Caramel, soft-crack candy, dates, prunes, figs and apricots were diffused throughout the newly-opened Dock Frost’d. The ice cream tubs housed gallons of mango, raspberry, jackfruit, butterscotch and kiwi while exuding sensations of light, fluffy, creamy and juicy fruits with slightly crunchy floral undertones – all of which seamlessly blended with woody taste notes. We scraped bits of the frozen delicacies into our mouths — the soft serve achieved a balance of sweetness and crunch, elegance and playfulness. While a couple of walnut brownies and a slap of caramel in the Absolute by Chocolate (ABC) swathed us in French vanilla, the fruit-based Gadbud was embedded in lovely apples and bananas. The carts inside this gelato-jubilant room savoured the trinity of garden-fresh mint chocolate cookie dough, an upscale twist in toffee-like sprinkles and micro-diced candied hazelnuts.
A rich frosting-like scoop of natural dry fruit ice cream overlaid the crumbling blocks of anjir and chikku when we still relished the ABC’s aftertaste of sponge cake and milky Belgian chocolate. Needless to say, Gowtham Kanumuri and Sudha Kanumuri, founder and CEO of the outlet, are looking to pass the confection excellence, flavours and freshness on their soon-to-open impending branch in Banjara Hills. Asking, ‘What’s fresh?’ is the surest way to happiness over here. The milkshakes, or what they call Vintage Indulgences, stand out as lavish delights as each one cools our taste buds with a hint of blueberry, thandai nuts, salted caramel, and gulkand while also mirroring a splash of fruits. Lemon makes you smile. Popcorn Caramel begs to be experienced in warmer weather.
Weekly trips to the parlour show the micro-seasonal changes in fruit — from cherries, strawberries, and blueberries to plums, apricots, melons, and grapes. The expert whips up a wonderful ice cream intricacy using local fruits, chocolate almonds, and strawberry and mango crispies. Thankfully, the frozen yard is available all year round and showcases smooth, fresh-mint chip ice cream, rich chocolate fudge, crunchy chunks of handcrafted waffle cones, and whipped cream. It’s challenging to comprehend the delight that is so profoundly and deeply flavourful– something which gratifyingly melts in the tongue – simply does not process as vegan. Even the ice cream confectioner and Training Head, Chirag Yadav’s single scoop of coconut cream and vanilla might feel extravagant. Particularly, kiwi has a subtle flavour, unlike many vegan milkshakes in a drink that heals. The menu is a perfect blank canvas which unlocks the door to newer flavours, frequently infused with regional fruits like strawberries, cherries, cherimoya, and guava.
It was artisanal ice cream up to this point, but your frozen delicacies would come on a stick. More than a dozen flavours of popsicles with the glossiest of textures are prepared in small batches on the premises. Our pops were a blast of pudina, cherry and lemon with the use of water, and they never cracked throughout any of our recipe tests. In a nutshell, the parlour became our go-to place that delivers towering swirls of unbelievably creamy soft serve, as if in summertime nirvana.
₹400 for two. At Madhapur.
E-mail: chokita@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @PaulChokita