CLOSED 已關門 ~ OVOV Gelato (Da’an, Taipei) | OVOV 義式手工水果冰淇淋 (台北大安)

Life is tough for ice cream shops in Taipei. Many businesses can’t sell enough ice cream to cover costs. Sadly, the delicious OVOV in Taipei’s Da’an district (one of the most expensive parts of the city) is no longer with us. Best of luck to the owners in their new endeavors!

位於忠孝敦化上場的OVOV義式手工水果冰淇淋，是個時尚氛圍中的精緻歐式冰淇淋專賣店。 小到容易錯過的OVOV，卻是大有味道!

Located in the fashionable Zhongxiao Dunhua shopping district, OVOV Gelato serves up gourmet European-style gelato in style. This tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shop pumps out some big flavour!

OVOV以外帶為主，裡面還有幾個小凳子當用餐區。店面又小又簡單，但不像一般小店的隨意氣氛，裝潢有點像葡萄酒巴，很優雅。

OVOV mainly sells ice cream to go, but it also has a few barstools so you can sit down and eat in the shop. The storefront is small and simple, but doesn’t have the casual atmosphere of a standard mini-shop. The decor reminds me a bit of an elegant wine bar.

門外的菜單寫著今天的新鮮口味。

The menu outside the door shows the flavours of the day. Today’s menu includes: mango passionfruit, mixed wildberry, kiwi, pure yogurt, lemongrass-pineapple, chili chocolate, Fererro Rocher, buttered whisky, coconut lychee, Bailey’s Irish Cream, honey lager, and feijoa (a tropical fruit I’ve never heard of before).

OVOV還有專業咖啡器材，可以來杯熱呼呼的黑咖啡配冰淇淋一起享用。

OVOV also has professional coffee machines, so you can enjoy a hot black coffee with your gelato.

$80/球的冰淇淋不算便宜，可是精品手工冰淇淋以$90/球為平均價格，所以對一般的高級冰淇淋店來說OVOV不算特別貴。

At $80 NT per scoop, OVOV is not cheap, but the average price for gourmet handmade ice cream in Taipei seems to be about $90 NT per scoop, so it’s not especially expensive, either.

每天供應的現做冰淇淋口味只有12種。質量勝於數量!

The shop only offers 12 flavours at a time. Quality over quantity!

冰淇淋都看起來好好吃，一看就知道它的口感滑順柔軟，而不是冰沙沙的。所有的口味都很吸引我，而且可以試吃，所以很難選擇! 我先試吃了香茅鳳梨口味跟辣椒巧克力口味。香茅鳳梨酸酸甜甜，很好吃，可是我覺得香茅的香味再濃一點，甜度低一點會強調此冰淇淋的特色口味，會更好吃。辣椒巧克力在台灣很難得，在西方已經蠻流行的，微辣的辣椒味道會補充濃郁黑巧克力的深沉口味，很好陪。OVOV的辣椒巧克力冰淇淋很獨特，黑巧克力的濃度特別高，吃一口，你先會吃得到深沉的，微甜的巧克力，再感覺到辣椒的暖暖辣味跟隨在後。

The gelato all looks delicious. You can tell just from looking at it that the texture is smooth and soft, not icy. All of the flavour options appealed to me, and the shop allows samples, so it was difficult to choose! First I tried the lemongrass-pineappple and chili chocolate flavours. Lemongrass-pineapple was sweet-tart and very tasty, but I felt that it would taste even better and more unique if the lemongrass flavour were a little stronger and the sweetness a little lower. The chili chocolate combination is quite unusual in Taiwan, but it’s quite popular in the West. The spicy kick of the chili is the perfect complement for the deep, warm flavours of the dark chocolate. OVOV’s chili chocolate gelato is very unique, with an especially concentrated dark chocolate base. When you take a bite you taste the bittersweet chocolate first, and the spicy chili follows after.

OVOV還有奶油威士忌口味，讓我想起白鬍子的招牌威士忌蜂蜜口味，所以我試吃了做一個比較。OVOV的奶油威士忌口味比白鬍子的甜一點，威士忌香味沒有特別明顯，沒有甚麼酒氣，比較偏黃油硬糖或焦糖口味。蜂蜜啤酒口味已經賣完了，可是剩下還夠吃一兩口，好奇心的朋友要人員幫他試吃，說它有很純粹的啤酒味。

OVOV also offers a buttered whisky flavour. It reminded me of the signature whisky honey soft-serve at Milk Beard, so I tried a sample to compare them. OVOV’s buttered whisky gelato is a little sweeter than Milk Beard’s ice cream. The whisky flavour isn’t particularly assertive, and the alcohol taste is undetectable. It’s more remeniscent of butterscotch or caramel. The honey lager gelato had already sold out, but there was a mouthful or two left in the dregs, and my friend was curious, so he asked for a sample. He said it tasted very distinctly of beer!

超愛椰奶和荔枝的我，看到了椰奶荔枝口味冰淇淋覺得很興奮，試吃了一口馬上把它買下來!

As a coconut fanatic, I was immediately excited when I saw the coconut lychee flavour. After trying a sample, I ordered it straight away!

椰奶荔枝冰淇淋口感格外好，又濃又Q，非常滑順，完全沒有果肉碎塊或冰水顆粒。味道平衡得很好。淡淡的椰奶香和新鮮荔枝的甜蜜滋味吃起來很天然。

The coconut lychee gelato had exceptionally good texture, thick and dense and silky-smooth, without any trace of fruit pulp or ice granules. The flavour is well-balanced, and the mild coconut milk and sweet lychee taste very natural.

我跟朋友幾乎試吃了OVOV當天的每一樣口味，結論居然一致，椰奶荔枝和辣椒巧克力口味都超讚的! 朋友無法兩種之中做出選擇，所以兩個都買下來了!

Between the two of us, my friend and I probably sampled every flavour in the shop, and the final conclusion was unanimous: the coconut lychee and chili chocolate flavours were the best! My friend couldn’t choose between the two, so he just bought them both!