La Gelatiera, New Row

A shot of the eponymous espresso blend from Terrone & Co, served at La Gelatiera on New Row in London.As much as I like ice cream, ice cream parlours normally don’t appear on the Coffee Spot (Philadelphia’s iconic Franklin Fountain being, until now, the only exception). However, while wandering along New Row to check on New Row Coffee (which, following its change of ownership last year, has rebranded as The Espresso Room) something caught my eye in the window of La Gelatiera: a coffee menu offering two espresso blends from none other than Terrone & Co! Well, that was my choice made for me: who doesn’t love coffee and ice cream? Especially on a hot day…

Although ice cream’s the main reason to visit La Gelatiera, it’s great to see non-coffee places (like Crosstown Doughnuts) serving speciality coffee and doing it well. La Gelatiera’s pretty small, with most customers grabbing their ice cream to go, but there are some tables and a small bar if you want to stay.

You can read more of my thoughts after the gallery.

  • La Gelatiera, which occupies a stonking building on London's New Row.
  • Don't forget to look up, otherwise you'll miss fellows like this (from the first floor arch).
  • Meanwhile, back on ground level, there's not a great deal to La Gelatiera.
  • However, there is this sign in the window, which is what originally caught my eye.
  • Inside, and its a fairly cramped space, with a scattering of seating, including this stool...
  • ... which occupies the space ahead and to the left  of the door.
  • Immediately to the left, there's a table in the window, while if you keep going around...
  • ... there's another table against the left-hand wall and then this one by the counter.
  • Finally there's this weirdly-shaped bar on the right towards the back.
  • Despite the front being almost all windows, La Gelatiera has plenty of lights.
  • Obligatory light-bulb photo.
  • There are also table decorations in the shape of plants...
  • ... while the walls are adorned with numerous Great Taste Awards.
  • The menu is on the board behind the counter. Now you see it...
  • ... and now you don't: the menu board is decorated by flashing lights.
  • Of course, the major draw is the ice cream, of which there is an abunant choice.
  • I counted 18 different flavours in all.
  • As well as ice cream, there are also waffles, pancakes, crepes and (seen here) cake...
  • ... as well as hot chocolate from old friends, Kokoa Collection.
  • I, however, decided on ice cream: strawberry cheesecake & apple crumble to be precise.
  • However, this is what convinced me to come in: Terrone coffee. Here's the darker roast...
  • ... and here's the medium roast. No prizes for guessing which one I had.
  • In the middle, between the two grinders, is the Victoria Arduino lever espresso machine...
  • ... which pulled this rather wonderful shot of the medium-roast Terrone blend.
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I’ve been aware of La Gelatiera and its Victoria Arduino lever espresso machine for a little while now, ever since I visited the nearby New Row Coffee (now The Espresso Room) at the start of last year. However, what caught my eye when I was wandering by at the end of May was the sign in the window offering two espresso blends from Terrone & Co! Intrigued, I headed inside.

You wouldn’t describe La Gelatiera as big. It’s a similar size and shape to The Espresso Room (which is two doors down) with a similar layout. A rectangle, with the long side facing the street, the front is all glass, windows on the left, door on the right. Inside, the back of the store is occupied by the counter, which runs almost the full width of the store, ice cream front and centre, with the coffee tucked off to the left.

There’s a somewhat chaotic arrangement of tables for those who want to sit in. Ahead and to the left of the door is a two-person table, effectively delineating the tables (off to the left) from the queue for the counter (dead ahead).There’s a larger table in the window, another by the left-hand wall and, finally, a small one at the front on the left by the espresso machine, which, while I was there, was very hot!

There’s one more seating option. Starting about halfway along the right-hand wall and extending to beyond the end of the counter, runs a four-person bar. It’s not ideal since your back’s to the rest of the room and, typically, the queue for the counter is just behind you.

La Glelatiera’s main draw is ice cream, although if you have a sweet tooth, there’s also cake, crepes, pancakes, waffles and Kokoa Collection hot chocolate. During my visit, I counted 18 flavours, all of which you can try before you buy. I ended up with strawberry cheesecake plus apple crumble and, while I wasn’t that taken by the apple crumble, the strawberry cheesecake was amazing.

The ultimate test is the coffee. La Gelatiera moved to Terrone & Co about a year ago, serving espresso-based drinks from a standard menu. There’s a choice of two blends, the darker Guglielmo blend and the medium-roast Terrone Blend, which I tried. I had an espresso and was rewarded with a lovely, well-balanced shot, which had plenty of body, although since I’d just been gorging myself on ice cream, it was rather hard to pick out anything more subtle than that!

While there are plenty of other speciality coffee options in the area, La Gelatiera is an excellent choice if you want ice cream, etc, with your coffee (or if you want coffee with your ice cream, etc). It’s also a great late-night option, staying open until 11 o’clock in the evening.

27 NEW ROW • LONDON • WC2N 4LA
lagelatiera.co.uk +44 (0) 20 7836 9559
Monday 11:00 – 23:00 Roaster Terrone (espresso only)
Tuesday 11:00 – 23:00 Seating Tables, Bar
Wednesday 11:00 – 23:00 Food Ice Cream, Cake, Pancakes, Waffles
Thursday 11:00 – 23:00 Service Counter
Friday 11:00 – 23:30 Cards Amex, Mastercard, Visa
Saturday 11:00 – 23:30 Wifi Free (with code)
Sunday 11:00 – 23:00 Power No
Chain Local Visits 29th May 2017

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  1. Pingback: 2017 Awards – Most Unlikely Place to Find a Coffee Spot | Brian's Coffee Spot

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