Watch this space evolve into OVO Gelato, bringing gelati, coffee and bagel options to Ebenezer.

The East End is filled with cafés that close at 2:30pm, and late night wine spots that don’t open until 4pm. According to OVO Gelato co-owners, John Milky and Gaby Saleh, there is nothing that fits right between those two timeslots.

“I feel like there’s more and more happening in the East End — you’ve always got the wine bars, you’ve now got Enzo’s new store,” John says.

“There’s a lot of dinner places in the area, but then what’s the offering after dinner — there’s not that much besides maybe a wine bar. That’s why we think it’s the perfect fit.”

Both John and Gaby knew they wanted to expand their allergy-friendly dessert offering, but would only jump for the perfect location, which fortunately resulted in Delicia’s previous corner spot at Ebenezer.

“On our day off and stuff, we do spend our time around this end of the city, and I would always walk past [and] we’d go to Mother Vine for drinks after dinner or something,” John says.

“You know how cool it would be if we had a gelati bar along this strip? There was always an idea if we found the right spot.”

Some OVO goodness. This picture: Johnny von Einem.

Although the gelati offering will not change at the Ebenezer store, the East End OVO will bring more daytime traffic, meaning more day time focuses and inclusions.

“We’re doing a series of savoury, and maybe one or two sweet versions of a bagel,” John says.

“There’s heaps of office people in the area… there’s that option of a quick grab and go.

“That way we’re utilising this space because it’s going to be a very pretty space, so why just open from midday onwards? Why not open up earlier?”

As John told us last year when opening his first store at Newton, OVO Gelato prides itself on having options for everybody and offers a vast variety of gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan and keto-friendly gelati choices.

“Let’s do the classic gelati, [we] have that, but what else can we offer?” John says.

“That’s when we started working recipes on vegan base and not always just sorbet as the vegan option – we’ve got alternative milk based gelati.”

“So you have the traditional which is full of cream, full of sugar, really nice, authentic flavours… we wanted to keep that aspect of that. But how can we elevate it?” Gaby continues.

The OVO favourites include hazelnut — adults and kids both love it equally John says —  but the signature flavour is their spiced pear gelati.

“I try and explain to people like ‘What does [spiced pear gelati] taste like?’ I used apple pie as an example because it’s got that nice, rich cinnamon flavour,” John says.

The new shop’s interiors will mirror the creamy palette of the Newton OVO but with a few extra urban additions.

“We’ve kept concrete at the floor, and then like raw aluminium, there’s going to be natural timbers, Travertine as a natural stone,” John says.

“It’s simple materiality selections, but making sure they’re all really complimenting each other.”

With talk of already opening a third store, John and Gabby plan to make all of their gelati at the Newton hub, keeping each recipe consistent.

“We realised if we’re going to try to [make gelati] everywhere else and have a different chef, even though it’s the same recipe, it’s not going to be the same,” Gaby says.

“We want it to be very consistent in the way that whatever store you go to, you’re still getting the same flavour.”

OVO Gelato at Ebenezer is slated to open in November.

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