime”) to 7.74$ for three scoops (“J’en ai de besoin”). A skinny dip sells for 5.59$. Prices are slightly steeper than your average shopping-mall ice cream stand, but for the extra richness, flavour and love that are put into this gelato, it’s worth it.
[Fusion Montréal is teaming up with Pedal for Kids to raise funds for the Montreal Children’s Hospital. They will be selling gelato at 3$ a scoop in the 1000 de la Gauchetière lobby on May 15th and June 5th from 11 AM to 2 PM.]
If you live in or around Montreal, be sure to check it out!