Nothing comes between me and my dessert. Or so I thought until I walked into the Papacream flagship parlour last evening and found that ice-cream needn’t necessarily be had at the end of the meal.
A pretty picture was painted by a tastefully done up ice-cream wonderland with a lovely CEO-founder Tanvi Choudhri at the helm. As I read through the bill of fare on the wall, I knew the goodies to come in the cheery, pastel-packed space would be interesting, to say the least.
The Papacream paraphernalia
Papacream not only does superb liquid nitrogen-blasted ice-cream using the freshest ingredients minus any added preservatives, colours or flavours, it also does a fantastic range of savoury ice-creams!
Yes, you heard that right. My favourite was the sensational Pani Puri Sorbet, which takes that delicious Indian street snack to a whole other level of fab. The flattish crisp puris (more like the ones used in sev puri) come with a creamy potato mousse which you can top with a dollop of the tangy and cold ‘pani’ ice-cream and pop the whole into your mouth.
Pani Puri Sorbet
The cold yet hot fave on preview night was the Mexicano, which featured a beautiful, creamy Cheddar ice-cream tinged with the zing of jalapenos served with assorted nachos.
The Mexicano
Masala Chhaas Ice-cream
Among the other savouries I enjoyed was the Masala Chhaas option with a hint of coriander and green chilli, that I will most definitely go back for on a hot Mumbai day. I didn’t taste the Spicy Guava, but that one’s on my ice-bucket list too!
Coming to the sweet options, I thought the Dark Belgian Chocolate Creme Brulee with bits of candied ginger was truly spectacular. In my opinion, the toasted marshmallow on top was a bit chewy and wholly unnecessary though.
Belgian Chocolate Creme Brulee
Cheery ambience at Papacream
Quirky features, upbeat colours
Fresh ice-cream being frozen using liquid nitrogen
Apart from a good interior designer and a super team of trained ice-cream makers, Tanvi has a clever business plan. She wants to make sure we enjoy ice-cream morning, noon or night.
With some superb breakfast options such as the Horlicks ice-cream with ribbons of pancake to the Cereal Killer that offers the comforting taste of milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl, the morning’s sorted. The Mexicano with Masala Chhaas or Spicy Guava would make for a kickass lunch. The Thai Chocolate Sushi with coconut and lemongrass ice-cream, coated with rice crispies and passionfruit-kiwi jelly replacing the wasabi at the centre, which comes in a neat Bento Box style package with chopsticks, is a superb way to end the day, along with a cup of their excellent coffee. And considering their very accessible location and pricing, it seems to me I’m going to be ice-creaming much more often now.
Papacream, Eros cinema building, Churchgate. Tel: 022-65177272
Thai Sushi of Coconut and Lemongrass Ice-cream with Chocolate Sauce
