An ice-cream truck may seem like an unlikely business venture for three former visual communication students. But then again, when you love food, why not?
Jesvin Prabu, Barath Jaiyanth and Shanmuga Pandian, best buddies and Visual Communications graduates from Loyola College, talk about their tryst with frozen sweetness. “Once it was decided that it will be ice cream, we started researching for about six to eight months. We narrowed down to fruit based popsicles and nitrogen ice creams,” says Prabu, a film editor.
Jaiyanth, a well-known child artist who has acted in about 30 films and many TV serials, was especially keen on the idea of savoury fruit-based popsicles because they were such a rare concept in the city. “Our novelty is uppu-kaaraam potta kuchi ice,” he says, adding that the trio had worked with their chef, Kaushik Shankar to develop these unusual flavours. Another novelty? The live counter where you can watch your ice-cream, emerging from puffs of white smoke. “It is a crowd puller,” he smiles.
Drawing crowds
The truck,which was launched a month ago, has already become a popular spot at the beach front. Both young and old walk around licking their bright sticks; the flavours include mojito, buttermilk, pomegranate, mango and jamun, among others. “As ice creams are synonymous with chocolate flavour, we have included three types of chocolate popsicles as well,” says Prabu.
Though, they had some trepidations about the savoury flavours, it proved to be unfounded. “Our customers who stop by seem to love the idea of kaara saara ice candy. Right now it is buttermilk with kaara boondi and jamun with bhujia sev on the menu,” says Jaiyanth. And if you think that sounds exotic, try this: a coconut-milk based popsicle sprinkled with activated charcoal derived from coconut shell and desiccated coconut.
As the sun sets on Besant Nagar beach, crowds flock to the truck to watch ice-cream being made. We watch liquid nitrogen being blended into vanilla-flavoured milk and Aavin pal khoa: a delicious mass of Thirattipal-flavoured ice-cream emerges in minutes. There are currently 10 flavours available, with plans to launch a gulab jamun-flavoured one soon.
Why the name Tickle? “Our unique and unusual flavours are sure to tickle your taste buds and moreover, the idea of popsicles brings a smile on everyone’s face. So we chose this name,” says Prabu.
The Tickle Truck is stationed at 32nd cross street, Besant Nagar (close to Spaces), from 5 pm to 11 pm on all days except Mondays. 9884227789