Ice Dream!

Debuting just in time to help ease the scorching October heat with a range of delectable soft serve ice cream treats is this cutesy store-in-store creamery that ticks most of our boxes   

By Raul Dias

Given our predilection—bordering on obsession—for all things ice cream-y and that too in one of our favourite iterations of the treat—soft serve, we couldn’t wait to give this new store-in-store creamery a whirl…or should we say swirl? Offering a range of both innovative signature swirl sundaes and the usual build-your-own kind of soft serves, Xoco 57, the candy pink and white hued kiosk nestled in the heart of the Pedder Road branch of the Foodhall grocery store chain is an interesting place to find oneself on a sweltering October afternoon. Sharing its space with a chocolate counter to its right and a mithai one to its left, we weren’t surprised to see it enjoy the most action of the three sections with hordes of teenagers and little kids with parents in tow making a beeline for it.
Feeling particularly indulgent that afternoon, we ordered up a range of their sundaes that we could see being assembled in front of us, built up from an assortment of toppings, sauces and sprinkles. With a levered machine dispensing only vanilla, chocolate and vanilla-chocolate combination softy bases, we did wish that there were a few more base options available. A tart berry or zesty citrus flavoured one would have hit a nice home run. But alas, we made do with the various concoctions featuring the good old vanilla-chocolate duo.
The peanut punch (Rs 195) with its creamy chocolate soft serve base is a confection that is sure to win the heart of a peanut fan with its generous sprinkling of slightly salted, crushed peanuts that are covered in a drizzle of warm chocolate sauce. Adding some further peanut heft is a mighty splodge of peanut butter that seals the deal perfectly.
Topped with French crêpe crisps and the same chocolate sauce, the French crisp (Rs 195) won us over with its vanilla soft serve that had actual flecks of vanilla bean peeking through the ice cream. Blending the words “adulting” and ice cream expertly was the strongly flavoured Xoco 57 signature soft serve (Rs 225) with its spicy pink peppercorn and dark chocolate bark toppings melded with a vanilla-chocolate base.
For our final signature swirl, we tucked into one that reflected the latest international trend of ‘birthday cake’ flavoured confections. Simply called birthday cake (Rs 250) it turned out to be the unanimous favourite among the three of us ice cream f(r)iends! Fudgy chocolate brownie morsels, a spoonful of Nutella and a shower of rainbow-hued sprinkles sitting atop a vanilla-chocolate base made this one a more-ish treat we’ll be back for.
Attempting to satiate our desire for something tart and fruity was the vanilla soft serve cone (Rs 95) (we had the option of upgrading to a waffle cone for Rs 125) topped with a raspberry coulis (Rs 25 extra). Though not bad at all, it sadly tasted like any old, ordinary grocery store bought raspberry syrup and not like an expected coulis that was actually made with the berry.
While we’d sure love to see a few more base flavours and fruit-based toppings added as part of their offerings, Xoco 57 seems to get it right for the most part. 

TIME: 9am to 11pm
AT: Xoco 57 by Foodhall, Kanchanjunga 72, Pedder Road.
CALL: 023871442

(An edited version of this review appeared in the 30th October 2019 issue of the Mid-Day newspaper, India on page 20 https://www.mid-day.com/articles/ice-dream/22000205)

A-N-A-T-O-M-I-Z-E: $1,000 Golden Opulence Sundae

By Raul Dias

Cutting a swathe of anticipation through the elegantly appointed room, the palpable sense of impending drama was laying itself thick. Seeing other tourists with camera phones poised and awestruck expressions pat in place, there was little doubt that we were going to be in for a treat. It was sheer happenstance at play as I found myself at the hallowed New York City café cum patisserie Serendipity 3 in the chi-chi Upper East Side neighbourhood of Manhattan. That’s the same place with the rather oxymoronic (and divine!) frozen hot chocolate that has put them on every hipster “foodstagrammer’s” top list.
There with three other friends to get my quarter share of the world’s most expensive $214 grilled cheese sandwich, little did I realise that I’d soon be a spectator to an extravaganza that would make our shared sandwich seem as cheap as chips! With an average of just one order of the $1,000 Golden Opulence Sundae placed every month, its rather public assemblage is pure theater.
Three scoops of rare Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream—that are further flecked with Madagascar vanilla drawn straight from the pod—are placed in a Baccarat Harcourt crystal goblet that’s lined with 23k gold leaf, or what we in India know as varq. Alternating each ice cream scoop is the ladling of a luscious sauce made from melted Amedei Porcelana, which is one of the world’s most expensive chocolate. The sundae is then given a shower of goodies like truffles of rare Chuao chocolate made from cocoa beans cultivated off the coast of Venezuela, golden almond dragées and glacé candied fruit from Fauchon in Paris.
Topping it all off is a dusting of actual American Golden caviar harvested from the whitefish which lives in the Northern Great Lakes. But here, a salt-free version of the caviar is used that’s macerated in fresh passion fruit and orange juices along with a splash of Armagnac. And if all that’s not enough for you, more gold leaf is added. And a final garnish of an edible, gold paint-dipped sugar orchid crowns it, as it is placed in front of you with a 18k solid gold sundae spoon.
And yes, you can keep the goblet. But it’s an emphatic “NO” to the golden spoon! 

(This column first appeared in the 7th October 2018 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 8)