Who says ice creams are just for summer! Savouring a scoop on a rainy day is just the same to us! As the downpour in Kolkata brings the joys of monsoon, artisanal ice-cream brand The Fat Little Penguin (TFLP), is calling all pengui… erm… ice-cream lovers to waddle into their scoop shop.
Located at 11C, Palm Avenue, Ballygunge (see here for exact location on Google Maps), their little shop gives you a chance to satiate your frozen dessert cravings.
The shop in Ballygunge can seat about 10 people
The cosy space, which seats about 10 people, is done up with colourful wooden tables and high chairs. You can have your own little nook and feel comfy at the balcony, decorated with various plants. The best part, apart from the feel-good home-like vibes, is that there’s an in-house chef who can cater to your sweet cravings with ice creams that can be customised on request — you can choose to have an extra hit of Nutella or a stronger Biscoff flavour or just a extra helping of the After Dark.
“We’d like more people to experience our freshly-churned ice creams from our scoop shop,” said the founder of The Fat Little Penguin, Jayatri Biswas, a trained pastry chef from Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts, who has worked under celebrated New York pastry chef Dominique Ansel (the inventor of the cronut).
In a span of three years, TFLP has evolved from being a cloud kitchen to catering top gigs at private gatherings in Kolkata. The ice-cream brand also distributes its large-quantity options across India through orders on the TFLP website. “Hyderabad and Delhi are in love with The Fat Little Penguin, and it’s all through word of mouth,” said Biswas.
Jayatri Biswas, founder of The Fat Little Penguin
Here’s the scoop
Best-sellers: The top sellers are After Dark and Nutella. The first one has light and dark chocolate mixed with feuilletine — shards of crispy French crepe, while the Nutella version comes highly recommended by chef Pritha Majumder, and the flavours stays true to the name. Both are available for Rs 160.
Also among the pop picks are the Mini Sandwiches, made with crunchy in-house cookies with vanilla, chocolate, and coffee-flavoured ice cream in between. A box with 12 costs Rs 1,050.
L-R: After Dark and Mango Cheesecake
Seasonal best-sellers: Currently, the Mango Cheesecake, a mix of mango sorbet and cheesecake ice-cream, is flying off the shelf for Rs 160 given it’s the season of mangoes. The Tarty Lemon ice cream has also done very well due to its fresh, clean taste, with flavours of lemon curd. This one comes at Rs 130.
Freshness is key
This Kolkata-based ice-cream brand, puts forward a pertinent query to all ice-cream loving minds — are you being served frozen dessert in the garb of an ice cream?
What many brands advertise as ice cream, is actually void of dairy content, making it a frozen dessert, rather than an ice cream. On the other hand, The Fat Little Penguin claims that it maintains 70 per cent dairy content in the base of all their products.
L-R: Tarty lemon, Lotsa Nutella, Mango Cheesecake, Salted Caramel, Black Forest flavours on display
“The fresher the ice cream, the more you get to relish the authenticity. When transporting our products, it’s preferred to order in tubs rather in lesser quantities. The shelf life for these are good for a month,” said Biswas.
The Fat Little Penguin Scoop Shop
Location: 11C Palm Avenue, Ballygunge
Best sellers: After Dark and Nutella (all-time), Mango Cheesecake and Tarty Lemon (seasonal)
How to order: You can get TFLP ice cream delivered at your doorstep from their website/Swiggy/Zomato