‘Why is my burger cold?’
Cafe chat Sharon Stephenson
It was meant to be a buying trip around Italy for his sales rep job at a food company. But Nathan Meyer kept sneaking off to sample gelato. ‘‘It was the first time I’d tasted such great gelato and I couldn’t get enough of it,’’ says Meyer, whose great, great grandfather came from Sicily.
When he realised there was nothing like it back home in Wellington, Meyer decided to make his own. The result is Carrello del Gelato, which has been selling more than 200 flavours of gelato and sorbet to restaurants and specialty stores in New Zealand since 2004, and to Singapore from 2016.
Meyer worked with Massey University food technologists to develop a natural base made from local products, and combined that with up to 50 per cent fresh fruit.
Meyer, whose CV is littered with names such as Cuba St’s Cafe Globe (which he started as a 21-yearold) as well as fine-dining restaurant Petit Lyon, vowed he’d never go back into retail.
But then came a mobile gelato cart, which he took to events all over the capital. The response was such that, in 2015, Meyer gave in to pressure for a store and opened Oriental Parade’s Carrello del Gelato.
All the gelato and sorbet is made in a purposebuilt production facility in Newtown and about 16 of the 200 flavours are available in the store at any one time).
The day we meet, Meyer is busy finalising his entry for this year’s Visa Wellington on a Plate’s Burger Wellington Challenge. It’s the third year Meyer has entered his twist on a savoury burger using sweet ingredients. That includes a realisticlooking slice of ‘‘cheese’’ made from white chocolate, a ‘‘patty’’ from dark chocolate, an ‘‘egg’’ from gelato, and raspberry sauce masquerading as ketchup, all encased in a doughnut bun from the Clareville Bakery.
‘‘They look so much like a real burger I’ve had customers complain that their burgers aren’t hot!’’
This year, Meyer’s entry is the Sweet As Kiwi Burger, and as well as an ‘‘egg’’ made from vanilla gelato and mango sorbet, there’s also ‘‘lettuce’’ (green candyfloss), a patty made from chocolate and rice crispies and dehydrated plums standing in for the beetroot. There are even shoestring ‘‘chips’’, made from sweet Italian pastry and deep fried. And as you can’t have a classic Kiwi burger and fries without a milkshake, there’s also a choice of vanilla, chocolate or strawberry shakes, made with four scoops of delicious gelato.
‘‘For us, it’s all about doing something different, challenging ourselves and having fun,’’ he says.
Get your Spanish fiesta on
Meyer will be a busy man this month because Carrello del Gelato is also taking part in the Visa Wellington On A Plate Spanish Fiesta at Kanteen Cafe on Saturday, August 18.
Along with Meyer’s sweet helaldo (icecream), there will be paella from Wellington’s PanMan eatery, Double Vision Brewing’s specially-brewed pilsner and homemade cafe con leche, sangria and Spanish hot chocolate.
Get yourself to Kanteen Cafe on Waterloo Quay for a family-friendly afternoon of food, drink, music, dancing and live flamenco performances from the Spanish and Latin American Club, as well as a photo booth to record the day. Tickets are $40 for adults and $25 for children aged 5-15 years.