My adventure in Australia is the simple result of nature’s call to explore. Two months of holiday Down Under have turned into 6 years. Melbourne is beautiful. I’ve become part of a project called DOC and found myself beside that genius of Tony Nicolini who taught me a lot about food and restaurants. This training allowed me to travel, discover and research. There are beautiful stories connected with food in this corner of the world. Paolo Marchi and Carlo Passera, happy and curious of listening to some of these, gave me the thumbs up to share. So let’s start…
As children, we were all blowing raspberries and fooling around. All jumping on our grandparents’ knees, dreaming of becoming a magician, with a special licence in our pockets that allowed us to guide our imagination.
In Melbourne, Lisa Valmorbida’s grandfather used to consider “pidapipò” a smirk like many others, to be paired with a visible gesture. For his grandchildren, now adults, Pidapipò is now a vision in the shape of an ice cream cone. The good kind. With a backstory, which is a flight to Italy, destination Università del Gelato Carpigiani. Lisa spent some time there; then, once she had learnt the technique, she decided to acquire experience in the best ice cream shops. Her goal was clear: she wanted to bring an authentic Italian gelato to Australia.
Soon the first
Pidapipò was born. Today, if you’re lucky, you must wait 30 minutes to delight your palate. The place is decorated with care with a designed disorder and the brand, a prototype you won’t find everywhere, uses simple fonts and pastel colours. The music is loud yet the DJ set is live, there’s no radio, so it works. On the blackboard, on top of traditional flavours, every month there are some that often enough recall various childhood drawings.
A few weeks ago, for instance, the invention was
Torrone with roses and honey, the result of a collaboration with a local beekeeper. The tap pouring Nutella, once you reach the counter, makes you wish to fill your pockets like
Totò did with pasta in
Miseria e Nobiltà. Too bad it’s two metres’ away and you can only ask for it to be added once the cone is ready. There are numerous collaborations with restaurateurs, foodies and DJs in town giving the idea that this is only the beginning of a sweet and long journey.
While you gulp your ice cream here comes a grandfather taking his grandchild by the hand, waiting for their turn. Makes you smile from the heart.
