910 Government Street,
Victoria
I like a few things about True North Gelato -- a great location, pleasant staff & adequately delicious food. But so what? I want to step down from Government Street into a truly thick and vibrant pool of refreshing Victoriana...
My Problems:
- What exactly are they up to in there? Gelato -- and crepes? And pizza??? My feeling for them is tangled rather than clear.
- The name "True North" is truly awful. It is exactly that species of non-memorable, utterly generic, insensitive faux-Canadiana throwaway term that appeals only to simple children and the least progressive among the tourist population. Why not call it "Colourful Chairs?" The seating, which looks like props from the original Star Trek was the whole reason I checked them out in the first place. In my mind they are still "that place with the colourful chairs."
- Cool seating is only a small part of a sensitive ambiance. I was put off by the faintly stale odour & the dull backround hum of machinery. This overall subtle mood was simply not an intensification of the Victoria Experience. As a tourist or a resident I am looking for any Government Street shop to be fresher, quainter, trendier, more serene, more 19th century & more 21st century -- with a strong hint of eco-wilderness and vitality.
.... instead I found myself staring at a display of wonderfully-named gelato bins that could have been rejects from a 1980s Baskin & Robbin's. The well-known problem with Gelato, of course, is that it's "not quite ice cream." Wherever it resembles ice cream it signifies its own irrelevance. To gain back that relevance it has to be "good wine" in comparison to the "beer" of ice cream.
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