Beku Gelato brings fresh south-east Asian flavours to Carlton, closes original Brunswick store

Gelato after dinner is a Carlton ritual, but with the arrival of Beku Gelato on Lygon Street, there's even more choice, with flavours such as durian, kalamansi and Milo inside silver pozzetti.

Agusta Triwahyu, a former engineer, opened Beku in Brunswick East in 2017; it was a fun way to get people excited about flavours from her native Indonesia and other parts of Asia.

Carlton was to be her second store, and it was – for about six weeks. But staff shortages and winter's COVID cases made it difficult to staff one store, let alone two. She made the tough decision to close the original location in August and focus on Carlton.

"The Brunswick shop was like my baby. We sort of know everyone there; we call most customers by name," she says.

But the silver lining is that Carlton is bigger, brighter and more visible, with a royal blue heritage shopfront bringing in new customers to try the 20 flavours. Among them are staples such as teh tarik (sweetened Malaysian tea), hojicha (roasted green tea), coconut sorbet and Biscoff.

Monthly specials are inspired by the neighbouring Turkish, Mexican and Japanese restaurants.

"The wider shopfront means people can come in freely and browse. I can easily showcase the flavours, they can see things," says Triwahyu.

There's also more room for Triwahyu and her team to make gelato, and they've been able to add drinks including teh tarik, poured in the customary long streams to achieve the right texture, and milkshakes based on the gelato flavours.

Triwahyu says the welcome from the neighbourhood has been warm.

Open Mon-Thu 5pm-10pm, Fri-Sat 12.30pm-11pm, Sun 12.30pm-10pm

150 Lygon Street, Carlton, beku.com.au