It’s a Friday night in Concord and dozens of people are wandering down Majors Bay Road with cones of pistachio-encrusted ice-cream from BuBooza, the new Levantine-style ice creamery inside Shareef’s Shawarma Social House.

It’s the kind of ice-cream that isn’t easy to find in Sydney: creamy and chewy, made from dairy milk, mastic (tree resin) and sahlab (orchid flour). The signature flavour is “ashta” – decadent cream sweetened with orange blossom and rosewater.

BuBooza opened inside the 1960s themed Lebanese diner in December, but co-founder Abu Hassan has made traditional booza in Tripoli since 1973. It was there he met customer and Sydney business partner David Isaac, who “fell in love with his character and his ice-cream”.

Hassan made the tough call to close his booza shop and join family in Australia last year, as conflict escalated across the Middle East. With Isaac’s help, Hassan is starting again. And, quietly, Isaac thinks the booza might have become better since integrating Australian produce.

The pair have plans to open their flagship store this year.

Scoop of choice: Ashta rolled in pistachio nuts

61 Majors Bay Road, Concord, instagram.com/buboozaicecream

Here are four other new ice-cream and gelato shops to add your dessert list for the last weeks of summer.

Luca & Luca, Bondi Beach

Legendary Bondi cafe Harrys is known for making a great coffee, and more recently, a great iced matcha. Both will be transformed into gelato flavours at Luca & Luca, the Italian-style gelateria owner Harry Lambropoulos plans to open on Campbell Parade before the end of February. The team describe it like a “Willy Wonka wonderland, designed to make customers feel like a kid again”. All gelato will be made in-house, and there’ll be limited outdoor seating.

Scoop of choice: Harrys coffee

222 Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach, instagram.com/lucaandluca_

Scoopanova, Brookvale

It’s not where you’d expect to find an ice-cream shop, but some of Northern Sydney’s best scoops are hidden down a small industrial street, in a Brookvale warehouse. Scoopanova founder Linda Gregory is deeply committed to making the richest ice-cream around: “It’s so important to me that the flavour comes through. If I’m making pistachio ice-cream, I’ve got double the amount of pistachio paste. We make it like real, old-fashioned ice-cream so it’s got that super creamy mouthfeel.” Sampling flavours is encouraged.

Scoop of choice: Matcha strawberry

Enter on Charlton Lane, 2/648 Pittwater Road, Brookvale, scoopanova.com

Kreamu, Cabramatta and Marrickville

Amy Phan moved from Vietnam to Australia with her family after the war, but she never forgot the traditional desserts of her childhood. Now, she’s working with her two daughters Chantelle and Yvonne Huynh to transform those nostalgic flavours, such as dragonfruit, kem chuoi (banana and coconut milk) and sua bap (sweet corn milk), into gelato at Kreamu in Cabramatta. “Mum came out of retirement to do this,” Yvonne says. “She ran a nail salon for 30 years, but making desserts was always her passion.”

Scoop of choice: Kem sua bap (sweet corn)

Shop 1, 73-79 John Street, Cabramatta and opening March 1 at 327 Illawarra Road, Marrickville, instagram.com/kreamu.au

Kariton Sorbetes, Burwood and Eastern Creek

Cult Melbourne gelato shop Kariton Sorbetes brought its line-up of Filipino flavours to Burwood and Eastern Creek last year. From gelato with yuzu and toasted marshmallows, to the cheddar cheese with crackers and cashews, chances are you’ve never tried anything quite like it before. Stock up on their frozen, individually packaged treats like the “chamtop” (chocolate and toasted rice gelato in a waffle cone) next time you’re heading to the cinema.

Scoop of choice: Ube halaya (purple yam gelato with yam fudge, blackberry jam and coconut curds)

173 Burwood Road, Burwood and 159 Rooty Hill Road S, Eastern Creek karitonsorbetes.com