Ready to get cold stoned?

CHENNAI: Wrapped in a thick, crispy, chocolatecoated waffle was the soft, creamy, birthday cake-flavoured ice cream with copious amounts of rainbow sprinkles that made for our sixth serving at the recently opened Cold Stone Creamery in VR Mall. This was not our first experience of cold stone ice cream.

But if you are an ice cream lover like we are, then this is the place you’d chose for your next date, even if you have reservations at a nearby hotel. Why, you ask? Because at Cold Stone Creamery, the colours of ice cream and the 20-odd toppings will make your heart melt. Udhay Kumar’s cheerful and booming voice welcomed us inside this outlet that can host about 25 people at any given time. Our attention shifts from Udhay, who is mindfully explaining about their 18 different signature creations to a blue-coloured ice cream, created in promotion of Aquaman. But, before he could whip us up a beautiful creation with this flavour, we sampled all the 20 flavours.

First up was cheesecake, which tasted like cheese with a dash of sugar, served cold. Next, cotton candy (a crowd favourite) red velvet cake, salted caramel, chocolate, French vanilla and fig-honey, all of which have a pure and not-so-sweet yet divine goodness. The blue velvet is a new flavour for this season. The stone players (people who make the ice creams on the slab) make a new creation with abundant choco chips, brownie and a spoon of gold dust.

Needless to say, if you try this out, it could be your one true love. Cold Stone Creamery has 18 signature creations that are common across all their outlets in the world. “We have a recipe book and we have to follow that. While there are 20 signature creations in the US, we have only 18 to suit the Indian palette,” says S Rohith, area manager. But, customers can make their own creations, too. “You can choose the ice cream and one topping. Even in the signature creations, we can replace one of the toppings with something you like,” says Udhay, as he gets ready to juggle the ice cream scoops with his spatula. He throws the scoop up in the air and plays with his two spatulas, like a footballer performing tricks with the ball. The scoop, now a neat ball, falls right on to the slab.

He mixes it with the toppings and then makes a ball again, which he throws toward another stone player to catch. Sometimes, they dance and sing, too. “Before we hire our employees, we ask them if they are comfortable singing and dancing. It’s only after that do we hire them,” says Rohith. The team makes their own ice creams at their kitchen in Bengaluru. “We use skimmed milk and panna cream that is imported from Italy to make the ice cream.

The boxes we receive are used within three days,” shares Rohith. All the new flavours are approved by the team in the US before they are introduced across branches. One of the toppings, peanut butter cup, is also made at their own kitchen. That’s when we decide to savour the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection. With the chocolate ice cream having a smooth texture, and not too sweet, we decided to go for another round. Among the flavours, we’d vote for cheesecake, cotton candy, fig-honey and salted caramel. If you are a chocolate lover, you can taste chocolate in its purest form in their ice creams. Among the signature creations, CE recommends the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection, in which there is a surprise dose of peanut butter with every bite.