My wife and I arrived in Salerno the previous evening to commence our 3 week vacation in Italy and France. After a huge sleep-in to get over our jet lag we hit the road with a bounce in our step on Wednesday morning to explore beautiful Salerno. FIRST UP ! We enjoyed a fabulous breakfast at Caffe dell’Arechi on Corso Vittorio Emanuele ( the huge pedestrian mall that runs through the middle of downtown Salerno ). As we were leaving I asked the guy behind the counter. . . where can we get great desserts ? Mr Whippy was his surprising reply. WHY ? Well when I was a young kid growing up in Brisbane, Qld back in Australia Mr Whippy was an ice cream van that patrolled our neighborhood every Sunday for years.
A loud speaker would be play an old English folk song ( Greensleeves ) and the owner / driver would sell soft serve ice cream in wafer cones. My younger brother and sister would run out with me to the sidewalk to wait our turn. WE LOVED IT ! My wife and I headed off ( with dessert at Mr Whippy on the brain ) to continue our discovery of Salerno stopping to look at lots of retail stores and eventuality having some delicious Arancini for a late lunch at Pizzeria Giagiu. DESSERT ! Salerno is a fun coastal city to navigate and we found our way to Mr Whippy without much trouble. HOLY COW ! There were a bunch of people sitting on their outdoor patio munching away at delicious looking desserts.
We went inside and a young lady named Karen behind the counter welcomed us. MORE DESSERT CHOICES THAN YOU COULD IMAGINE ! Karen offered us samples of their gelato . . a kind of soft serve variety. It was smooth and creamy but we wanted more decadence. AND THEN ! We spotted a bunch of chocolate coated gelato bars in a refrigerated display cabinet. My wife selected a SNICKERS BAR and I went with a BOUNTY BAR. We paid and found a table on the patio to enjoy our incredible desserts. TOTALLY DELICIOUS ! Never before have we enjoyed anything as deliciously decadent as our chocolate coated gelato desserts. The desserts were too good to be true. WE WANTED MORE !
We decided to buy something else to take back to our apartment. THE STORY ! So I told Karen my childhood story about Mr Whippy and how surprised we were to find a gourmet dessert shop in Salerno, Italy named Mr Whippy. Karen explained that the owner once visited Australia and saw a Mr Whippy van. HA HA ! We selected 2 amazing looking desserts . . . Sette Sensi and Tropical. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that we had them for dessert after a fabulous dinner at our apartment. They contained the creamiest mousse we have ever enjoyed . . . heavenly desserts ! Oh and Karen gave us a great tip before we left Mr Whippy . . . the pizza at Don Antonio 1970 is fabulous. AND IT WAS !
