Pagoto filled with Greek flavour

Pagoto (Greek for ice-cream) is a popular Australian gelato bar with delicious, unique and taste bud pleasing flavours.

With its flagship store opening in Sydney’s inner-west suburb of Marrickville, owners Chris Felemegas and Con Skouras’ dream was to launch a gelato bar with products that were Greek influenced.

In a short period Pagoto boomed and expanded to also include store locations in Melbourne and Brisbane.

The amazingly drooling selection of gelato includes flavours such as Amigdalota (almond biscuits) Kourabiedes (sugar coated short-bread), Diples (honey rolls) and Ouzo (Greek spirit) to name a few and products from Greece are used in the production process.

With over a hundred flavours on rotation and thirty-plus window displayed at a time, you would need to visit Pagoto on a few occasions to try all the different and unique varieties on offer.

However, it’s not just luscious ice-cream that Pagoto offers- their waffles, Portioli bean coffee, Freddocino, Greek coffee and Frappes are also just as amazing and popular with customers.

GCT had a chat to worker, and son of Chris Skouras, Arthur about their concept and Greek influence on their gelato.

Where did the idea of Pagoto come from?

 The idea basically originated from two gentlemen who wanted to get into the gelato scene. Chris did have experience in making gelato in the past and Con had a few ideas that he proposed to Chris and together they joined forces and created Pagoto.

How do you come up with ideas for flavours?

 The ideas for the flavours are basically trial and error. We have the classics like salted caramel and chocolate, and then we used our Greek background to transform the Greek desserts into gelato.

What are the top three flavours requested?

That’s hard, I’d say Baklava (filo pastry with nuts and honey), smashed Pavlova, and watermelon and Feta.

What do you think sets Pagoto apart from other ice-cream companies such as Gelato Messina or Ben and Jerry’s?

 I guess we probably stand out due to the unique flavours. You won’t go to Gelato Messina and find Kataifi (almond and walnut pastry) or Mastixa (Greek liquor with mastic aroma). It’s the thought that’s behind different flavours and trying to bring something new to the public. As well as the set out of the shop- it’s something more unique and different to other gelato bars. We’ve got a funky warehouse style store with rustic décor including jet engine lamps and graffiti.

Are most of your customers that come through the store Greek?

 A lot of our main supporters are Greek, but we do get a lot of other nationalities, which is great. Of course everyone is open and excited about trying our flavours even if they aren't Greek and we have grown to see a lot of foreign nationalities really enjoying the Greek flavours.

Also on the menu are waffles, what is the most popular flavour there?

We have 8 different set menu flavours. They are nice, hot, crispy and filing- all served with a scoop of gelato of your choice. I would say the most popular one would be the Nutella, banana and strawberries, as well as the smashed Pavlova gelato, strawberries, passionfruit sauce and meringue.

Are there any new flavours that will be released soon?

Yes, we have a lot of flavours that we have been thinking of during the winter time and they will be coming into summer.

What are your hopes for Pagoto in the future?

Our hope would be to expand and try to be in as many areas as possible, so everyone can be in close proximity to freshly made gelato. And obviously not just areas in Sydney, maybe expand in different states, we are looking for other spots, anyone that wants to jump on board, the time is now as we are open to franchising.

*All images by Riccardo Raiti www.riccardoraiti.com