Over the past few weeks I have been conducting a highly scientific study of the ice cream shops in Paris. Everyone says that Berthillon is the best in town, but I disagree. While certainly not a popular opinion, I think their ice creams and sorbets are too sweet. Even their caramel au beurre salée, which is generally my idea of heaven, is too sweet and slightly burnt tasting.
Everyone knows Amorino, the Italian-style French-owned (I think?) company that crafts their gelato into flowers. I really, really like their yogurt ice cream, and many of the other flavors are quite good, but nothing spectacular. So I figured there had to be something better out there.
David Lebovitz declared Pozzetto the best gelato in Paris, so I went to check it out. About ten days later, I don't remember what flavors I had (bad sign), but I do remember being unimpressed. I would try it once more, selecting different flavors, but I wasn't wowed the first time around.
What did wow me, however, was the Italian import Grom. I remember having Grom when in Florence a few years back, and being impressed with their slow food philosophy. Located very conveniently on Rue de Seine, about halfway between Odéon and St Germain des Près metro stops, it's my new favorite left bank ice cream.
I don't normally order vanilla, but theirs won an award so I figured I'd try it. Oh, my. It was so flavorful and creamy. I found the coffee too intense, but that's because it actually tastes like espresso, exactly as they claimed. Totally my bad for expecting a Haagen Dazs type sweetened milk with a dash of sugar coffee. This was full on espresso with sugar, and gave me an insane sugar/caffeine rush.
I went back a few days later, solely for research purposes, of course, and got the vanilla again. Still good. This time I tried the cioccolato fondente, one of their three chocolates. The balance was perfect. I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate, and this was a very fine dark chocolate ice cream. I'd like to try their extra-dark chocolate or chocolate sorbet next time (listed at the store, but not on the site), and also sample some of their fruit sorbets, which look just as good. Still, the vanilla is definitely a top choice.
My new favorite right bank ice cream is Raimo, a 25-minute walk from my house. In case you didn't know, that's the perfect distance for working up an appetite, and then working off the ice cream. While Amorino, Grom, and Pozzetto are all Italian-style gelato, Raimo is straight-up French. I'd tried the ginger on my first visit, which was surprising and very spicy. It definitely catered to ginger lovers, like me!
This time, I got caramel au beurre salée and lait à la menthe. They were both perfection. I kept on taking bites, expecting the next one to be disappointing, because it couldn't possibly be as good as I thought it was. But it was. It is! Raimo seems to have mastered the caramel au beurre salée ice cream in a way I've never seen. It's the closest to a Ladurée macaron that I've yet tasted, which is a pretty good hallmark. And the lait à la menthe, while sadly a summer 2009 specialty, was creamy and sweet and refreshing and maybe my favorite of all the ice creams I've mentioned above.
I hear that Grom opened up a few shops in Manhattan, so I definitely recommend my friends there check it out. As for Raimo, I guess you'll just have to come visit me!
la fille en rose 