TummyTRIP in Europe

AMORINO : BEST GELATO IN PARIS
www.amorino.com

We were in Europe last September for a vacation and one thing we love about Europe is the great food. After all, Europe is home to three culinary superpowers of the world: France, Italy and Spain. Our itinerary for this trip : Paris, Bordeaux , Prague, Vienna, Salzburg , Budapest and Amsterdam. Five countries , seven cities and two hungry Pinoys looking for good food. Paris is my default entry point in the EU unless I go to the UK side for the first stop.

Paris. My Paris. I'm torn between Paris and New York as my favorite city in the world but I guess Paris is the most beautiful while New York is the most exciting. I have a never ending love affair with Paris that started almost 10 years ago, the first time I went to Europe and visited the City of Lights. It was our first stop before heading to Rome and I was changed forever. Something in me sparked, not only making me a Francophile, that I just find myself wanting to go back to this beautiful and romantic city serving rich , heavenly dishes that were pleasing to eat and look at.

Thankfully, since it was both our third time in Paris, we really got to enjoy the city in a relaxed pace, checking out new places that aren't within the tourist radar and more importantly, discovering new gastronomic delights we haven't tried before. We've had so many wonderful meals in Paris but let me skip all those first for AMORINO, the best gelato in Paris.

We love gelato. Gelato is softer, smoother and denser than ice cream. AMORINO  which means little love, has various locations not just in Paris but in the entire France, England, Germany, Austria , Spain and Italy. Gelato al naturale, the philosophy is high quality ice cream using only natural ingredients. We visited the gelateria   near the Jardin du Luxembourg at 22 Rue Soufflot at the 5th arrondissement and were excited to see the usual gelato flavors (nocciola, straciatella, tiramisu, amaretto ) and some new ones like the speculoos (Belgian cookies) , mango alfonso, crema all' arancia sanguinella ( blood orange cream)   and a lot more. The nice thing about Amorino is you can mix the flavors even if you get the small cup. I got the medium size cup for 7 or 8 euros and asked for 3 flavors, pistachio, tiramisu and the cioccolato. They scooped generously so a medium cup is good for two (err it can be good for one too..pure indulgence) Simply divine. Heaven in a cup. It wasn't too sweet , just right , absolutely perfect.  You can really taste the pistachio  and  the cioccolato ecuador,  my oh my.. it's like having a chilled chocolate bar.. Sigh..I really miss it already. The best gelato for me no doubt about it. Even better than the local gelato I've tried in Rome, Venice and Florence. You can google it and you will see rave reviews in Fodors, Trip Advisor and other blog sites from Amorino gelatizens ( is there such a word?) .

By the way, if you order a cone, there's a an added treat of having the gelato shaped into a nice flower. Really fancy work of art!

happy camper : )

sigh..I want this everyday! 

Actually, Amorino was there way back in 2002 but during that time I was fixated on the crepes, macarons , petits fours and other French desserts..How could I miss this?!? Darn. But better late than never. So for the next few days, we've had Amorino for our dessert , after every meal ( I combine it with a few macarons here and there , snicker snicker ) in other parts of the city. We've tried the rest and they're good too but  my favorite is the SPECULOOS. The Belgian cookies. It's really good that I forgot about the other flavors. Amorino is LOVE! The name couldn't be more perfect .

Amorino again this time at the Latin Quarter

                                            and again with Caroline...our friend from Nice
                                            presently a first year university student in Paris