Walking around the Basilica, you've probably seen tourists taking selfies with rose-shaped ice creams. These delicacies don't come from far: one of Gelarto Rosa's ice-cream parlours is opposite the Basilica, at 3 Szent István tér, and the other is just a two-minute walk away, at 9 Hercegprímás utca. At these places you can taste one of Budapest's most unique cold desserts, which we were curious about. So we invited founder and creative director Niki Szökrön for a chat, and she was happy to tell us about the gelato rose, the rose-shaped ice cream.

The story of the gelato rose

“It wasn't me who invented the rose-shape. However, I am proud of the recipes I wrote and the fact that our gelato is made from 100% natural ingredients, is not inflated with air, and is of truly excellent quality,” begins Niki, who can say that the love of hospitality is in her genes.

"I come from a family of hospitality professionals and my parents obviously asked me to be anything I wanted to be, except not work in hospitality. There are no summer holidays, no weekends, no holidays, and that's true. Of course I tried to keep my word and got involved in so much else, but I always hosted at home. As I love cooking and baking, I often organised thematic dinners and memorable birthday parties for the children... and once one of the guests, a manager from a large company, asked me if I would like to be a shop manager in his café. I tried it, fell in love with it, but was always a little unsatisfied with the details. Then, at a company event, my colleagues put a bug in my ear to start my own business. And when my dad saw a rose-shaped ice cream somewhere, I started digging a little bit. I soon found myself at the Gelato University in Bologna, where they taught me the basics of writing recipes. It was 2004 and I didn't have a notebook, so I drew my ideas by hand and started looking for an investor," she recalls.

Classic and new flavours in two ice cream parlours

Once they found the person they are still working with, Gelarto Rosa began to take shape - now they have two locations waiting for lovers of quality (and beautiful) cold sweets close to the Basilica.

"We have 24 flavours of gelato in our ice-cream parlour opposite the Basilica, and 28 in the Gelarto Rosa Grande on Hercegprímás Street. We have about 15 basic flavours, such as vanilla, chocolate and the like, but there are 7-8 flavours that we can change. And there are always about four flavours that we make with alternative sugars, such as xilit, but it is important to us that our ice creams are also available for people with lactose and gluten intolerance, as well as for vegans," Niki concludes.

She adds that their ice cream range is always a little different depending on the season. "Summer is coming and my favourite flavour at this time of year is white-fleshed peach, which turns into pink ice cream because of the red pigments at the seed. I also make fig ice cream with figs I pick myself. Lavender white chocolate and basil lemon are very popular. In our franchise shops in Kuwait we offer mint lemon. This summer's new flavour is orange avocado, which has an orange taste and gets its creamy texture from the avocado. At the end of the summer we usually vary the pear with salted chocolate and then we start the autumn flavours with pumpkin," she says.

Which flavours are the best sellers? Last year, pistachio and mango were tied at 3.5 tonnes each, but vanilla also had over three tonnes, followed by chocolate and strawberry.

At first, everyone is surprised by the quantities, but when you consider that the ice-cream parlours serve 2-3 thousand people a day, it becomes more understandable.

"65-70 per cent of our guests are foreigners. There are a lot of Israelis, but the Spanish, Italians, Asians, especially the Koreans, love us very much. We have also had a lot of celebrities, from Adrian Brody to Mr Bean to Simply Red, who visits us regularly because his wife is Hungarian," she says.

Charitable endeavors

Niki and the Gelarto Rosa ice-cream parlours also believe in helping where they can, so they regularly support good causes. "In April we helped autistic people with gelato and you could also buy their badges here. But we also often have customers with guide dogs - we welcome dogs anyway, they can come in with their owners, we are always happy to give them water and a broken cone - we also have a deaf-mute group who add a very interesting colour to our days, we pay attention to them in a completely different way," she explains.

She adds that acceptance is as fundamental to her as respect for guests and the hospitality industry. "We have a colleague with reduced working capacity who has had a stroke, and we have employees from different countries. So basically we are one big colourful family, with many different people who have known each other for so long that we are almost like relatives," she says with a laugh.

Their offer is also colourful, not only in the gelato selection but also in the cute little sweets called isler. "In the Gelarto Rosa Grande on Hercegprímás Street we also make kürtőskalács, waffles and ice-cream cakes," he adds. As for future goals and plans, Niki will only reveal that Gelarto Rosa will be 20 years old this year, which they are already preparing to celebrate, for example with a new flavour inspired by Morocco, but the rest is a surprise for now.

Where can you find Gelarto Rosa ice cream parlors?

Gelarto Rosa – opposite St. Stephen’s Basilica
Szent István tér 3.

Gelarto Rosa Grande – 1-2 minutes walk from the Basilica
Hercegprímás utca 9.

https://gelartorosa.com/en/
https://www.facebook.com/GelartoRosa

Article: Mia Balogh

Photos: Gelarto Rosa and Mia Balogh