N2 Extreme Gelato @ Brunswick St

N2 Extreme Gelato

Very interesting and had been trending like crazy lately especially among dessert lovers is the N2 Extreme Gelato on Brunswick Street. They are famous for their unique flavour combination of gelato and you can even find mind blowing flavours such as strawberry black pepper and miso caramel. Besides that, their gelato are made by using liquid nitrogen and this results in creamy smooth texture. So for the past few weeks, whenever I open up my Instagram I kept on seeing posts about N2 and wondered if it is really that special. I asked a few friends of mine, some said its really good and some said it is just gelato nothing special. So today after dinner at Dumpling Den, my friend and I head out on foot from Carlton to Brunswick to try it out. Took us around 30 minutes to get there on foot and we were lucky that there were not many customers at that time. 

At Work

So next to the counter you see a row high tech glossy white machines operated by the stuff.  So it works like this. You place your order at the counter and pay the bill of course, then the workers will work on your order on one of these machines. So basically your order is freshly made unlike those gelato out there where you choose which flavour you want and they scoop it up for you in a cone or a cup. 

Menu

Hmm, speaking about flavours, the menu is changed every week with different varieties of flavours. One of the previous weeks they actually had a flavour called "Kaya Toast" which is a Malaysian local delicacy. I forgot to mention that the founders of N2 are Malaysians as well. So the menu is visible on the wall the moment you step in the shop. I was lucky today that the very popular "Creme Brûlée" flavour was available this week. Due to it's popularity I decided to go with it since creme brulee is actually a hot dessert and I was curious how it tasted in ice cold gelato form. My friend went for the "French Earl Grey Dulce De Leche" which is basically Earl Gray flavour which was very popular as well. So after placing our order we waited in front of the machines and watched the staff at work making our gelato with liquid nitrogen. Very interesting indeed and since photos tell a better story in this case, here are some photos of the progress. 

After pouring in the liquid nitrogen

One of the workers in action

Finishing touch of the Earl Grey

Finishing touch on my creme brûlée to give it the layer of hard caramel

Watching the whole process was very interesting and I am impressed at how professional they are. Since there were a few orders ahead of us we waited for around 10 minutes which is worth the wait in my opinion. So after putting on a great nitrogen show for us, here came the most important part - the quality and taste. I actually put my expectations quite high for them since there were so many good reviews about it and considering how unique they are. So before we start digging in, I snapped a shot of both cups of gelato. Just an advise for those photographers out there, the lighting in the shop at night is not very good as it was not well lit and there were harsh yellow lighting here and there, so if you photographers are considering taking some good pictures there at night, you might want to consider about the lighting conditions and maybe perhaps bring along a fast aperture lens. 

Creme Brûlée (Left) & French Earl Grey (Right)

Alrighty back to our main topic today which is the taste. So finally after trying hard to get a well lit and steady shot, I started digging in. So I cracked the hard layer on top of my creme brûlée and mixed it with the gelato underneath and took a spoonful. Just as expected, the texture of the gelato was really smooth and soft. The moment it entered my mouth it started melting inside. The flavour was thick enough and I love it that it was not sweet. I guess I've mentioned a few times before in my previous posts that I'm not a fan of sweet stuff and this is definitely something I would enjoy. The hard layer on top had a tiny bit of "burnt" taste and mixed perfectly with the creme brûlée flavour. Definitely a thumbs up and something worth coming for.

I'm loving it!

I also tasted a bit of my friend's Earl Grey flavour. One interesting that we noticed is that there were actually bits of visible earl grey tea leaves inside the gelato. They appeared as dots and we are guessing that the tea leaves were made into powder and mixed into the gelato to give it a good flavour. The same awesome thing about this flavour is that it is really not sweet and the flavouring was very aromatic. On top of that, the super smooth texture melts in your mouth and the flavour immediately "bursts" out and I call that "AWESOME". Definitely another thumbs up!

Thumbs up!

Despite the fact that the cup looks small, you will be amazed at the amount of gelato that was squeezed into that small cup. Definitely more than enough. So in conclusion, N2 Extreme Gelato, absolutely something special and worth coming for with your family and friends. 

Graffiti at the carpark

329 Brunswick StreetFitzroy,

VIC 3065.

Photography by Canon EOS 7D with Sigma 30mm f/1.4