"Ice cream solves everything!!!"

How many of you believe that??? Well, just as there are chocolate fanatics, there are ice-cream fanatics too and i am one of them ! An ice-cream i believe can lift your mood any day and it's not just a hot-summer day treat now ! India is booming with ice-cream parlours and the culture of having a chit-chat over ice cream with friends is increasing. In earlier days, we used to be treated ice-creams or kulfi ( Indian version of ice-cream ) only at special occasions. But with so many take-home products coming up, the perception is changing and an ice-cream has become an everyday treat!

Have you ever wondered how ice-cream was invented? I did some R n D and thought would share this with you all. Though there are many versions and many people/regions claim to have invented it first, this widely told tale ( maybe a myth ) is what everyone believes in. In A.D 54-68 Roman emperor Nero sent his slaves to the mountains to bring ice to combine it with nectar, fruit toppings and honey. And look at technology... today we have 3 genius students from MIT who together hacked a soft-serve ice cream maker, a freezer and a 3-d printer - a machine that extrudes soft serve ice cream into any given shape, then quickly freezes it with a blast of liquid nitrogen !!! Gosh!!! Molecular Gastronomy is at it's peak these days ! Check the video !

At home, we all are ice-cream lovers ! In fact, so much so that my father took my mother for a date ( during their courtship days in 1970's ) the first time at K. Rustom Ice-cream parlour in Churchgate, Mumbai. As the tradition goes, love means food and so i definitely wanted to go here with my foodie hubby, and on a Sunday afternoon we visited Rustomjee with our Mom reliving her old-times! You wouldn't like this place if you are that uptown person who is used to eating at Baskin Robbins or Naturals. This place is a little gloomy, has plastic chairs, can't-be-easily-seen board, humid as the fans really don't seem to throw cool air, and non - AC. But the place has it's own charm, and you will always see people crowding outside it. There is no spoon, no cone, no cup... you get ice cream slab in wafer-thin biscuits!!! Yes, the ice cream might drip down from the biscuit slivers but 1-2 ice-creams here and you will be a master at eating it !

In all we had 5 ice-creams amongst 3 people and we loved it ! There are some unusual flavours like candied cream, mint, toffee crunch, coffee crunch, rum and raisin and so on...The pista, kesar pista and rum n raisin remain our favourites :) And you wouldn't believe the prices... One ice-cream slab costs you between INR 50-70. So, this place is not-to-miss and the old Parsi lady sitting at the cashier desk who seemed unbothered by all the business chaos happening around truly seemed relaxed and chilled. Guess that's what happens to you when you believe in your product and your staff !

Another ice-cream which i am a big fan of, is near our home in Thane called Creamchills. The mother company being Cool Camp started in 1998, Cream chills has over 5 ice-cream parlours running successfully in Thane, kalwa and Mulund. They offer almost 31 flavours and combine them to create some terrific Milkshakes, Ice cream shakes, sundaes and kulfis. My favourite with them remains the Gulkand ice cream and hubby's is the Anjeer ( Fig ). The best part about both of them is the ice cream is soft, rich and creamy, and every bite has immense amounts of real fruits and nut bits. Aren't they tempting?? I can dig in a whole family pack right now!!! :)

Kulfi is a type of Indian ice-cream, traditionally served in the shape of cones but now-a-days served also in the form of cubes or various other shapes and sizes. This frozen dairy dessert is famous at Mumbai Chowpati and the one i tasted was the Mawa-Malai Rabdi Kulfi. "Ooh-la-la"...It just melts in your mouth! 

Another famous joint for Kulfi is the "Devang Kulfi Nasikwale" on Gokhale Road, Thane. Priced just at Rs. 20 for the Malai kulfi candy and Rs. 25 for the Kesar Pista candy, you will know it is made of pure milk when you take in just one bite! I never miss going to this place when i go home! Having run for over 8 years in Nasik ( Maharashtra ), they have 4 outlets all over Mumbai. Their Rabdi-bowl is also outstanding if you don't want to have something cold.

And last, but the best is Vijay Ice-cream and Kulfi. Located right in the heart of thane near Talao-pali ( Lake-side ), this one is as old as 25 years ! I have had kulfi here ( specially malai - yes, by now you must have guessed that my favourite kulfi flavour is malai :)) in childhood days and when i had it now, the flavour and texture was just the same. I think what has brought him so long and successful is the consistency and purity that he has maintained and stuck to his original traditional flavours and recipes than trying to change with the growing competition. His only publicity is the walk-in customers who come there for a stroll at talao-pali and word-by-mouth publicity.

A very small shop, people usually take-away kulfi from him which he gives on per-kilo basis and packs them in round slabs. We parceled the Special Rose and Kesar Pista and both the flavours were outstanding. I actually licked my plate till the last drop of the melted ice cream and wished i had got in some more... It is so irresistible !!

So, which is your favourite ice-cream flavour? And Where do you normally buy your ice-cream from?