Un Altra Volta Ice Cream
The best Helado / Gelato / Ice Cream in Buenos Aires?
Of all the ice cream parlors in Buenos Aires, Un Altra Volta in Recoleta is certainly up there in the cream of the crop. And this is in a city where the ice cream is some of the best in the world, due to the heavy Italian influence here.
Buenos Aires and the Italian Connection
In related articles reviewing Banchero Pizzeria and Caminito street, both in the ‘Italian’ barrio of La Boca, you can read more in depth history regarding the huge amounts of Italian immigration into Argentina around the turn of the 20th century. Of course, they brought with them pizza and pasta, two staples of both the diets of Italy and Buenos Aires, but also ice cream, or gelato (the version more common in Italy), the third prong of the proud Italian food triumvirate.
It has been dared to say that Un Altra Volta (known by most simply as Volta) boasts better ice cream than anywhere in Italy… though that is a bold statement. At this point, it must be clarified that Volta serves gelato, and there is a slight difference between this Italian concoction and your common ice cream or helado.
Ice Cream v. Gelato
So what is gelato anyway? Here, Buenos Aires foodie Saltshaker clears things up in his own review of Un Altra Volta:
“…the nutshell difference between gelato and ice cream…? Gelato has no air whipped into it, even top of the line premium ice creams have some, and lower quality ones have lots. Gelato does not generally contain cream, it uses whole milk, and contains more eggs. This results in a treat that is lower in fat (generally 3-6% versus ice cream’s 11-15%) but denser in texture, more intensity of flavor, and it’s served at a slightly warmer temperature to make it soft enough to scoop, yet, because of the egg versus cream thing, it doesn’t tend to drip all over as quickly.”
Note that the lower fat content in gelato makes it less filling, so you can eat a lot more, and make up for the fact that it is less fattening than regular ice cream.
Gelato from the gods
Whatever your choice of flavors, Volta does not disappoint. If you’re looking for a real taste of Buenos Aires, try the extreme sweetness of dulce de leche flavored gelato. Mix in contrasting strong flavor like chocolate amargo (dark chocolate) to balance the flavors. Both of these choices are just heavenly at Un Altra Volta.
Futuristic ice cream at Un Altra Volta
The ice cream parlor is also a fantastic place to slowly enjoy your gelato, with a very white, futuristic, clean-looking interior that makes you feel like you have been transported into the future where the secret of 100% perfect ice cream has finally been cracked.
It is also a great place for a coffee with friends, especially on a nice spring or summer day. There is always a nice mix of people there, always quite busy, with a chatty atmosphere, typical of the cafes in Recoleta. Plus, the staff are extremely courteous and attentive. And if you don’t feel like ice cream, then a nice alternative is coffee with a few of their finely crafted chocolates, which although they don’t quite reach the heights of the gelato, are certainly very tasty.
Location of Un Altra Volta
Avenida Quintana 502, Recoleta
(see website for other locations)
Reader interactions
11 Replies to “Un Altra Volta Ice Cream”
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Hi there, i have been reading your blog for a while, but never left a comment, so here it goes..
If you have the chance to trie helado El Piave, do it, i don’t know if it’s really as good as volta but it’s worth a try.
In the corner of defensa and san juan in San Telmo you can do it.
Bueno ahora en mi lengua, creo que entendes, muy buenos tus posts son muy completos pero nada aburridos. Keep up the good work.
Saludos
Hola Alfredo,
Gracias por tus comentarios 🙂
I will definitely try El Piave sometime, I have walked past is there in San Telmo quite a few times before and it is on my list of ice cream places to try (along with Chungo and a few others from Saltshaker’s list, linked above).
Thanks again for your nice words…I hope you keep reading and that I can keep entertaining you with my posts.
I´ve just found this post. Volta definitely makes one of the best, if not the best, ice cream in Buenos Aires. For me, it´s tied with Perssico, you should definitely try it out if you haven´t yet. They have a great white chocolate ice cream, and one called “crema di limone” which is a reconstruction of lemon pie, so you get creamy lemon with bits of meringue and bits of dough… ok, I´ll stop I´m getting hungry.
Oh, and both Volta and Perssico have delivery service.
Good day. By far, the best gelato/ice cream experience in my life has been with Volta. Can anyone get me the name and or email of the owner of Volta.
Thank you,
David W
Does anyone have the website for
Un Altra Volta..
thx,
David
Sorry David (not sure if both the last comments were the same person?)… this is the type of information I should try to remember to include in my blog posts.
Their website is http://www.unaltravolta.com.ar/ and their email is info@unaltravolta.com.ar – but be warned that the website is one of those annoying flash animated things!
Really, I think Altra Volta owe me some free gelato for this great PR work I’m doing for them 😉
Cheers,
Alan
would like to publish your gelato photo in a small piece in the LA Times Travel section – we would pay a space rate of $50.00 – would that be OK ??
Hi Derek,
I’d love to have my photo published in the LA Times… never had a picture I took in a paper before 🙂
I’ll send you an email now about it.
Thanks!
Alan
Agree with Marce. I think both Persicco and Volta are tied as the best gelatto in BA. You should definitely try Persicco if you haven’t! The good thing of Freddo is that, although it is not as good as Persicco or Volta, every monday it has 2×1. So what I used to to was purchase 1 kilo every other monday, and get away with an additional kilo for free 🙂
I have been to Un Altra Volta and completely agree with your review. I found another great small ice cream “parlor” Kavanagh at Las Heras 2144 in Recoleta. I am now hooked on their Dulce de Leche Tentacion and Sambayon al Marsala. If you geet to that area check it out sometime. I also like the Maracuja at Chungo located at Las Heras and Rodriguez Pena
I love your blog! I studied in Buenos Aires for four weeks and just returned and I think by far, it is the best city in South America and up there with many others in the world.
As an obsessive city-ite (I love in the NJ suburbs so not so nice) I basically became an expert on all things BA before, during and after my experience. I think that you know your stuff just as good as I do, but have you been to Persicco for gelato?
I lived in Belgrano while I was there and there was a Persicco two subway stops away by Congreso de Tucúman. I know that there are at least five in the city and one out by Pilar. I tried it for myself and found it very good. I tried Volta once but I think Persicco is much better. It is a small chain and I think there are a couple in Palermo. You have probably heard of it as whenever I even started a discussion about Gelato with a BA native, Persicco came out before I finished my sentence.
Just for my interest, what barrio do you reside in? And, are you planning on retaining citizenship in Argentina? I wouldn’t mind it!