One of my all time favorite places in Auckland has to be Giapo, a gourmet ice cream shop which very conveniently (and probably dangerously) was only a stone’s throw away from where I was staying. Before arriving in Auckland, I was entrusted with a sacred list of must-eat-at venues from trusted food and drink connoisseur friend Martin who has encyclopedic knowledge of craft beer bars and restaurants.

First on his list was Giapo ice cream. It didn’t take long to convince me to make my way over there. In fact, same day I arrived, I stood outside the shop in Auckland’s CBD behind a long line of customers also eagerly awaiting their ice cream. What confused me at that point was why people were taking a relatively longer time to order. I didn’t realize that this wasn’t your ordinary ice cream shop.

In fact, when our group’s turn came, we walked in and were surprised not to see any ice cream inside. Thankfully, one of their team members then explained the concept behind Giapo. She described it as a place that offers a new narrative of ice cream, not just as food, but as an experience.

So, customers are first handed a degustation menu which lists 9 different flavors of ice cream, and small samples of each to try. On it were flavors I had never seen before like the NZ Afghan Cookie, the Aperol Spritz, Cher’s Dark Chocolate, and the Double Cream NZ Hokey Pokey. After unashamedly trying each and every one, I opted for the Hokey Pokey.

After which, we were handed another menu to pick a cone. There was the Colossal Squid, the Sourdough donut, the Steamed Pudding, the Selfie Cone to name a few. At this point, we were beyond intrigued to see what these cones would look like. I ordered the ‘Selfie Cone’.

When it arrived, our jaws collectively dropped. It was an absolute work of art. The design, the colors, the frame, the size of it! Like everyone else in the store, we sat admiring it like we would the Mona Lisa and of course taking the almost compulsory selfie snaps with it. I almost didn’t want to eat something that looked this pretty (almost being the key word here)! It was without a doubt, even more delicious than it looked.   

Now remember, I was grounded in New Zealand for 6 months when covid hit, so when I first visited unaware of the madness that would soon ensue, I thought that would be my only visit to Giapo’s. Little did I know that a 2 weeks trip would become half a year of me living there and that one visit would soon become many.

Few months and many other scoops in, I signed up for their ‘Behind-the-scenes’ experience. Now remember, I was in New Zealand, a place that went into one of the world’s strictest lockdowns for over a month before gradually opening up again. So at this point, life was completely back to normal there. All offices and stores were open, no masks were required, and to my absolute joy, tours were running. So a 60 min tour to find out what happens inside Giapo’s R&D Kitchen, meet the masterminds themselves, and get to sample some of their delicious creations? No-brainer.

Here’s a sneak peek into the experience.

We were lucky to meet the lovely founders, Giapo and Annarosa Grazioli, who took us on a tour of the shop and the R&D lab.

One of the first things they said was ‘normal ice cream is boring’. This no doubt lead to a few gasps in the air as if our entire belief system had been shattered. They said ‘ice cream looks and feels the same everywhere since it was invented. The history of ice cream stems from two origins, Italy and America, in what we call the first and second narrative of ice cream’s history. Everywhere we go, what the ice cream world tends to focus on, as far as innovation is concerned, is changing flavors. So the question that we asked ourselves was, can we innovate ice cream without just changing the flavors? What does ice cream have the potential to become? That’s why Giapo was born, to offer a new third narrative of ice cream. We started looking at the function of ice cream, something that isn’t just food, but an experience.’

The focus is more on presentation, flipping ice cream on its head, twisting it around, and building it into something beautiful. Their R&D Kitchen looks like a NASA lab, filled with sketches, vacuum forming and 3D printing equipment. Many of their jaw-dropping creations are inspired by New Zealand’s monuments and culture. Take the colossal squid for example – it pays homage to the national museum of New Zealand which is Wellington’s Te Papa.

Limited only by imagination and creativity, Giapo is something incredibly special as are the people behind it. Particularly for those who wish to experience ice cream not just as a delicious treat, but as a platform for freedom and art.