'Anything but plain': The flavour that scored Wollongong gelato shop a top gong

But if the business's recent wins at the Royal Easter Show are any guide, you should sometimes consider bypassing the colourful, chocolate-laden, decadent-sounding options for plain old vanilla.

Cow and the Moon entered seven flavours in the dairy competition of the annual show, and came back with seven medals, none so prestigious as the "Champion Gelato" awarded to its Madagascan Vanilla Bean.

Owner Sam Crowl, whose family started the gelateria in Enmore in 2010, said a good vanilla gelato was anything but plain.

In the same way a margherita pizza is used to judge chefs' skills, he said making a good vanilla was the true mark of a skilled gelato maker.

"Vanilla is a beautiful flavour and it's also a showcase of the chef's skill," he said.

"People think it's plain, maybe because it's white - but it's not at all. Vanilla is not being masked by loads of caramel, or having lots of chunks of things through it.

"It's a delicate flavour and gelato in its purest form."

Mr Crowl said the secret Cow and the Moon's vanilla gelato was in the science perfected by his dad John over many years, as well as a balanced taste and the use of quality ingredients.

"With vanilla, using the best quality stuff you can get your hands on always goes a long way," he said.

"Madagascan vanilla is generally the most highly regarded vanilla, and that's what we use, and we also use a mixture of different styles - so there's vanilla bean paste, extract and the pods themselves.

"You want a nice mouth feel and you want the vanilla to shine through as its own flavour because it should be showcased."

Cow and the Moon is no stranger to winning awards: John Crowl was crowned the world's best gelato maker in 2014 for his affogato flavour with Madagascan vanilla, caramelised almonds and espresso caramel sauce, which never leaves the counter in Wollongong and Enmore.

However, Sam Crowl said entering the Royal Easter Show each year was more about honing their craft than winning.

"We sort of use it to test flavours, and to test how things are judged by by the judges," he said.

"With the flavours that we entered this year, bar vanilla, some of the those flavours are quite out there.

One of them - Cheddy Cheese and Poppy Corn - combines a sharp cheddar with sweet popcorn.

"With that flavour, dad had been talking with his friend who had had a cheese gelato which sparked my dad's interest to give it a shot," he said.

"We do an apple and wasabi, which is really lovely, and the wasabi builds on you. The good thing about gelato is that most things can work."

Mr Crowl once ate a salad at the restaurant Three Blue Ducks, which involved beetroot caramelised with balsamic vinegar with rocket and walnuts, and decided it would make a perfect gelato.

"We decided to caramelise some beetroot in balsamic, then caramelised some walnuts an we had this really bright, beautiful purple beetroot flavour," he said.

"It went really well, and it tasted really good."

At the Wollongong store, which recently celebrated one year in Crown Street Mall, the staff - who make the gelato in the kitchen on premises - are often inspired by what's on offer at the Friday markets.

"The chefs come in in the morning and they go, okay what do we want to make. We go up to the markets on Fridays in the mall and we look around and go what's tasting good," he said.

"Earlier on in the summer, we were making a yellow watermelon flavour, which we found from one of the sellers."

After a year in business, Mr Crowl said he wanted Wollongong ice cream lovers to know Cow and the Moon was sticking around, and is almost always open.

"We want people to realise that we're we're open seven days a week from early morning to late at night, every single day," he said.

"We close four days a year, and in my opinion, that's what Wollongong needs."

"We try and be the place where you can come and have a coffee with your grandma, or you can come on your first tinder date and meet someone here, or you can meet up with your uni friends or whatnot.

"Whatever it is, we're open and a place that people can enjoy for many different experiences."