Rita's Italian Ice: Gelati, Frozen Drink, and more!

Rita's Italian Ice

Frozen custard? Italian ice? Even though our tropical climate frequently calls for refreshing desserts or drinks, say anything cold or with ice, frozen custard and Italian ice are new to me. In fact, I only got to know about them when I went to the fifth and newest branch of Rita's Italian Ice at SM Mall of Asia for its Grand Opening last June 10, 2017.


Ice. Custard. Happiness.	Rita's Italian Ice Grand Opening

Rita's Italian Ice is the largest Italian ice and frozen custard concept in the world, and currently the first and only concept of its kind in the Philippines. Aside from SM Mall of Asia, the other four branches are in: Alabang Town Center, Greenhills (temporarily closed due to mall renovation), UP Town Center, and SM North EDSA The Block. Though in the U.S., there are already over 600 stores.

Main Products

Here at Rita's, all the products are a variation or a combination of Italian Ice and/or Frozen Custard.

Italian Ice (regular - 100Php, large - 125Php, quart - 250Php)

Refreshing, smooth, and made fresh daily

Italian Ice

If you prefer a simple iced treat, there are several yummy and interesting Italian Ice flavors that will surely fulfill whatever you're craving for. When I went there, the following flavors were available:

Mango
Cherry
Passion Fruit
Blue Berry
Lemon Cooler
Green Apple
Sugar-free Pink Lemonade
Sugar-free Tangerine
S'mores
Iced Coffee
Green Tea
Cookies N' Cream
Chocolate Chocolate Chip
Berry Blue
Cotton Candy
Sour Patch Kids Red

So if you long for something fruity, chocolate-y, or even sugar-free, there's an Italian Ice for you!

Frozen Custard (regular cup/cone - 165Php, large cup/cone - 200Php)

Award-winning, creamy, and delicious

Frozen Custard

I am familiar with custard as I always see it in pastries or cakes. But when I saw the Frozen Custard offered by Rita's, I somehow cannot relate it to the usual custard that I know of. So I thought, "We now have frozen yogurt when we only have yogurt before. So frozen custard, why not?"

Frozen Custard flavors

For the Frozen Custard, I am not sure if these are the only flavors they have or if it varies from time to time. But available flavors at that time were:

Vanilla
Chocolate
Vanilla-Chocolate Twist
Cheesecake
Coffee
Cheesecake-Coffee Twist

Aside from the cup/cone, Frozen Custard can also be served in a waffle cone, sundae dish, or sundae waffle bowl all available both in regular and large sizes.

Gelati (regular - 170Php, large - 190Php)

Italian ice layered with frozen custard

Gelati

For Rita's first timers like me, I would recommend to try the Gelati. As the frozen custard is placed on top of the Italian ice, you still get to taste the custard and the ice separately, instead of buying an order of Italian ice and an order of frozen custard. Then later on, if you feel like combining the two, you may do so. Regular size is good enough for me, or can even be shared.

Mango Italian Ice with Almonds layered with Vanilla Frozen Custard

I had one of the best sellers -- Vanilla Frozen Custard, Mango Italian Ice, Almond toppings. Vanilla custard is very similar to sundae versus the familiar custard that I know. I love its vanilla flavor, the creaminess, and if I have to compare it with sundae, I would say frozen custard has a bit more depth. Is it because of the egg? For the Mango ice, you can really taste its "mango-ness", not overly sweet nor overly done. The ice is crushed so finely and smooth, even so, it does not melt that easily. It has almond "toppings" which isn't exactly at the top but more of mixed inside the mango ice. I also love these caramelized almonds that give texture and chewiness to this fine, smooth, and creamy Gelati. I enjoyed this combination overall.

Frozen Drink (regular - 120Php, large - 140Php)

Italian ice swirled into the ultimate thirst quencher. Choose 1 or 2 ice flavors

Frozen Drink

For the Frozen Drink, I tasted the Lemon Cooler which is one of the premium frozen drinks. Other upcoming flavors include: Green Apple Quencher, Almond Lychee Delight, Kiwi Slush, Pineapple Splash, Pineapple Pear Refresher, and Mango Watermelon Freeze.

Lemon Cooler is a combination of lemon, guyabano, and cucumber though the taste is very similar to the common lemonade cucumber drink. I didn't know there was guyabano in it so I didn't put more attention to distinguish the guyabano taste. But what was noticeable is that there were shredded bits of cucumber skin which made me think that real fruits were crushed and blended to make this. Although this Lemon Cooler is a bit sweet to my liking, I still find it refreshing and energizing!

Lemon Cooler

Other interesting product that I'll try soon when I go back to Rita's is the Blendini. It consists of Italian ice, frozen custard, choice of topping -- all blended together. But what's new is that you can also choose a core filling (hot fudge, peanut butter, caramel, strawberry) to make your Blendini extra special.

Stuffed Blendini

I'm glad I was able to get a taste of this new dessert/drink concept (well at least new for me) from Rita's Italian Ice. It's something that even though rainy days are coming, I would still want and enjoy!