Parmigiano-Reggiano and pesto don’t instantly come to mind when you think of gelato flavours, but Matteo Zini, founder of Zini Contemporary Gelateria in the CBD, likes to push the envelope. His four La Macelleria stores in Brisbane feature more traditional flavours, but at Zini he wanted to do something different.

A multi-sensory experience reveals itself in the blue vanilla, which is traditionally flavoured but coloured blue with butterfly pea flowers; the peppery sensation of the raspberry and black pepper flavour; and the surprise of the citrus in the yuzu Earl Grey.

At its core, Zini is about good gelato made the traditional way in a Cattabriga vertical gelato machine, which was invented in Zini’s native Bologna. Zini also caters to the coffee crowd with a morning espresso bar, with a blend for black coffees and one for milky.