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Australia's best gelato is made by a Chinese immigrant in Brisbane

Amy Mitchell-Whittington
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​Brisbane local Yue Lin lives for gelato. Every morning at 6am he arrives at his Hamilton gelateria to begin making a range of flavours to be offered up and devoured by his sweet-toothed patrons from 3pm.

His craftsmanship, honed since 2004 after a trip to Italy, shows after his dark chocolate gelato last week won not only the nation's best gelato, but also the grand champion dairy product (excluding cheese). 

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Best gelato in Australia

Brisbane chef Yue Lin, born in China, trained in Italy and 'crazy about gelato' takes out the grand champion award for best dairy product in Australia.

Dairy Australia awarded the 59-year-old Chinese native the grand prize, beating 470 other dairy products, including the winners of the milk, butter, cream, ice cream, yoghurt and dip categories.

Mr Lin said he was surprised by the win which, rather than see him rest on his laurels, would only encourage him to try even harder to perfect his gelato.

"I think I am only a small guy working in my shop's kitchen in the back. Not a big commercial company making gelato in the factory or a famous chef," he said.

"Winning the biggest dairy award in Australia is the biggest encouragement for me to try, and try even harder to do better, (to) make sure to continue to make high-quality gelato and continue my journey to create and refine more and more flavours that everyone would love."

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Chief judge Russell Smith said Mr Lin's dedication to his work really shone through.

"The texture of this gelato was so silky smooth... he used really high quality chocolate... it had been blended perfectly into the ice-cream base," Mr Smith said.

He has an incredible passion for his product, which you can taste, and an incredible attention to detail.

"He lives to make gelato. That is what he does."

Mr Lin said his love affair with gelato began with an ice-cream obsession as a child growing up in China.

"In China ice-cream was relatively new and very expensive and my two brothers and I would fight over it every time my parents bought us one when we do well at school," he said.

Every time when he is on the computer, he is looking on YouTube, looking at different techniques, looking at what other people are doing, other things he can invent.

Yue Lin's son Jack

"In 2004 my wife and I visited Italy and that's when I discovered and fell in love with gelato and understood the difference between gelato and ice-cream. That was when I felt making gelato would be my dream and that's when my passion of gelato began."

Gelato tends to be lower in fat than ice-cream, is served at a slightly warmer temperature that makes it silkier, and is denser thanks to a much slower churn rate that incorporates less air into the end product.

Mr Lin's son Jack can attest to his father's obsession, which saw him purchase his north Brisbane establishment in 2014, now named Milani House of Gelato, after training in Italy for months to learn the delicate, and delicious, artform.

"He is crazy about gelato believe it or not. Every time when he is on the computer, he is looking on YouTube, looking at different techniques, looking at what other people are doing, other things he can invent," he said.

"He works every single day and the only time he gets off is Monday when he gets supplies."

Mr Lin first came to Australia from China in 1990 to study but soon had to quit and work odd jobs to support his wife and son back in China.

He spent the next two decades working in hospitality, owning restaurants and take-away stores, before settling with his family in Hamilton to work on the product he loves.

"He doesn't cheapen it or try to cut corners, everything is made with high-quality ingredients, with fresh fruit, fresh milk and he does it every day," son Jack said.

"He makes it fresh every day and that is the biggest thing I think, the difference between us and other places.

"Everything is made here on site in the kitchen in the back of store by my dad by himself."

The Australian Grand Dairy Awards have been running for 18 years, with all entrants requiring a gold medal win at the yearly state qualifying competitions.

Milani House of Gelato's dark chocolate gelato took out the 2017 Grand Champion Dairy Product while Heidi Farm Raclette took out the 2017 Grand Champion Cheese Product.

For a full list of champions head to the Legendairy website.

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