Gelato Collection, the ice cream venture by acclaimed chef Albert Adrià, is set to open its second shop in Barcelona, located on Passeig de Gràcia. The new establishment, directly opposite Casa Batlló, is expected to open in mid-May, nearly two years after the first shop launched on La Rambla.
The new location will include an on-site production kitchen and a tasting area. "It's a space where people can try ice creams, coffees, pastries, viennoiseries, churros, and nougats," said Alfredo Machado, pastry chef and ice cream maker, in an interview with B de gust. Machado co-founded Gelato Collection with Adrià and Ángel Velasco, general director of Torrons Vicens.
The shop's menu features around 20 flavours on display, with approximately 80 indexed recipes in storage. These flavours are categorised as traditional, seasonal, signature, and adult, with many signature options inspired by high-end dishes from El Bulli and Enigma, and adult flavours based on cocktails.
Crafting Unique Flavours
Production takes place in the basement of the new shop, with fruits sourced daily from the Soley stall at Mercat de la Boqueria. Machado explained that this daily sourcing presents challenges, as fruit ripeness can vary. "We go to La Boqueria every day, we see the fruit, we taste it... and this also has drawbacks because the fruit doesn't always come as we want it; it's not always at the same point of ripeness," he noted.
Despite these inconsistencies, Machado sees the uncertainty as a creative challenge. "Because we are cooks and every day we cook the ice creams," he stated. When a product's season begins, the team buys and tastes it, with the new flavour typically available in the display case within two weeks. Currently, kumquats, or Chinese mandarins, are in season, offering a bitter and acidic citrus flavour.
Once a season ends, the ice cream flavour is removed from the display, but its recipe is stored in a numbered "flavour bank," which Machado likens to a perfumery. "So that in the future you say: 'I like number three,' and number three is always the ice cream we imagined," he said. Developing each flavour is an intensive process; for example, the pistachio ice cream required 10 different tests with various types of pistachios before the desired result was achieved.
From El Bulli to Gelato
Gelato Collection offers pure flavours like raw Marcona almond ice cream, alongside tastes that evoke memories of Albert Adrià's former restaurant, Tickets, which closed in 2020. Flavours such as lychee, raspberry, and rose water, previously featured at Tickets, have been adapted for ice cream. The team also experiments with more unusual combinations, including Peking duck sauce and eel ice cream. Machado recently tested a new flavour for Adrià: "How would chilli, basil, and a little lime turn out? We did the test and it was a success!"
This project began during the pandemic, when restaurants were forced to close. Machado used the downtime to learn ice cream making. When normal operations resumed, Adrià restructured his team and asked Machado about his activities. "I explained that I had been learning to make ice creams. Albert Adrià doesn't eat many desserts, even though he is a pastry chef, because what he likes are ice creams," Machado recalled. Adrià confessed that opening an ice cream shop "had been his dream since childhood."
The two chefs then spent a week making ice creams, leading to the creation of Gelato Collection. Ángel Velasco, who had collaborated with Adrià on Torrons Vicens nougats for a decade, joined as the third partner. Velasco offered a location for the first shop. "We were talking with Ángel Velasco, from Torrons Vicens, and he said: 'If you want to open an ice cream shop, I have the place,'" Machado explained.
The initial opening on La Rambla faced an unexpected challenge. "We opened on a Wednesday and the following Monday, construction work started on La Rambla, and that slowed us down. But it also helped us learn the world of ice cream making little by little," Machado said. The new Passeig de Gràcia shop marks a significant expansion for the brand, building on the experience gained from its first location.
