Churning out island flavours
What started off as a simple gelato store in Galle Fort in 2017 has in just over three years flourished to become one of Sri Lanka’s well-loved gelaterias having amassed a loyal and growing customer base, three more stores and a healthy serving of different flavours and treats. Isle of Gelato founded by Shalini Fernando and Suranjan Perera creates delectable, artisanal gelato completely from scratch incorporating the flavours of their island home.
New addition: Isle of Gelato’s gelato cake
“Our whole brand purpose is to actually really highlight the flavours of the island and showcase them. I think that the era of imported goods has now gone and we are trying to move onto a new era where Sri Lanka has so much to offer and it is becoming so big on the global stage as well,” Shalini tells the Sunday Times Magazine.
It was in Italy where the couple got engaged, that Shalini and Suranjan who were initially working in finance also fell in love with Italy’s frozen dessert — gelato. Trying to understand the creamier and healthier cousin of ice cream and wanting to replicate a little bit of Italy back home, Shalini followed a course at Bologna’s Carpigiani Gelato University while reaching out to many gelaterias there to bring authentic gelato to Sri Lanka.
Slowly but surely, Isle of Gelato took shape.
While ice-cream in all its heavenly goodness uses a lot of cream and less milk thus creating a cold treat with more fat content, gelato uses less cream and more milk, hence its reputation as a healthier option.
For the couple, their process is of utmost importance. “The majority of gelaterias here all make their gelato through a pre-mix which is made within seven minutes whereas ours is made completely from scratch through a recipe created by Shalini to make her own base,” Suranjan shares with us on the 12-72 hour process it takes to make their gelato. Artisanal and not commercial gelato is their foundation.
Personal touch: Shalini turns out the Puttalam sea salt and caramel gelato. Pix by Amila Gamage
Take the Puttalam sea salt and caramel (a popular favourite) which Suranjan explains is a completely local product. Every element is manufactured in-house and sourced locally from the peanut and salt that goes into the peanut brittle and the caramel that is made from scratch and not from a pre-mix.
Isle of Gelato’s brand philosophy is to source locally wherever they can while ensuring quality is met with every element and blended with constant innovation. No artificial flavours are used.
“Nothing will leave our facility with our brand on it unless it is absolutely perfect,” Suranjan reiterates as he recalls how during the ‘Celebrity Chef Fundraiser’ last year where they were tasked to provide a sweet treat for the guests, the mangosteens they had got to present as a new flavour of gelato did not meet their standards. Thus, they scrapped the entire concept despite investing quite a lot of money in it and opted for a tangy passion fruit sorbet instead.
While pistachios, hazelnuts and other ingredients have to be obtained from abroad here too they source only the most premium and finest of quality no matter the cost, Suranjan emphasizes relating how their pistachio is imported straight from Sicily.
Shalini and Suranjan’s latest adventure has been to create a suga-free range. “There is no bees’ honey, kithul or jaggery,” Shalini tells us as she explains that sugarfree doesn’t simply mean replacing sugar or sucrose with natural sweeteners but rather that there has to be no sugar (glucose) content at all in the product -they do this by using plant-based sweeteners. This came about after Shalini went to Italy to study the art of making sugar free gelato, followed by much research and experimenting till they had a product they were happy with.
The sugar-free raspberry sorbet has a tart sharpness to it which melts in your mouth leaving a tangy yet sweet aftertaste while the sugar-free burnt butter pecan gelato with crunchy pecan bits and buttery flavour reminds you of the butterbeer in Harry Potter.
Suranjan Perera and Shalini Fernando
Another exciting addition to their menu are their bespoke gelato cakes which have a base of either a sponge cake or a chocolate brownie layer topped with a gelato of your choice covered in glaze made out of dreams — an option of a Ferrero Rocher coating, dark chocolate or a white glaze decorated with miniature popsicles and gelato macaroons.
The first expansion of their menu was their vegan and dairy-free, fruit-based and coconut milk sorbets which are also quite popular with customers. “We try to cater to everyone’s dietary requirements,” they tell us and we’re quite convinced they’ll have more innovations in store for their loyal fans.