When one thinks of gelato, one thinks Italy. But at Kariton, the Melbourne-born brand now in Molito, Alabang, the compass points firmly to the Philippines. Kariton, Tagalog for “cart," honors the sorbeteros who shaped Filipino ice cream. “Dirty” ice cream, once dismissed, has been reclaimed as a badge of ingenuity. Rooted in hand-cranked traditions that birthed halo-halo, buko pandan, queso, and ube, Kariton steers gelato towards a distinctly Filipino canon. Think champorado, San Fernando’s LBS cheese bread, or pili nut butter & jam in creamy scoops--nostalgic flavors executed with fine-dining discipline. Kariton itself was a result of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and resilience. Born in Melbourne’s hard lockdown, when restaurants went dark and chefs Minh Duong (of Maha Melbourne) and John Rivera (formerly of Lûmé, and who founded acclaimed Askal Melbourne), found themselves abruptly idle. They resolved to make something that, as Duong put it, “makes people happy,” at a moment when..
