Who eats chocolate in summer? Very few people who I know. It's not just that chocolate bars melt in seconds: The taste can seem too heavy and the texture too cloying. It simply doesn't seem to suit Japan's muggy heat. But there's one exception to that rule I'll gladly and frequently make — when the chocolate comes in gelato form.
Obviously, ice cream of any stripe hits the spot at this time of year. But chocolate is always my go-to first-choice flavor, precisely because I'm not getting that cacao hit in any other form. And the darker and richer the flavor, the more I love it.
That's the way they make it at Gelateria Marghera. Tokyo's latest temple to the Italian art of artisan ice cream opened a couple of weeks ago in the backstreets of affluent Azabu-Juban. It's the first overseas branch of one of Milan's most popular gelato shops. And it looks just as stylish as you'd expect from that capital of fashion and design, with pastel shades on the walls and the staff sporting chic black berets.