Vancouver Good

The word on Bella Gelateria is spreading fast – deservedly so. It is awesome and the first ice cream joint in Vancouver I can truly recommend.

I was in San Francisco this summer indulging in the excellent Bi-rite and Humphry Slocombe creameries, lamenting the fact Vancouver had nothing as good. Now we do.

This is gelato done right, the way the best places in Italy make it. Everything is made fresh with the best ingredients under the watchful eye and technique of James Coleridge, who trained at the Carpigiani Gelato University in Italy. He’s been at the store every time I’ve gone to Bella – definitely talk him up when you’re there if you want to learn more.

What makes the gelato so good? It’s fresh, light, creamy, and so  flavourful, No words can do it justice – you must just try it. For me, it’s all about the nocciola (hazelnut) flavour, which blew me away on my first tasting. Bella Gelateria brings in fresh hazelnuts from the Piedmont region of Italy and makes the hazelnut paste for the gelato on site. Perhaps the most iconic gelato flavour is pistachio, which is light and sweet with a nutty bite – by far the best in Vancouver. For the traditionalists, there are the standard chocolate and vanilla as well. There’s a great selection of flavours, plus some sorbetto options as well.

Prices start at $4.95 for one flavour/scoop in a cone or cup. This is the same price as a cone at those marble slab ice cream joints, and trust me, Bella is better.

Bella Gelateria is located on the northwest corner of Burrard & Cordova street downtown, near Coal Harbour, in the same building as the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel.

These are calories worth indulging in.

Bella Gelateria
1001 W. Cordova Street
604.569.1010
Open daily from 11am-10pm (’til 11pm on Fri & Sat)