A cool scoop of Turkish culture has arrived in Long Beach with the opening of a new ice cream shop where authentic flavors meet a bit of showmanship. Galata Ice Cream and Desserts is a new Turkish ice cream shop that will hold its grand opening on Saturday, May 25 in Long Beach’s Belmont Shore neighborhood. “It’s the ice cream of the Turkish people.
For more than a thousand years we’ve made it. We only use original cow milk and goat milk and we never use gelatin or chemicals, it’s all original,” said Akin Gulec, the manager of the shop. The ice cream shop joins three other Turkish businesses on Second Street ; Galata Turkish Halal Grill, which is two doors down, and a Turkish lamp store called Istanbul Home, located next door.
With its corner location and bright pink exterior, the ice cream shop is also likely to be a standout in the neighborhood, especially for those that want to try a style of ice cream that has centuries of tradition behind it. Known as Dondurma, Turkish ice cream is a centuries-old tradition that hails from Maras, Turkey. It’s unique because it’s made with salep flour, which comes from an orchid that’s grown in the Levant region of the Mediterranean.
This gives it a uniquely thick and chewy texture which makes it melt more slowly than traditional ice cream and it will not give you a brain freeze even if you take a big bite. Pedestrians pass Galata Ice Cream and Desserts, which sits next to a Turkish restaurant and a gift shop specializin.
