Dear Dairy

When we first heard about ICremeso, a new ice cream parlour at Fort that takes millk, sugar, flavour and flash freezes it in front of you, we were as excited to watch as we were to spoon. But despite the contraption’s whistling and whirring, followed by theatrical puffs of smoke let out from pipes, the gimmick didn't impress us much.

Perhaps if the parlour came with more flash (shinier equipment, happier lighting) and a better fleshed out interior design to match the concept (maybe a laboratory-style set up with milk in beakers, powdered sugar in test tubes and scoopers in lab coats), it would have done better, for without the novelty, all they have is decent ice cream and yogurt that’s not hard to find elsewhere in the city.

Flash Me!

bpb went after work yesterday to find an enthusiastic owner plus supportive friends, happy to explain the concept. Step 1: Choose your base, either yogurt, regular milk, skimmed or soy (they currently only have the first two). Step 2: Pick your flavour –hazelnut, Toblerone, passion fruit, raspberry, blueberry, green apple and more. After the requisite amount of mixing and blending, liquid nitrogen is used to flash freeze the ice cream in front of you. Step 3: Add toppings (gummy bears, M&M’s, marshmallows, fruit compotes, nuts) and eat.

We watched as the newly trained staff combined milk with hazelnut and raspberry with yogurt, the right amount of first-week nervousness mixed in with their smiles. The puffs of cold smoke are fun at first, but eventually you get bored and wonder if ice cream should play so hard to get. Then finally it appeared – a generous helping of chocolate hazelnut ice cream that the owner topped with complimentary Nutella and butterscotch nuts. The consistency, what we were most worried about, was great. It was neither icy, nor grainy but smooth and loaded with flavour. We recommend leaving out the Nutella and using just the nuts, though. The raspberry yogurt – this we got sans any toppings – wasn’t tart or light enough and shouldn’t have shared the same consistency as the ice cream, thought our newest team member, who ate tons of flash frozen yogurt while living in San Francisco.

While we didn’t have too many complaints about the dessert, we’re just not sure it’s something we’d try to leave work early for again. After a late show at Sterling, maybe.

Counter Culture

Strangely, ICremeso shares its space with a certain Billo’s Cafe, a counter that sells ‘not fried’ fried potato snacks like deep frozen poppers and nuggets that claim to have 70% less oil. We’re not buying the whole Diet Fries thing. Well actually we did buy, the garlic poppers which truly weren’t very oily but tasted like something you would make out of a packet at  home. If you must buy, get the samosas, which come from the famous Guru Kripa restaurant in Sion that supplies to most of Mumbai’s cinema halls.

Munch on these while you watch ICremeso's cold production.

Getting there: iCremeso, shop no 6, Elphinstone premises, opposite Sterling Cinema, Marzban Road, Fort, Rs 90 for a medium chocolate hazelnut ice cream.

bpb reviews anonymously and pays for its own meals.