Avenida Santa Fe 1826 (near corner with Av. Callao), Recoleta

The best Ice Cream / Helado / Gelato in Buenos Aires?

Out of all the ice cream parlors I have tried in Buenos Aires, Un Altra Volta in Recoleta is certainly the best quality so far. And this is in a city where the ice cream is some of the best in the world, due to the heavy Italian influence here.

Perhaps these sentences and the mouthwatering picture above are enough for you to decide to visit Un Altra Volta for a scoop or two of icy heaven. You won’t regret it. But if you enjoy a little background info and my verbose ramblings, by all means read on!

Buenos Aires, the Italian Connection, and Ice Cream

In a couple of recent blog posts, about the Banchero Pizzeria and Caminito street, both in the ‘Italian’ barrio of La Boca, I have probably bored you all to death with veritable essays regarding the huge amounts of Italian immigration into Argentina around the turn of the 20th century. Of course, they brought with them Pizza and Pasta, two staples of both the diets of Italy and Buenos Aires, but also Ice Cream, or Gelato (the version more common in Italy), the third prong of the proud Italian food triumvirate.

When I was in Italy during 2005, I fell in love with the ice cream / gelato, trying several places in Florence and Rome, each one better than the last. But Italy is famous for this, and Buenos Aires is not, so when I came to BA I was not expecting much in this area, or even thinking about it.

Well, think again. The first place I tried ice cream in Buenos Aires was in the ubiquitous Freddo chain, and that was fabulous, up there with many of the places I had been to in Italy. I stuck with that place for a while, as I like to keep on with what I know is a good thing. Then one day, I stumbled across Un Altra Volta, and have never been back to Freddo since! This place seriously has better ice cream than anywhere I tasted in Italy. Although I should probably say gelato, because there is a slight difference between this glorious Italian concoction and your common ice cream or helado, and gelato is what Un Altra Volta offer…

What is Gelato anyway?

At this point, I will turn to people that know food far better than I do. It is their profession, after all. First up, Buenos Aires foodie Saltshaker says in his own review of Un Altra Volta…

“…the nutshell difference between gelato and ice cream…? Gelato has no air whipped into it, even top of the line premium ice creams have some, and lower quality ones have lots. Gelato does not generally contain cream, it uses whole milk, and contains more eggs. This results in a treat that is lower in fat (generally 3-6% versus ice cream’s 11-15%) but denser in texture, more intensity of flavor, and it’s served at a slightly warmer temperature to make it soft enough to scoop, yet, because of the egg versus cream thing, it doesn’t tend to drip all over as quickly.”

For the record, Saltshaker also has an excellent page dedicated to an overview of Ice Cream Parlors in Buenos Aires.

Another famous (in the blogosphere) Buenos Aires foodie, La Otra Dimension, adds the following about the difference of gelato…

“…gelato flavours are often wonderfully intense thanks two factors. First of all, gelato has a lower fat content than ice cream; and fat, by nature, coats our tastebuds and dulls our perception of flavour. More importantly, gelato is made with a much higher proportion of fresh and natural flavouring agents such as ripe fruits or nuts.”

She also adds that the lower fat content in gelato makes it less filling, so you can eat a lot more, and make up for the fact that it is less fattening than helado / ice cream!
Already, as I write this, I’m wishing I was at Un Altra Volta…

Gelato from the gods

Whenever I go for ice cream in Buenos Aires, I almost always have the same two flavors, which also helps with making a fair comparison between the different parlors. I like intensity, so I choose the extreme sweetness of dulce de leche (something of an addiction for me since I came to BA), and the contrasting strong flavor of chocolate amargo, or dark / bitter chocolate. Both of these choices are just heavenly at Un Altra Volta.

The dulce de leche actually tastes more like dulce de leche than the actual stuff does, if that is possible. And yet it does so without the slightly cloying after-taste you can get from over indulging in it; in fact, the dulce de leche gelato here is almost refreshing!

Meanwhile, the chocolate amargo has an intensely strong, bitter chocolate taste that I just can’t get enough of. Again, I find myself preferring it in this form to real dark chocolate, which I am also slightly addicted to. And both flavors have a great texture that feels just perfect on your tongue.
All in all, fabulous ice cream….gelato…just amazing, whatever you call it.

Futuristic ice cream at Un Altra Volta

The ice cream parlor is also a fantastic place to slowly enjoy your gelato, with a very white, futuristic, clean-looking interior that makes you feel like you have been transported into the future where the secret of 100% perfect ice cream has finally been cracked. Well, this is not the future, this is the present, in Buenos Aires, and perfect ice cream is already here at Un Altra Volta!

It is also a great place for a coffee with friends, especially on a nice spring or summer day when you can sit out in the lovely shaded patio at the back. There seems like there is a nice mix of people there, always quite busy, with a chatty atmosphere, and lots of eye candy to look at for both sexes, as is often the case in Recoleta. Plus, the staff are extremely courteous and attentive. And if you don’t feel like ice cream, then a nice alternative is coffee with a few of their finely crafted chocolates, which although they don’t quite reach the heights of the gelato, are certainly very tasty.

Un Altra Volta: The Verdict

• Service: (4/5) The counter staff will happily let you have a taste of different flavors if you ask, and the cafe waiters at the back are extremely courteous.
• Food: (5/5) The first 5 rating I have given in my ‘dining guide‘ on this blog, and it is for ice cream! It might say something about my sweet tooth, but Un Altra Volta really just is that good, and one of my favorite things about Buenos Aires.
• Atmosphere: (4/5) The nicely designed seating area is always fairly busy with a range of old and young people alike, enjoying the heavenly gelato or chatting over a coffee.
• Value: (4/5) At 7.50 pesos for the cuarto (quarter kilo) or 7 pesos for a cucurucho (cone), it is slightly cheaper than many inferior ice cream parlors in Buenos Aires. But even if it was twice the cost, I’d still go back to Un Altra Volta.

Buenos Aires Travel Guide Special Tip

Coming from Britain, I had always connected eating ice cream out somewhere with the ice cream cone. It was just natural…we never knew any better in England. When I first came to Buenos Aires, I did the same by instinct. Only after my first cuarto (quarter kilo, in a tub) did I realise where I had been going wrong all this time. When I go for ice cream, I want ice cream, not wafer! For me, it is a far more satisfying experience when great gelato like this is on offer to go for the ice cream solo - a wafer cone is just a distraction, and without it, you get more ice cream for your money! My advice: eschew the cucurucho (cone), and go for the purists choice, a full cuarto kilo of some of the best ice cream you’ll ever taste…

Tour del Gelato - discovering the world’s best gelato.