Frozen beauties

The Hindu:Subha J Rao :23 May 2012

New Zealand Natural woos with its range of award-winning ice creams

A hint of citrus, a dash of lime and an utterly creamy base. Near it is a fierce yellow mango sorbet that tastes of summer. Then there's a waft of a lovely aroma of fresh waffles being baked. That's New Zealand Natural ice cream for you.

The international brand has opened shop in the city and offers a range of award-winning (at the New Zealand Ice Cream Awards) ice cream flavours, all of them sourced from the land of happy cows — New Zealand.

The outlet is a month old and is already drawing repeat customers, says S. Meghalingam who owns the franchise. The USP of the store, he says, is that they sell ice-creams, not frozen dessert. Fresh stocks arrive every week all the way from New Zealand, bringing with them the latest flavours and the pick of the week.

This week's special is Frozen Hot Chocolate (Rs. 120), a drink made up of molten chocolate, milk and cream. There's also Daiquiri, a stunningly chill concoction of frozen fruit, priced at Rs. 120. Choose from kiwi, litchi and strawberry, among other flavours.

Barring a couple of standalone ones, the other ice creams are all a mix of two flavours. So, you have bananaberry, lemon and lime, hokey pokey, boysenberry, strawberry ripple, the deliciously nutty Spotty Dog, maple walnut, butterscotch pecan and marshmallow coconut, which are served plain or with toppings — nuts, sprinkles and chocolate chips. They also have sugar-free vanilla and chocolate flavours. The scoops are priced at Rs. 70 and Rs. 80. Currently, all their fare is 100 per cent vegetarian.

You can also choose from a range of smoothies (with pro-biotics), sundaes, shakes, chillos, sorbets, teas and coffees. The recipes for all these are fixed. The basic ingredients come in packs from the mother company. As for the waffle cones, they are baked in-house.

For snacks they have muffins with hot chocolate (Rs. 180), sizzling brownies (Rs. 180) and Belgium waffles (Rs. 70) with a choice of toppings.

Coimbatore is the lone location in South India for the ice-cream chain. Meghalingam, who has bagged the rights for Tamil Nadu, says that the first stop had to be his hometown. “Now, we'll expand,” he says.

As we watch, many repeat customers walk in. That should keep Meghalingam happy. But, he's worried about his growing girth — courtesy the numerous tasting sessions he has sat through!

(The outlet is at 121, Geejay Arcade, TV Samy Road (West), R. S. Puram.Coimbatore Telephone: 0422-4355448)