Il Cafè Pasticceria Gamberini 1907 is supposed to be famous in Bologna. That’s what they all say anyway on a daily basis – same applies everywhere else! Famous for what, you might legitimately ask me? Well, do I look like an Italian to you? : ) If the locals say I should follow their guidance & venture in to try, I’ll happily oblige. Especially this being my 1st time here in this city! But at the end of the day being Authentic is not necessarily a guarantee, as the world constantly evolves. Gamberini is one of the rare encounters which gave me enough satisfaction from their high dessert quality as well as the equal disappointment from their coffee quality. My mind still remains divided to this day as I write, as I do believe Dessert and Coffee should go hand-in-hand with one another. And this has already taken into consideration the generally far higher coffee quality to be found here within Bologna than elsewhere in other parts of Europe!
The Dessert Selections are very tempting..
I love sweets. I wish I could gobble down them all..
More Sweets and La mignon selections ..
Wait, there’s still more La mignon selections!
Barista -
He is both the Bar Tender and the Coffee Maker.
That’s what the original Barista term means, apparently..
Un Caffe -
A Single Espresso, was the darkest and broodiest & most bitter cup I remembered tasting up North here. It’s even more bitter than most of the ones I drank in Rome and is completely the opposite of every other cup of coffee I had within Bologna, or I could safely claim it as the worst! This would make Southern Italians cringe even with sugar added.
Do I sound ‘bitter’ towards this cup lol? You bet! Disappointing ~ 3/10
Rum Baba -
This on the other hand, was completely spot on and exactly what I’d remembered it to be like, whether it be the French traditional or Italian adaptations. The spongy cake had the correct sporous and cake-like texture, the amount of Rum and Syrup coating was perfectly juggled. I’m going to apologise first - this is and has probably always been what a Rum Baba really ought to taste like from the beginning. Except I am lost for words to describe and explain ‘technically’ how or why this to be the case. I wish I could put it into words! 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo’s elegant version came close, but still wasn’t the real deal. The crustily hard and very dry version served at Grand Hyatt Steakhouse in comparison was completely laughable & totally irrelevant to compare. The now defunct GVSTO’s version came close, still but lacked the right flavours. I still miss this Rum Baba to this day, it was that good… 
Nice Pasticceria -
If only they could fix up the obviously Southern Italian style coffee,
which is more hardcore than down South itself !
Price: €4,00 (Bargain)
Dessert: ♕♕♕♕♕
Coffee: ♕♕
Address: Via Ugo Bassi, 12 - 40121 - Bologna
Tel.: 051 2960467
your posts on Bologna inspired me to put her on the list to the don't-know-when Italy trip, love the coffee seen there and desserts!
ReplyDeleteDear Adel, yes I was surprised at the quality here too and the crowd are much more warmer and classier even - I think spending 2 days or so here is not such a bad idea, away from the more touristy places like Milan and Rome just for a few days.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Firenze is not very far from here as well, think a lot of tourists were going there for leather goods shopping? not sure! The coffee's and desserts here are very good indeed! : )