All change at Caliendo’s Gelato and Camden’s Cheese Bar
Kentish Town’s smash hit (and multi award-winning) ice cream parlour has served long queues on seemingly endless hot summer days for six years. But did you know they’ve been making gelato for over 130 years in North London?
“The Caliendo family emigrated here from Naples in late 1880s,” co-owner Michelina Caliendo-Sear told us a couple of years ago, “and immediately started a business doing what they knew best, making gelato by the traditional hand-churning method and selling it to the local community in the heart of London known as ‘Little Italy’ in Clerkenwell.”
The Kentish Town shop opened in Dec 2019 four miles from where “the original Caliendos were living,” she said, “we’ve even been traced back to the 1880 census.” As well as 24 flavours – strawberries and cream, orange and licorice and fior di latte to three – they pride themselves on providing “desserts and gelato cakes, as well as croissants, French crepes, Belgian waffles and Sicilian brioches.”
And now here’s the bad news. “We’re closing our Kentish Town Road shop premises in September,” she said in an Instagram post this week, “and shifting our focus to growing our partnerships, nationwide foodservice, and our festival, weddings and special events activity.”
They’re also launching a new gelato school for professional and public courses at new production premises in Buckinghamshire in October.
“We know this will be heart-breaking for some, but it reflects how our business has evolved. We’re leaving on a high as London’s number one, and whilst we will deeply miss all our loyal customers and our quirky parlour, we are excited to be challenging ourselves again.”
The good news? At least you’ll still be able to pick up an ice cream at nearby Phoenicia Food Hall, who’ll be opening a scooping cabinet, serving Caliendo’s Gelato from September. @caliendos_gelato
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Also making changes to their business is Camden Market’s longstanding Cheese Bar (first reviewed here back in 2017), which next week morphs into Pick & Cheese, “the world’s first cheese conveyor belt restaurant.”
It follows the first Pick & Cheese outlet down at Seven Dials Market (another has also opened in Berlin). Founder and cheese connoisseur, Mathew Carver, will fire up the belt to send plate after plate whizzing round the restaurant, offering up cheese and condiment pairings including Cropwell Bishop Stilton & Kimchi, Cornish Yarg with Pea and Mint Pesto or St Ella Goat’s Cheese and Turkish Delight.
To finish? Scoops of gelato, made using fresh local British cheeses including Rosary Goats Cheese, Honey and Rosemary served with a shot of Jurancon – affogato style. And to accompany the fromage will be natural wines from small producers alongside port, craft beers and ciders. It opens on July 24th in the Stables Market. Follow @pick_and_cheese_
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Main image: thanks to @secretartistnw5
