India has various iterations of ice cream, be it ice cream sandwiches, shakes or flavours created with local fruits. While kulfi is desi and has been around since the 16th century, ice cream is foreign and a relatively recent phenomenon. A few brands took it upon themselves to make and serve ice cream in India and there has been no looking back ever since. Here are five places that serve India’s most iconic ice creams:
K Rustom’s, Mumbai
Originally a department store, K Rustoms went on to become an ice cream parlour in 1953. The place serves ice cream in one of India’s favourite forms: the ice cream sandwich. It’s a simple set up with a few plastic chairs—nothing fancy. Ice cream flavours include mango, rose, coffee crunch, apricot, strawberry, green mango, papaya, bitter chocolate, lychee, cherry, peach and ginger lemon, among others. All ice cream flavours come sandwiched between two thin wafers.
Location: 86, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate, Mumbai.
Timings: Monday-Saturday, 11am-11pm; Sunday 3-11pm.
Cost for two: ₹150
Nirula’s, New Delhi
Established in 1977, Nirula’s first outlet in Connaught Place started serving ice cream and sundaes to the people of Delhi and soon became popular. The place had opened when ice cream wasn’t really a part of people’s everyday lives. Nirula’s hot chocolate fudge is perhaps their most well known sundae: a bestseller to this day. Apart from that, the lime ice cream soda is also a favourite with many, as are the ice cream flavours like 21 Love and Jamoca almond fudge.
Location: M-57, Shankar Market, Block M, Connaught Place, New Delhi and other outlets.
Timings: Daily, 11am-1am.
Cost for two: ₹500
Sujata Mastani, Pune
Known for flavoured milk topped with ice cream, Pune’s Sujata Mastani is an institution that both locals and visitors frequent for a taste of the classic. The brand has multiple outlets across Pune and uses the French pot process to make ice cream, which includes flavours like mango, pista, pineapple, vanilla, rose, orange, kesar-pista, chocolate, strawberry, anjir and even gulkand badam. The most popular flavour, however, remains mango. Each ice cream or ‘mastani’ comes in two sizes: big and small.
Location: 1259, Rajivmama Kondhalkar Path, Near Nimbalkar Talim Chowk, Sadashiv Peth, Pune.
Timings: Daily, 11am-midnight.
Cost for two: ₹300
Lakeview Milk Bar, Bengaluru
Lakeview Milk Bar was founded by an Englishman named James Meadow Charles, who sold it to 19-year-old Vrajlal Jamnadas in 1947. Similar to Nirula’s, Lakeview Milk Bar serves hot food like pizzas and burgers along with ice creams and shakes. The shakes listed on the menu come in flavours like black forest cake, Nutella cheesecake, fig and honey, and chocolate malt. Ice cream flavours include vanilla, raspberry, pineapple, orange, pista, mango, chocolate, butterscotch and blackcurrant.
Location: 3rd A Cross Rd, HRBR Layout 1st Block, HRBR Layout, Banaswadi, Bengaluru.
Timings: Daily, 10am-1am.
Cost for two: ₹500
Ideal Ice Cream, Mangaluru
An ice cream shop that started with 14 flavours with one outlet in 1975, Ideal Ice Cream went on to open a parlour that could seat 300 people and was deemed the largest in India. Ideal Ice Cream’s most iconic dessert is ‘gadbad’, a kind of sundae made with three types of ice cream, fruits, nuts and jelly. Innovative ice cream flavours served at the parlour include kesar faloode, lychee and vanilla, ananaas, Belgian chocolate, Swiss chocolate and jackfruit payasam.
Location: High Street Centre, Bhavathi, Hampankatta, Mangaluru and other outlets.
Timings: Monday-Saturday 10am-11pm, Sunday 11am-11pm.
Cost for two: ₹300