cheeky treats
Camera Iconcheeky treats Credit: Supplied/Marcus Whisson

Ice cream dream

Belinda Cipriano, Stirling TimesStirling Times

The Karrinyup couple followed their culinary dream by learning the craft, then travelling around the North and South of America gathering ideas and marrying different flavour combinations.

‘The name Chicho comes from an Italian term ‘Ciccio’, a nickname given to cheeky Italian children,’ Mr De Bartolo said.

‘You twist their cheeks and say ‘eh Ciccio’, this is exactly what Chicho’s ethos is, making authentic Italian gelato with a cheeky twist, transporting you to your own Ciccio moment.’

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The engineer and his pharmacist wife said the |couple’s vision was to create new and exciting flavours regularly and to maintain the highest quality.

‘Carly is a practising pharmacist and is integral to balancing and formulating each flavour to ensure the practice of making authentic gelato is adhered to,’ he said.

‘She gets a real kick at the experimentation phase.

‘Her palate is adventurous to the core so look out in seasons to come for more cutting-edge flavours.

Both of us have had limited time in the food production industry, though we both grew up surrounded by incredibly good Italian and Greek food, which had a huge effect on our passion for good food.

‘Our travels abroad have accentuated this passion.’

Priding themselves on using seasonal WA produce, Chez said they went to great lengths to collaborate with local producers to offer our customers unique flavours.

‘Making our gelato from scratch gives us the creative licence to experiment with different ingredients and different combinations,’ he said.

‘Some examples of our sorbet flavours are rockmelon sorbet with candied prosciutto, cactus fruit sorbet, pineapple and coconut sorbet, and lemon and basil sorbet.’

As for their favourite flavour, it’s a tough one.

‘My personal favourite is the cactus fruit sorbet, but Carly’s is a cup of half grapefruit sorbet and half salted caramel,’ Mr De Bartolo said.

‘The most popular flavours last season were the kaffir lime with coconut gelato and the chocolate gelato with salted cara-mel.’

Chicho Gelato is available for private or corporate hire and can be found at food festivals across the metropolitan area.