Bombay Kulfi

The six-year-old company with its presence in India, Dubai and Singapore, manufactures kulfis in Mumbai with milk and natural ingredients. “We use no artificial flavouring or preservatives in the production process. Many people are averse to having paan by the roadside due to various reasons, so this flavour (Calcutta Paan) has struck a chord with our customers. Another flavour that has been highly pleasant is Shahi Gulab. People love to give roses to exhibit their love for one another, we offer Shahi Gulab to exhibit our love towards our customers,” said Manish Hathiramani, franchise owner, Calcutta-Bhowanipore.

Shahi Gulab: Aromatic and flavourful, with chunks of nuts. Rs 65

Calcutta Paan: The refreshing and sweet taste of betel leaves hit the taste buds along with betel leaf dust and Tutti-frutti chunks. Rs 65

To order: For online delivery, log on to Swiggy or Zomato, while call 9903400444 for home delivery.

Pabrai’s Fresh and Naturelle Ice Cream

Pabrai’s, the 13-year-old company known for their artisanal ice creams, has quite a few uncommon flavours, two of the most exotic being Indian Sherbet Berry or Phalsa sorbet and Tamarind sorbet. “Our ice creams and sorbets are 100 per cent natural. They are vegan and lactose free too and are free of any essences and colour. Phalsa is available only for 10 to 15 days in May. I remember going from thela to thela and picking up quantities as small as 500g. Once we had a large enough quantity of about 20 to 25 kg, we could try and take the juice out. This was followed by tangy Tamarind sorbet, another much-loved flavour,” said Anuvrat Pabrai, owner of Pabrai’s Fresh and Naturelle Ice Cream.

Tamarind Sorbet: This tangy sorbet is made with tamarind pulp and sugar or jaggery along with a blend of spices. Rs 375 for 500ml tub and Rs 65 for a scoop.

Phalsa Sorbet: The sweet-and-sour Phalsa Sorbet is prepared with the pulp and juice of phalsa berries extracted in a painstaking process of squashing them by hand. Salt, sugar and in-house spices are added to the juice before they are set to freeze. Rs 375 for 500ml tub and Rs 65 for a scoop.

To order: Log on to Swiggy or Zomato, or dial 9007082727 (Sarat Bose Road), 7596007775 (City Centre), 6291264325/03340074938 (Kasba), 7439644435 (Jodhpur Park) and 9163364200 (Bangur Avenue) for home delivery.

Indigo Deli

In order to treat its customers to the brand’s own ice cream flavours, Indigo Delicatessen’s chefs came up with special flavours such as Dulce De Leche and Bailey’s, prepared following a natural process.

“Our chefs enjoy immense autonomy to try new ideas. While Bailey’s formed a part of the original Indigo fine-dine menu, Dulce De Leche was originally created by the then brand chef Jaydeep Mukherjee and our executive pastry chef Suresh Kumar. I remember Jaydeep first finding the Dulce De Leche concentrate at a food fair. He just bought it because he liked the taste and after a few experimentations, came up with the ice cream,” said Niyati Parekh, co-owner

Dulce De Leche: This caramelised condensed milk and panna-based (cooked cream) ice cream, primarily has cream and milk. Rs 175 for single scoop and Rs 250 for double scoop.

Bailey’s: This variant is prepared with cream, milk, panna base, coffee, sugar and Baileys liqueur. Rs 175 for single scoop and Rs 250 for double scoop.

Available: Only in store at Quest mall.

Ice Cream Lab

This UAE-based brand that made its Calcutta debut last year, offers preservative-free and additive-free ice creams, prepared using liquid nitrogen. “We use liquid nitrogen as a medium to quickly freeze the ice cream base and it is all natural. Our ice creams are 100 per cent vegetarian and each has its unique taste. We can also turn any ice cream into shakes,” said Shahid Parvez, managing director.

Red Velvet: Prepared with red velvet muffin, this has a sweet and milky taste with red velvet chunks. Rs 139 for a scoop.

Salt Lick Crunch: This slightly salty ice cream with caramel notes, is prepared with vanilla, salted pretzels and caramel syrup. Rs 139 for a scoop.

To order: Call 8274007990/35102012. Orders will be delivered via Swiggy Genie.

Turkisyano Turkish Ice Cream

Founder Devendra Gupta started this ice cream parlour as a start-up after quitting his job as an Uber driver. “We introduced Turkish ice cream for the first time in eastern India, in Calcutta, as we always strive to introduce unique products as a company. With no experience in the food industry, I started working on different stages of this preparation through self-training from YouTube. The motto was to make everyone happy with the tricks and twists, major attraction of this kind of ice cream,” said Gupta, founder and chairman.

Turkish Pistachio: This flavour is prepared with a paste of pistachio nuts produced in Turkey among few other places, and orchid tubes that are responsible for the dense, stretchy and creamy texture. Rs 200 onwards.

To order: Via Swiggy or Zomato, or call the Lake Gardens, City Centre New Town outlets. Dial 7003158130, 9143781180.

The Frozen Tree

The Calcutta-based company offers crafted gourmet popsicles made with natural ingredients. Mango Rasmalai and Moroccan Mint Tea are two new flavours that were introduced last month as summer specials. Customised popsicle gift hampers are also available in a decorated gift box. “All flavours come from hand-picked fruits. Mango Rasmalai was introduced keeping in mind how people loved our Nolen Gur Rasgulla pops. It was also inspired by our mother’s own recipe of a mango dessert that we have grown up eating and eagerly wait for every summer. Moroccan mint tea is inspired from our travel diaries,” said Gunjan Agarwal, co-founder.

Mango Rasmalai: The sweet milky and rich malai layer on top has pista dust and fresh mango chunks with a spongy rosogolla inside. This feels like a frozen rasmalai on stick with the king of fruits elevating the taste. Rs 120 for a stick.

Moroccan Mint Tea: This sweet vegan popsicle with the freshness of mint and refreshing smell of tea, is prepared with fresh green tea leaves. Rs 120 for a stick.

To order: Via Swiggy or visit their page on Instagram; call or send a WhatsApp message on 918240874147.

Haagen-Dazs

The American ice cream brand that has been serving ice cream globally since the ’60s, sources its ingredients from all over the world to prepare its creamy ice creams. “The carefully controlled manufacturing process ensures that the ice crystals in Haagen-Dazs’ ice cream are infinitesimally small, resulting in the velvety smooth texture, for which Haagen-Dazs is famous the world over,” said Niyati Parekh, co-owner.

Macadamia Nut: The sweet and nutty ice cream is prepared by sourcing its main ingredient from temperate Hawaiian and South African groves. Rs 195 for a scoop.

Blueberries & Cream: This refreshing fruity indulgence is crafted with blueberries sourced from Europe and Canada. Rs 195 for a scoop.

To order: Via Swiggy and Zomato.

Mama Mia!

Mama Mia!, the brand that introduced the concept of gelato to India back in 2005 and adapted Italian processes and recipes with Indian twists, has introduced Thandai and Monk & Raisin as their summer specials. “Our company has always had a philosophy of experimentation and coming up with unique flavour variants so that we can offer something new to our customers. Thandai was part of our Holi specials and we got a great response for it and hence we have decided to continue for a few more months. Monk & Raisin was inspired by our other flavour, Black Label Chocolate, and is targeted at our adult fans,” said Adhiraj Thirani, director.

Thandai Gelato: Thandai has been reinvented in a gelato form that refreshes the taste buds with the sweet and aromatic saffron, spiciness of cardamom and black pepper, with an added texture of ground almonds. Rs 350 onwards for 500ml.

Monk & Raisin: Combining the flavour of the classic rum with raisins, this is prepared by soaking the raisins overnight in rum. A shot of espresso is poured over the scoop before serving, making it a unique recipe to relish. Rs 350 onwards for 500ml.

To order: Via Swiggy and Zomato.

Ice-O-Metry

Since 2018, Ice-O-Metry has been treating Calcuttans to their unique flavours and alcohol-infused ice creams. “We have introduced multiple twists on the good old iced dessert since the beginning. Our Coffila and Pina Colada flavours were introduced keeping in mind their connection with summer. They are 100 per cent natural too. So far, the response from the customers has been extremely positive,” said Nitya Bangur, founder and owner, Ice-O-Metry.

Coffila: This coffee and tequila ice cream is a 50-50 mixture of coffee and tequila. It doesn’t overwhelm the palate yet has the prominent alcohol and caffeine notes. Rs 120 for a scoop.

Pina Colada: This classic flavour combination of pineapple and coconut has a tangy, subtle sweet taste with the hint of bananas that leave a creamy texture on the palate along with prominent notes of pineapple, coconut and Bacardi. Rs 120 for a scoop.

To order: Via Swiggy and Zomato.

The Fat Little Penguin

This homegrown brand specialises in selling artisanal ice creams and was launched in 2019. “Our ice creams are made from scratch with choicest ingredients, churned in small batches and packaged by hand. Our swirls, fudge and sauces are all made in-house and layered into the tubs to create the perfect complex scoop. The add-in chunks like praline, cake, cookies are also made in-house. The Brown Butter Almond ice cream that is popular abroad, is however new to the city palate and we played around with the flavour to suit the Indian palate. Jalapeno Creamcheese is our newest flavour and I came up with this taking inspiration from a particular fun incident at my pastry school where a colleague out of compulsion had to create a desert with bell peppers and it turned out to be surprisingly amazing,” said Jayatri Biswas, owner and chef.

Brown Butter Almond: Brown Butter is prepared by the slow caramelisation of the milk solids in butter, a process called the Maillard reaction. It gives the taste of freshly baked goods with an overload of butter on the taste buds. Rs 290 for 250ml.

Jalapeno Creamcheese: Two biscuit layers sandwiching a salty vanilla cream with a pleasant surprise of a tart and spicy jalapeno in between. A combination of jalapenos, peppers and cream cheese are brought together to create this surprising ice cream. The sweet and sour cream cheese gives way to the spicy jalapeno stuffed inside. Rs 180 for a piece.

To order: Log on to www.thefatlittlepenguin.com to place your order. Prior booking on the website is mandatory.

Naturals

Serving ice creams since the 1980s and known for their seasonal fruit-based flavours, they introduced Chickoo and Anjeer long back but these continue to remain popular among its patrons even today. “We make our ice creams by using only three ingredients — fruits or dry fruits, milk and sugar. We even process our own fruits and all our machines are custom-made. We make ice cream the traditional artisan way through a batch process. With people of Calcutta, we were a hit even before we entered the city. Many guests of ours would stock up our ice creams in thermocol boxes when they flew back from Mumbai,” said Siddhant Kamath, director.

Chickoo: This slightly grainy textured ice cream is sure to remind you of the juicy and sweet fruit that is sprinkled in small pieces in every scoop. Rs 70 for a single scoop.

Anjeer: This creamy and sweet ice cream with a subtle caramel note is prepared with milk, anjeer and sugar. Rs 70 for a single scoop.

To order: Via Swiggy, Zomato and Thrive.

Xis O Krim

They have been serving Thailand’s special frozen dessert Thai roll ice cream or stir-fried ice cream in Calcutta since 2016. These ice cream rolls are prepared fresh in front of the customer. “We introduced this unique concept of live ice cream roll parlour in Calcutta. We only use cream and milk to make these ice cream rolls and we can do it with any flavour. Our most popular combination of ice cream is kiwi with chilli. People love this live roll ice cream because it is prepared fresh and in front of the guests, where they can choose the flavours and ingredients,” said Devendra Gupta, founder and chairman.

Kiwi Chilli: This unique combination of fresh flavours is perfect for the summers. Kiwi adds the sour taste, balanced out perfectly with a spicy note of green chillies. Rs 180

Tiramisu: This alcohol-infused flavour is a reincarnation of the classic coffee-flavoured Italian dessert into a frozen ice cream. Coffee and rum is used in the preparation. Rs 180

To order: Via Swiggy and Zomato.