Like many Sydneysiders, I discovered Cow and the Moon when it took out the Gelato World Tour title for their almond affogato flavour in 2014. Unlike many Sydneysiders (if the queues outside Cow and the Moon are any indication), though, I only managed to visit some eighteen months later. I visit in the late afternoon, which seemed to be the perfect time to beat their evening rush.
2016
From N’s tales of her frequent visits, I have my heart set on lime in coconut and green apple and wasabi. Unfortunately, they had neither flavour available on the day I visited. I was disappointed, but had time to kill in the area, so I take some time to choose from the other 25 flavours available.
I settle for mandarin and blood orange in a small cup ($5.50). Both flavours are refreshing as expected from citrus flavours. The mandarin captured the sweeter, punchier notes, while the the blood orange captured the more bitter and more sour notes, that distinguish both from orange. The mandarin reminds me of the one at Gelato Messina, while the blood orange here is slightly sweeter than the sharper notes of the version at Gelato Messina. At $5.50 for two flavours, though, Cow and the Moon is the more affordable gelateria without sacrificing quality.
2017
The thing with Cow and the Moon is I never visit when their apple & wasabi flavour was available. Thankfully, they did have lime which I’d wanted to try on an earlier visit.
So, here with have lime and watermelon in a small cup ($6.00). The lime is one of the best lime sorbets, packing a punch with its zesty lime flavour that’s taken just to the brink before it becomes too sour or too bitter, and balanced with just the right amount of sweetness. The watermelon has the refreshing sweetness of watermelon, although there’s a brief syrupy taste in the finish. This is one of the few watermelon flavoured gelatos I’ve tried that doesn’t taste like candy, although I prefer the addition of mint at La Mama del Gelato Anita.
I mentioned earlier that $5.50 for two flavours made Cow and the Moon one of the most affordable gelaterias in Sydney. Alas, they’ve since increased the price. They’re still one of the more affordable, although this price increase has moved it even further away from Hakiki Turkish Ice Cream down the road.
2018
With ice cream parlours, I attempt to hold off posting single flavours immediately after trying them in the hopes that I’ll return in the near future to provide a more substantial post. But Enmore is out of the way, so I’ve yet to be back to Cow and the Moon in the six months since my visit in December 2017. So, this will have to do.
We’ve had the mandarin sorbet before, but the blood peach sorbet was something new to us ($6.00 for a small cup). N and I were confused about ‘blood peach’ – was it a type of peach? was it a mix of blood orange and peach? – and it turns out it’s the former. It’s a large peach with a tough scarlet skin similar to a beet and flesh of a yellow colour streaked with red, and a firmer texture when ripe.
The blood peach is firm but not icy, which is a result of the fruit having a firmer texture when ripe compared to other peaches. There’s a bright fresh peach flavour against a subtle and enjoyable background of sweet red berries. We’d return for this.
2023
It’s been over four years since our last visit to Cow and the Moon in Enmore. We were hoping to find new flavours developed in the years since our last visit, but that was not the case and it’s been a good seven years since their last award in 2016.
Cherrymania. With cherry sauce and crushed chocolate rippled through a vanilla ice cream base, D had hopes that this would taste something like a black forest cake. The initial cherry flavour from the sauce itself tasted artificial — something reminiscent of a cherry-flavoured Starburst candy — although bites that chanced upon some cherry flesh did give a salivatingly tart sour cherry flavour that cut through the sweetness of the gelato well. Similarly, the bites that chanced upon a more sizeable chunk of chocolate delivered a rich, slightly bitter layer of flavour and texture.
Mixed Berries. This one had a rich berry flavour with flecks of berry skin that give a hint of brighter acidity to recall the fresh berries. The precise berries used were difficult to identify but this was a refreshing ice cream with a balanced sweetness and acidity.
With more accessible gelaterias that have more seasonal and innovative flavours like Rivareno and Ice Kirin Bar, it’ll likely be another few years until our next visit, if at all.
Cow and the Moon is located at 181 Enmore Rd, Enmore NSW 2042.