Gelupo - Gelato, Espresso & Delicatessen in Soho. (Yes, you heard me right)

I have been staking out the development of Gelupo since construction began. It always looked like it was going to be a gelati shop. It is. As well as an espresso bar and delicatessen. The concept is pure genius. And it’s right around the corner from my place. A mere stone’s throw. Yes, I’m excited.

The subject of my stakeout finally opened on Thursday last week. I had sampled 5 flavours of gelati and thoroughly inspected the shelves before the sun had set.

The espresso is divine – made with egg yolk, it’s rich and decadent and tastes like each scoop contains at least 3 espressos worth of caffeine. The chocolate is equally buxom and delicious.

I've also had a go at the ricotta, honey and coffee flavour (ok), hazelnut meringue (lovely, chunky nutty bits) and rice (meh – a bit tasteless although supposed to be like a rice pudding – TPG’s choice).

There’s a decent array of ice-creams, sorbets and slushy granitas to choose from, ranging from the traditional to the more adventurous (eg. pine nut and fennel seed, blond almond, burnt almond, sour cherry). There's talk that the ice-creams don't have as much fat as regular ice-creams but based on my tastings so far, don't hold that against them - you'd never know.

And, oh my GOD, they also freshly fry cannoli and stuff them with gelato. Must. Try. Immediately.

The set up is all rather traditional – the gelati is not piled high to catch the eye, but hidden beneath metal lids in canisters built into the bench tops. I believe the idea is to avoid the surface frosting and to keep the ice-cream at perfect temperature. I appreciate the reasons behind this, although browsing with the eye can never be overrated for helping the selection process. Nevertheless, they seem happy to let you sample away until you hit on the right choice. It’s all about the taste. Currently, there are also small tubs of cherries for tasting on the counter. Sweet.

The deli shelves are still filling up but a promising array of pasta sauces, home made pasta, sausages, prawns, and other typical Italian grocery products are worth a browse.

There’s foccacias and frittata during the day, and freshly fried bombe calde (doughnuts) filled with chocolate at night. I've just shed a tear…

It’s right across the cobbled laneway from Bocca di Lupo (click here for my earlier words of love), and as the names and get up suggest, it’s brought to us by the same owners (many of the deli ingredients are the same things used at Bocca). So, I now spend my days wedged between Gelupo and Scoop (now also on Brewer St) – life’s good.

So, I don’t have enough to go on to give a full review just yet (perhaps hitting on the fab choc and espresso flavours early on was misleading), and I'm willing to admit I'm slightly carried away by the excitement of it all (how is a girl to sleep?), but I’m prepared to dedicate myself to discover more for the cause – on a regular basis. Particularly as I just read they have a loyalty card system. In any case, given the sunny weather ahead, I thought it only fair and timely to share my joy in case you’re in the ‘hood.

It’s open until 11pm on weeknights and until 1am on weekends. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Yuh.

[PS. 2 July 2010 - The sweet blood orange granita atop the sour cherry granita is fanastic.]

Gelupo, 7 Archer Street, Soho, W1D 7AU (Tel: 020 7287 5555)