LOVE IN EVERY SCOOP
Where: @ Puppy’s Ice Cream
Price range: Rs.50 to 220
Address: Theni Main Road (next to Bell Jumbo)
Timing: 10.30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The warning first: Once you enter this place, there is no turning back!
The recently opened 1,000 square feet ice cream parlour next to Bell Jumbo is like a candy emporium. With over 40 shades of colour and fun flavours , sauces and toppings in cones and scoops and banana splits, creamy shakes, bubbly floats (the old-fashioned creamy soda drinks) and signature sundaes, ice cream cakes and creamaccino that turns the ice cream of your flavour into a steaming cup of creamy hot drink, what more can you ask for.
Finally the city has got a high-end pure butter ice cream joint where the creamy delights are freshly hand spun every morning and given traditional, contemporary and weird twists and combinations to its flavours.
“Ice creams are not just supposed to be sweet, creamy and cold,” says Vichitra Rajasingh, the young CEO of Puppy’s Bakery, Ice Cream and Bell Hotels, who runs a chain of her outlets across the State.
If bakery provides her a good background to understand what kinds of flavours people are already in love with and also would want to experiment with, she says it becomes easier to go a step above the ordinary with ice creams. “You not only dish up the traditional flavours like chocolate, strawberry, vanilla or mango but also tweak and serve great flavours with no chemicals or additives and take your customers by surprise by the awesomeness in taste.”
It is the Do-It-Yourself section of popsicles at the brightly done up interiors of Puppy’s Ice Cream that is evoking high-intensity curiosity. Popsicles are easier and fun for kids to eat, says Vichitra, who has created flavours from filter kappi and blue moon to pink guava, strawberry blush, watermelon crush and maanga magic, rasmalai and pista fista. The customisable popsicles are dipped in melted dark, milk or white chocolate or fruit-based sorbet like mango and strawberry and topped with mixed nuts, chocos, butterscotch balls, chocolate and coloured sprinkles of your choice. And believe you me, they are yummy to bite instead of lick and with less melting ice cream there is less mess to clean up.
Puppy’s is also offering the grab-and-go ice cream sandwich (a block of ice cream of your chosen flavour compressed between two layers or freshly baked sponge cakes on either side) or even wedges of their ice cream cakes. And the Dhamathundu falooda which actually defies the word by being big on size and flavour is another must to be tried besides the fizz and frothy energising ice cream sodas. The menu is pretty elaborate. Take your time in choosing and savouring your favourite pick.
Not to miss: The Popsicles
YOUR ICE CREAM DESTINATION
Where: @ Ibaco
Price range: Rs.84 to 999
Address: K.K. Nagar, Tirunagar, Bypass Road and Athikulam
Timing: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
For lovers of cassata ice creams, Ibaco provides the option of graduating to the next level – with a new range of ice cream cakes. The best selling flavours are the ‘Choco Frosted Heaven’ (Chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and chocolate slabs), ‘Berry and Cookie Farm’ (ice cream and cookies topped with fresh strawberries and white chocolate slabs), ‘Fruit and Black Currant Drizzle’ (Black currant with vanilla flavoured fruit bonanza), ‘Mango Italian Festa’ (Mango with vanilla ice cream) and Carribean Cookie Castle (Chocolate and Coffee plus ice cream and cookies).
There are new arrivals in ice creams too like the chikoo a delightful blend of natural flavours of sapota. The ice cream bars can be enjoyed in four flavours -- vanilla, mango and litchi, butter scotch and strawberry and black currant.
Not to Miss: The Ice cream cake
A MEDLEY OF FLAVOURS
Where: @ Scoop Shop
Price range: Rs. 70 to Rs.400
Address: Ground floor and Food Court (Fourth Floor), Vishal De Mal
Timing: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Scoop shop is where one can gleefully watch a ‘kothu’ ice cream being made. Scoops of ice creams are laid on the cold stone and beaten and mashed with brownies, nuts, fruits and toffees to form a proper ice cream mash. It is served in waffle cones or cups and is topped with roasted cashews, cherry pieces, coconut shavings and chocolate strands. The parlour is the first to introduce cold stone ice cream varieties in town and offers over a dozen flavours of the same. If you also feel like drinking something cool and soothing to beat the heat, try out the range of smoothies, slushes, fruit and ice crushes and milk-shakes at Scoop shop.
Not to miss: Cold stone ice creams
REAL MILK REAL ICE CREAM
Where: @ Kone Amul
Price range: Rs. 40 to 150
Address: Simmakal Bus Stop, Anna Nagar, Periyar bus stand
Timing: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Kone Amul outlet is a typical neighbourhood ice cream parlour with restrained ambience and comfort, but an exciting variety of classic and innovative flavours. We recommend you the sweet-sour berry blast (a combo of cranberry and blackberry flavours), the sweet and natural tender coconut and the classic fig and honey, that leaves a grainy texture and extremely sweet aftertaste. ‘Epic’ ice cream sticks that are dual flavoured bars coated with a layer of chocolate are other earthy options. Strawberry and Vanilla, litchi and pista are the two kinds available in these bars.
Not to miss: Berry blast and Epic stick ice creams
WALK INTO COLD ZONE
Where: @ Igloo
Price range: Rs. 70 to Rs.100
Address: Anna Nagar
Timing: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
With its interiors and furniture done up in sparkling white, the Igloo parlour does give the feel of being inside an igloo. Around for more than five years, the parlour offers a wide range of flavours in ice creams, from the usual vanilla, chocolate and pista to the offbeat beeda and pina colada. With an extra tinge of sugary sweetness, Igloo ice creams are for the sweet-toothed. Bubblegum, green chilli, litchi, papaya and other fruity flavours are the other options.
Not to miss: Beeda and Pina colada
(With inputs from T. Saravanan and A. Shrikumar)
