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" Gelateria", the hot hew ice-cream parlour opening today, is sure to be a cool place to hang out and beat the heat.
Let's face it ice-cream in Dhaka has hit rock-bottom. There are two kinds of brands. There are those you cannot consider because eating them would make you the three thousand and fifteenth victim of food poisoning this month; then there are the better-quality names. Luckily these are labelled 'ice-cream', but you would never guess from the way they taste.
Well, good news. A hot new ice-cream parlour is opening in town. Today. Right underneath the Italian restaurant Dolce Vita, on Ba nani's Kemal Ataturk Avenue. The decor is original, the premises spanking clean, and best of all. the ice-cream delicious. The place is called 'Dolce Vita Gelateria'. as this is Itallan-style ice-cream, known in la bella Italia as 'gelato' (literally, 'frozen').
Flavours include lime, papaya, chocolate, vanilla, and a mouth-watering mocha, made with real coffee. The texture is light, and the frutt flavours made from fresh fruit. Says Akhtar Chowdhury, the man behind Dolce Vita and Creative Centre. "I've been planning this for over a year. There just isn't any good ice-cream here, or a decent enough place to eat it. 1 went to Milano and learnt the technique. 1 got the machines on lease. What we're very particular about is the hygiene."
He plans to have outlets, selling his 'Gelato' at different stores, and eventually branches. "One at Dhanmondi, because there’s a big clientele. Then someday a cafe-style thing on Bailey Road, for the theatre-goers. You know.
Jhe cultural cafe, maybe some live music."
In other words, not just a place to eat but a place to hang out. Something everyone from teenagers to retired couples crave. The Gelateria has good ice-cream, but it also has a welcoming interior. Walls, covered with rainbow colours; colour dripping Into pools on the floor (a very effective touch); bright lights in Jaunty PVC tubes; snazzy red and black counters; all created In Bangladesh. The interior design is by Akhtar himself, while he enlisted Kalldas Karmokar to splash the paint on the walls, together with Akhtar's four-year old son.
"Eventually, we'll have lots of flavours, like lychee in lychee season, mango during mango season. And I'm making butter brittle to go with the vanilla." The milk they use is fresh, then pasteurized with an Italian machine. The machine works for four hours, with the base of ' sugar, milk, and water. Temperature goes from 86 to 2 degrees. Then we chum for eight hours. This is where most ice-cream companies skimp and save time. The texture depends on the churning. Once it's taken out. we add the flavour. It's still fairly liquid, so it goes in the batch freezer." The quality of an icecream is decided by the levels of milk and water, and by the freshness of the ingredients. Which explains why Gelateria ice-cream is so good.
And also explains why it's expensive. Using top-notch ingredients and controlling cleanliness constantly leads to a scoop for Tk. 20 to 25. and a litre pack for 150. So grab your Eid money and head for the Gelateria for the best ice-cream in town. .