Sofia Levin reviews: Kariton Sorbetes (and why you should shop at markets!)
In a sentence: Filipino gelato in Footscray by two fine-dining chefs
The damage: 1, 2 & 3 scoops $5.50, $7.50 & $9.50 (add 50c for a milk bun)
Top tip: take home artisan ice-cream sticks and condiments to pimp yours at home
If you like this: try Cuppa Turca Dondurma in Northcote for Turkish ice cream.
I have a new favourite gelato shop. It only opened last weekend, but I’ve been eating the gelato for some time now. It’s called Kariton Sorbetes and it started as a delivery service during lockdown, which is when I became addicted.
Image (above): Supplied
There’s truly nothing else like Kariton Sorbetes, which churns out small-batch gelato with Filipino flavours. The reason they’re so cheffy is because two fine dining chefs run the business: John Rivera (who used to work at Lume and then Sunda) and Minh Duong (an ex-Maha pastry chef).
My favourite is the Ube Halaya, a vibrant purple yam gelato with swirls of ube jam and preserved blackberry, plus fudgy bits courtesy of latik (caramelised coconut curds).
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Keso is another flavour you might not initially be drawn to given it is cheese and crackers in gelato form. The base is cheddar and bourbon vanilla and it just works: salty, creamy and sweet. Texture comes from roasted cashews with extra cheddar and crushed SkyFlakes, a Filipino cracker similar to Saladas.
I also love Champorado, based on a Filipino breakfast dish. Traditionally it’s a chocolate rice pudding made with glutinous rice, often served with whole, dried salted fish. The gelato version has a chocolate base infused with toasted glutinous rice, sprinkled with puffed wild rice, candied cacao nibs and mixed with salted caramel-spiked fish sauce as add-ins (it’s revolutionary, the same way salted caramel was in the mid 2000s).
There are a dozen gelato flavours at anyone time, along with two specials and two soft serves that rotate weekly. If you live a fair distance you can stock up on the hand-held ice creams and jars of condiments found throughout the in-store flavours (hello, ube jam).
I want to take a minute to talk about markets, given Footscray Market is just meters from Kariton Sorbetes. Since Omicron took over, people haven’t stopped complaining about the lack of not only loo paper at supermarkets, but also chicken breast, mince, sausages and fresh produce.
I recently visited my local Coles in Fitzroy and the shelves were cleared of bread, chicken breast and red apples. Within a week I also went to Victoria Market and Footscray Market. Other than chicken breast, free-range eggs and bananas being the same price across the board, both markets are far more affordable than the supermarkets. Not only that, they quality and selection is easily superior.
Why would you buy measly 10 to 15-gram packets of supermarket herbs when you can find full, healthy bunches for half the price at a market?
You certainly won’t find dragon fruit, double-yolk eggs, betel leaves and sea urchin at Coles and Woolies. But you’ll sure as hell find them at Footscray. Apples and strawberries are half the price at markets compared to supermarkets, with avocados around a dollar instead of $1.80. Bunches of bok choy and other Asian veg are around a dollar also, some even 90 cents. You’ll pay $2.50 a bunch at supermarkets.
The most significant price difference is apparent with meat. Beef mince is anywhere from $1 to $4 dollars cheaper at markets, while porterhouse steak is $10 to $13 less per kilo. Pork spare ribs? $7 less at markets. Pork fillet? $9 less. Chicken drumsticks? $5 less.
Some cuts of chicken, fish fillets and prawns are around the same price at all outlets, but I feel far more comfortable being able to talk to my local market store holder about where the seafood and animals come from, as opposed to buying the end product once it’s been mass processed and packaged in plastic.
Not only that, the markets are deathly quiet while supermarkets are packed. They’re also mostly outdoors with smiling, chatty store holders and abundant, fully stocked displays. Honestly, why would you shop anywhere else?
Kariton Sorbetes
50 Leeds Street, Footscray
karitonsorbetes.com