Local ice cream legend, Ottorino Pace, returned triumphant to Lygon Street from Italy earlier this month, with an international award for his sensational mango and passionfruit gelato.
Otto, who owns Lygon Street’s renowned Casa del Gelato, competed in the annual SIGEP exhibition for the first time, winning first prize in the “1000 ideas for a new flavour” competition for his exquisite gelato.
Sigep is the largest professional trade fair in the world dedicated to ice-cream, confectionary and bakery supplies. The exhibition, now in its 29th year, showcases and rewards the world's best in these sectors. For Otto, winning this prestigious award meant recognition of a life time’s devotion and dedication to creating the world’s best ice-cream.
Otto says : “Many of the new, modern ice-creameries use pre-mix formulas to make their ice-cream and this results in the standardisation of flavours. I do not use pre-mixes and customise my recipes to ensure the perfect combination of cream, sugar and fruit in every flavour.”
Otto’s lifelong passion for ice-cream began when he was just 15, working as an apprentice pastry chief in Sicily, Italy. He emigrated to Melbourne in 1960 and, after working as a pastry chief for two years, he opened his own cake shop with gelato as a seasonal offering. His love of ice-cream, however, caused him to dedicate his new shop purely to Italian gelato, and on the 11th of November 1980, Casa del Gelato was born.
Located in vibrant Lygon Street, Casa del Gelato is Melbourne’s longest standing Italian ice-cream boutique. Otto continues : “In the early days most of my customers were Italian immigrants, in search of a familiar taste from home. There was no other place to buy a gelato in Australia back in the 1980’s. I recognised the opportunity and wanted to create exquisite and flavoursome ice-creams by using Australian fresh fruits and quality produce.”
For media enquires please contact:
Cairin Conway at Pesel & Carr on 03 9663 0886; Mobile: 0406 524 562 cairin.conway@peselandcarr.com.au or
Christine Bolt at Pesel & Carr on 03 9484 3803; Mobile: 0411 135 316 christine.bolt@peselandcarr.com.au
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