The best gelato and ice cream in Sydney

All the gelatos at this Marrickville gelateria are made with an old-fashioned allegiance to fresh produce – so much so that they juice mandarins from their own trees for a seasonal sorbetto. Real nuts are ground up to make their pistacchio gelato, and for a real scoop of la dolce vita, order the zabaglione – ice cream spiked with Marsala, topped with a fine layer of Marsala-soaked sponge.

Bologna-born founder Matteo Zini isn’t your standard ice cream shop owner. He previously opened four gelato parlours across Australia under the name 'La Macelleria Gelateria' (or 'the gelato butchery') and spent seven years teaching the art of gelato making in Southeast Asia. Zini Contemporary, however, is his magnum opus, producing some of Sydney’s finest gelato using the iconic Cattabriga Effe, the first automatic gelato machine, invented way back in 1927. In addition to signature flavours like stracciatella, pistacchio, cioccolato, and bacio, Zini Contemporary also whips up sorbets and vegan gelato, as well as low-carb and high-protein options. More here.

Redfern's Ciccone and Sons is a humble affair: just a long, thin room with bunting on the walls, a couple of little church pews to sit on, rock ’n’ roll on the stereo and a chest freezer with ice cream up the back. They don't go in for your five-flavour behemoths here – sometimes it's a double bill like in their popular buttermilk and passionfruit, or watermelon and rose – for the most part individual flavours are given room to shine, like cinnamon, almond, or coconut.

Messina is the fancy-dress party of gelato shops in Sydney. Sure, their salted caramel has been a mainstay for years, and we're pretty keen on the pandan coconut for a tropical refresher, but where the excitement comes in is Messina's hyper zeitgeisty flavours. Sometimes the list of flavours in a single scoop runs off the board, and their creative flair means choosing is never easy on any visit. You'll find Messina's HQ in Marrickville, and stores in Darlinghurst, Newtown, and far and wide.

Randwick’s freshest gelato bar borrows its name from the Greek goddess of Earth, a nod to the shop's all-natural flavours and colours, which are made from scratch every day. The Tuscany-inspired spot focuses on Italian classics such as lemon, vanilla and ‘crunchy’ Amarena cherry flavours. But co-founders Emanuele Giannetti and Franco Alvarez haven’t shied away from throwing in a few twists, including a lime and basil gelato and its best-selling ‘Snickers my way’ with freshly ground peanuts. More here.

You might think it’s all cakes here but at the back of the store there is a range of fresh gelatos, made on the premises. The flavours change with the seasons but our pick is the cookies and cream, made from vanilla gelato tossed with their own crushed triple-choc cookies. Throw out your Connoisseur version immediately and just eat this. Why a beach suburb like Freshwater has taken this long to get a gelataria, we’ll never know.

The queues here are well known, and they're all in line for one gelato in particular: the mandorla affogato. It won this gelateria World’s Best Gelato at 2014’s Gelato World Tour in Rimini, Italy, and it's stayed top of the order list ever since. But if coffee, toffee and almond aren't your speed, they do an amazing line in seasonal sorbets like nectarine, mandarin and watermelon, and they aren't afraid to get creative – how does gingerbread, lemon cheesecake or lychee and coconut sound?

Established by lactose-intolerant PierLuca Di Genua-Angrisano, aka Pep, Earlwood's newest dessert shop serves up dairy-free gelato first dreamed up in New York. ‘Italian ice’ is a creamy granita made by blending fruit, sugar and water in a Carpigiani gelato machine. You can choose from flavours including lemon, coconut, banana, mango, watermelon, orange, pineapple, passionfruit and coconut, as well as indulgent chocolate. More here.

It feels like every beach should have a kickass gelateria, but not every one does. Avalon, however, knows the score. Let’s just get one thing straight, right off the bat: ‘Chillbar’ is not an inspiring name (we’ve missed you, the '90s) but the gelato, thankfully, is anything but. It’s made onsite, and our picks are the white chocolate and raspberry, which contains freeze-dried fruit that adds texture and sour respite from the sweet cream; and the strawberry sorbet, which is smooth and light.

Behind an unassuming storefront in Five Dock, Small Joys Gelato is running a micro gelato operation with up to a dozen flavours to pick from. This small-batch gelateria produces all its gelato from scratch using natural ingredients, churning through a revolving door of eye-catching concoctions including kaya (a coconut jam popular in Southeast Asia), ube halaya (a Filipino dessert made from boiled and mashed purple yam) and hojicha (a Japanese roasted green tea). The flavours are refreshed every few days so make sure to check out their Instagram page for the latest scoops. More here.

Duo Duo does one thing better than almost anyone else in Sydney: deep-fried ice cream. Starting out as a food truck in 2017, the team has since opened a brick-and-mortar store in Strathfield and a ‘dessert factory’ in Roselands. The Asian-inspired flavours include gelato made from 100 per cent fresh durian, an Earl Grey tea-infused gelato rippled with lychee jelly, and a pandan gelato infused with real pandan leaves, passionfruit and coconut dacquoise. There’s also not one but two tiramisu editions. One is cut with matcha, while the other has a Vietnamese coffee base. Plus, a yuzu lychee sorbet. And if you want it deep-fried, your options include Ferrero Rocher, pandan coconut, salted caramel and a bunch of one-off specials. More here.

Rivareno Gelato does gelato the Sicilian way, even making sure to store the gelato in ‘pozzetti’ (covered, stainless steel containers). Because the pozzetti are lidded, it means you don't get that sense of the spectacular as you walk in (as per Messina) but they believe it keeps the gelato at exactly the right temperature, to ensure the flavour is at its freshest and the texture is silky. In addition to the original Darlinghurst shop, you'll also find Rivareno Gelato in Barangaroo, Potts Point and Parramatta.

Behind the sunny, yellow facade of this Italian gelateria, things are decidedly green. Of course, there’s nothing more sustainable than a cone, the packaging that is also a tasty snack, but if you like your ice cream in a cup, you’ll be glad to know the shop uses compostable containers. Your tasters come on wooden sticks or compostable spoons, and even your takeaway tubs will soon be available in recyclable containers. Plus, half of the 14 flavours are dairy-free.

Maybe it’s the sun, maybe it’s the sand, but grabbing a cone at Pompei’s before wandering down to the beach feels like a Sydney tradition that should never be lost. The pistachio is that classic combination of acidic green colour and sweet, robust flavour, and the chocolate sorbet (made with Tuscan Amedei chocolate no less) is equal parts refreshing and rich.

It may look ordinary from the outside, but this Chatswood gelateria is wholly wonderful. All the gelatos are made fresh in house and they aren't afraid to mix rich, creamy flavours with seasonal fruit. Try a pear and chocolate, passionfruit and marscapone, or boysenberry lavender crumble. Here for the classics? They're using 70 per cent Belgian chocolate and hazelnuts from Langhe in Italy.

Nev Bagriyanik and his wife Zeyneb opened their ice cream parlour to bring the traditional sweets of their hometown of Maras to the Inner West. Expect sour cherry, Turkish delight, date, pistachio and the simple combination of milk and sugar to flavour your iced confections. The difference here is that they use salep, a flour made from orchid root that gives Turkish ice cream its super tacky consistency.