Bella Gelateria has always been one of my favourite gelato shops. It’s pricey, but their handmade gelatos are always worth it. For the Hot Chocolate Festival this year, they offered a “Hot ChocolatO.” It essentially meant that the hot chocolate were flavoured by a ‘gBar’, which is a frozen gelato on a popsicle stick. We chose the Black Magic, which comes with a Black Seasame & Matcha Green Tea gBar and a 85% & White Hot Chocolate.

The pairing also came with a slice of Banana Bread. You could actually taste the richness of the chocolate in the drink, and apparently you are supposed to stir your gelato in your drink, but I ate it on its own. I loved the sesame in the gbar, although I found that it overpowered the matcha flavour. Again, the gelato was extremely smooth. The banana bread was also a very nice treat to go with the drink. It’s made by a local called Erin Ireland, and it consists of roasted macadamia nuts, Callebaut milk chocolate, olive oil and organic bananas. All this was for $7.50, which is decent considering the amount of hot chocolate you get and the extra treats on the side.