This tiny gelato shop in the ’burbs proves Melbourne’s lickability rating is rising
Over the years, the big gelati brands have opened more branches and there are many cool new players on the scene, but Luna Blu has become more special for staying small.
Italian$
I’m all for education and fully support the training of medical professionals, childcare specialists and engineers: there’s no denying they do important work. But I’m not sure a society can truly say it cares about the welfare of its people unless it has a dedicated Gelato University, as they do in Bologna, Italy.
That’s where Luna Blu’s Asha Lourie and Daniel Shaw trained in the ins and outs of joyful scooping, in a three-week intensive that covered theory, hands-on practice and endless critical tasting. Armed with knowledge, fired with a passion for the frozen, they opened Luna Blu in October 2020, building community over the following year of five-kilometre lockdowns and necessary slivers of delight.
When they met a decade ago, Lourie had studied social work, Shaw was a carpenter. Gelato was a shared passion, however, and they spent their down time cycling around Melbourne, surveying the landscape by cup and cone.
It was an exciting era: star players Pidapipo and Gelato Messina opened in 2013 and Piccolina in 2015, with the new wave focusing on quality ingredients, artisan traditions and a range of classic and cray-cray flavours. It was a fertile time to pedal, ponder pistachio paste, and dream.
Over the years, the big brands have opened more branches and there are many cool new players (special hello to Kariton and Kori) but Luna Blu has become more special for staying small. The shop – built by Shaw – is tiny, with a counter and kitchen inside and a few tables on the pavement.
Everything is made on site, with gelato and sorbet churned daily. Chief creator Asha is on deck most of the time. That might be her cracking free-range Green Eggs or pouring local St David Dairy milk and cream for the rich, smooth gelato.
Or that could be Asha walking in with armfuls of mint and basil from her home garden, spilling with inspiration for a new flavour.
Recent creations include a summer-ready watermelon, strawberry and mint sorbet, and a sophisticated herbaceous scoop of olive oil and basil.
You may also see Asha arriving with a crate of strawberries, selected for sweetness from a Carnegie fruiterer that always seems to have the ripest, fruitiest berries. They’ll be cooked down to syrupy collapse to craft the signature (and my favourite) roasted strawberry gelato.
Bringing the dog? Luna Blu makes a paw-shaped treat of frozen yoghurt, peanut butter and banana.
Does Luna Blu make the best gelato in Melbourne? That’s for you to decide through your own assiduous research, one happy scoop at a time.
And should your adventures turn to obsession, William Angliss Institute offers short courses by Italian gelato masters Carpigiani, founders of Bologna’s uni.
Melbourne has always ranked highly in livability; our lickability rating is on the climb too.
Dani Valent is a food writer and restaurant reviewer.