Rocambolesc Gelateria - Girona, Spain

When we booked our trip to El Celler de Can Roca in December last year, I thought I was going to burst with excitement. Then something happened. Around March 2012 we heard that Jordi Roca (dessert genius and all round sugar spinning witch) was opening an ice cream parlour in the middle of Girona. Can you just imagine that? Three Michelin stars. Number two in the World's 50 Best Restaurants. He decides to make ice cream. This was going to be spectacular.

Rocambolesc doesn't directly translate to English, but from what I can gather it means something along the lines of the utterly bizarre and fantastical (yes, I did use some artistic license there). It fits perfectly with the vision Jordi had for the look and feel of the gelateria, and also encompasses the family name. Clever.

Pictures - El Celler de Can Roca & Rocambolesc

The shop's interior is a magical mix of bygone times and modern day dairy mixology. The decor and hand drawn pictures adorning the walls, windows and mirrors are like something straight out of a Dr Seuss book, whilst the ice cream recipes come straight from El Celler itself. Nothing has been watered down, and everything is delicious. The only difference is the price tag. A tasting menu at El Celler starts at 135€ whereas four ice creams with three toppings on each set us back 15€. Bargainous!

Every day there are just six flavours to choose from. This may sound limited, but I assure you every one is a little bit of heaven. You can also mix things up with toppings, although each option comes with its own recommendations to bring out the flavour. You can also get take away boxes, but I doubt ours would have survived the trip back to Manchester... One wall is filled with the beautiful take out tubs, which create a striking decoration.

It was -1 C the day we arrived in Girona. You would think the last thing on our minds would be ice cream... But, like the warriors that we are we went on an expedition to Santa Clara to find Rocambolesc. Since I was the only one in our group who had been stalking the website for months, no-one else knew what it was actually called. Granted, it is a bit of a funny name in English, and I kept thinking it was called Roshambo. This is actually an alternative name for the 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' game, but anyone familiar with South Park will know it as something very different. We'll leave it there. 

The ice cream doesn't come in the scoops we are familiar with, but is swirled into the tubs and cones using a Mr Whippy style pump in the wall. This means the ice cream is very soft. All the ingredients used are natural and it's made fresh every day. 

Both Vicki and I had already clocked the Poma al Forn (baked apple), but decided on slightly different toppings. We both had the cooked and stewed apple pieces, but Vicki had little butter biscuits whereas I picked the blackberries. This tasted like a baked apple dessert with thick cream, but was silky smooth with no detectable bits of anything solid which may have given it this intense flavour. Sorcery. 

The gents went for the robust flavours of Turró d'Avellana (hazelnut nougat) and Xocolata (chocolate). Wayne's was a creamy praline-like hazelnut ice cream topped with dulce de leche, caramelised hazelnuts and fudge pieces and Paddy's was intensely chocolatey and covered with chocolate sauce, brownie pieces and chocolate popping candy.

If it hadn't been quite so sub-zero outside, I would have been tempted to try them all! Well, there were only six... I can honestly say this is some of the best ice cream I have ever eaten. 

If you ever find yourself wandering round Girona, make a trip to Rocambolesc. I imagine there are queues out of the door when it's warm outside, but a bit of cold didn't stop us from scoffing a tub full of the chilly stuff. We are from Horwich after all...

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