Chef-made flavours, Korean treats and sci-fi design: Melbourne's ice-cream scene is cooler than ever

The Viennetta, with its dead simple combination of vanilla ice-cream and chocolate shards, has crowned Australian tables for 40 years, but the supermarket ice-cream cake is now an anomaly among Melbourne's elaborate frozen desserts.

Gelato cakes that look like wheels of cheese, grown-up flavours like miso, and an exciting clash of Asian and Italian cultures in the freezer mean the city's ice-cream fans are in for a hot summer.

Flavours of Asia

The coolest thing in ice-cream in the past year has been seeing Asian-Australian chefs bring their own culture to this Italian treat.

At Kori in Hawthorn, pastry chef Joane Yeoh has been heavily inspired by working and holidaying in Japan. She makes black sesame, nashi pear and miso, but also more experimental flavours including creamy Milky Peko Chan, based on a popular Japanese lolly.

"We believe that a great way to introduce culture is through food," says Timothy Peng, who just opened Poets of Maidstone in Melbourne's west, serving flavours inspired by his native Singapore and Maidstone's multicultural community.

Chef-made scoops

When ancient grains are appearing in frozen meals and Curtis Stone is creating Cadbury's chocolate flavours, it's no surprise that ice-cream is also going gourmet.

At many places, chefs are churning the flavours, whether it's Sundae School's Karina Serex, previously a chef at Heston Blumenthal's UK restaurant The Fat Duck, or Kariton Sorbetes, started by two chefs, John Rivera and Minh Duong.

Fifteen pastry chefs craft the nut butters, almond brittle, cakes and sauces involved in Piccolina's spectacular ice-cream cakes.

"Ice cream is a very nostalgic thing," says Serex. "I think people go back to what they remember as a kid: your mint choc-chip, your rainbow, your vanilla with sprinkles. I get that."

But for those who want to go beyond those, she's excited to offer more choice.

Summer of bingsu

Poets of Maidstone offers Korea's favourite summertime treat, bingsu, which is quickly becoming Melbourne's, too.

Bingsu in its simplest form is shaved ice flavoured with red bean paste, then topped with fruit and tteok (steamed rice cakes). But contemporary bingsu features flavours like Biscoff in towering mounds of ice, finished with whipped cream, jelly and decorative features, like the eyes on the Monster Bingsu at Nox cafe.

Shops specialising in bingsu are rapidly growing, with Sulbing adding a location on the busy corner of Swanston and La Trobe streets.

Co-owner Timothy Heng has rebelled against this trend, using premium ingredients like Solomon Islands chocolate for its bingsu and serving the toppings on the side because they "are eaten better at room temperature".

"We tried toppings and they just detracted from the quality of the bingsu itself," he says.

Ice-cream cakes as art

New-wave cakes are built for social media moments, especially the big reveal of their myriad layers inside.

Sandra Foti of Piccolina Gelateria says the layers are important for textural contrast and a balance of sweet and salty.

Sculpted meringue exteriors and gold leaf decorations give a grown-up feel to her cakes, while others are more playful, such as Kori's mango cheesecake, which looks like a wheel of Swiss cheese.

"[They're] these beautiful jewels that you can take to somebody's house," says Foti. "They look amazing on the outside and you cut into them and they have all these beautiful layers."

Pushing tastebuds out of Viennetta and neapolitan territory, the cakes contain grown-up flavours like leatherwood honey and Davidson plum, or Asian ingredients like hojicha (roasted green tea).

Futuristic design

Sci-fi architecture is the look of the moment for gelato stores.

At Kariton's second store, in Chinatown, the day's flavours are projected via video onto the ceiling.

Gelato stalwart Pidapipo's new Laboratorio in Fitzroy looks more than a little like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with its steel and glass fit-out.

Kori is drenched in neon colours with sharp edges, while Poets of Maidstone uses strip lighting and concrete for a minimal backdrop to its desserts.

With ice-cream this accomplished, why wouldn't you want it to be the star of the show?

Very good vegan

Vegan flavours are now an essential consideration for any ice-cream shop worth their salt(ed caramel).

Sundae School has recently reopened after a three-year break and is working on having four vegan flavours on its menu. Previously it offered two fruit sorbets.

"We're going to have to [offer more] because the demand is there for it," says Serex.

Rich flavours, like chocolate, caramel or pistachio, are becoming more common.

"One thing vegan customers always comment on is that in gelato shops they can only get the sorbets," says Piccolina's Foti.

Not for much longer.

Nine exciting new ice-cream and gelato shops

Sundae School (cnr Hawthorn and Glen Eira roads, Caulfield North)

Chef-made flavours are served from a window, with everything made from scratch. Think cardamom, burnt honey and pistachio, caramel cookie butter, and a refreshing pina colada sorbet for hot days.

Poets of Maidstone (136 Mitchell Street, Maidstone)

Going well beyond cones and cups, this immaculately designed dessert bar is heavily inspired by Asian culture, serving gelato in toasted shokupan (Japanese milk bread), and offering flavours like chrysanthemum and kaya (coconut jam). There's also high-end bingsu.

Kori (659 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn)

Two pastry chefs have opened with a bang, offering 24 Japanese-inspired flavours including eight plant-based. Get ready for white sesame, tofu and vanilla or hazelnut and hojicha (roasted green tea).

Piccolina Gelateria (six locations)

Walk-in and pick up showstopping ice-cream cakes, including new additions like the Native Fairy Bread, topped with sprinkles made from First Nations ingredients like lemon myrtle.

Kariton Sorbetes (Footscray and CBD locations)

Beloved by the Filipino community for putting its culture into cones and cups, there's lots to appeal here to everyone, especially at the CBD store with its cutting-edge interiors that feel like being inside a spaceship.

Sulbing Express (shop 151A, Melbourne Central, cnr La Trobe and Swanston Streets, CBD)

A convenient corner location in the CBD to stoop for refreshing bingsu on a hot day. It comes in flavours like mango cheesecake, green tea and chocolate, or coffee caramel.

Hareruya (15-17 Lincoln Square South, Carlton)

This Japanese takeaway spot takes mochi (Japanese rice cakes) and wraps them around their house-made gelato, as they do in Japan. Flavours include black sesame and other Japanese specialty ingredients.

Fluffy Torpedo (5/159 Smith Street, Fitzroy)

There's no limit to what you might find in the ice-cream cabinet here. Blue Powerade? Check. Honey soy sauce? Yep. Pretzels, Maltesers and popcorn and Ice Magic? You got it. Don't worry, there's vanilla and chocolate, too. Plus a portion of all sales is donated to charity and there are no single-use plastic tasting spoons - each one is washed and reused.

Pidapipo Laboratorio (429-431 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy)

Admire the futuristic fit-out and uniforms before ordering up on cheffy flavours, like white chocolate and pink peppercorn, fig leaf, or mascarpone and mango. A new range of ice-cream cakes is also on offer.