Walking into an ice cream kitchen, the first thing that strikes you is that it’s very different from your regular old kitchen. Inside the barely-a-week-old Amadora, off the swanky Khader Nawaz Road, three freezers are buzzing away cheerily, loaded with finely-chopped fruit and a fresh vat of salty caramel sauce. A large metal contraption churns out a thick toothpaste-like flow of Belgian chocolate ice cream, while a bucket-full of sliced watermelon is being hand-sorted for seeds just a few feet away.
It’s the start of another day for Chennai’s newest ice cream man, Deepak Suresh. And the engineer-turned-gourmet ice cream chef armed himself with a month-long course on ice cream making from the Penn State University, before making the plunge. He says, “When I returned from the US a year ago, I wanted to do something with food and then, I remembered that the ice cream here was never on par with the kind that’s available abroad.” He goes on to clarify, “Don’t get me wrong, growing up in Chennai and enjoying the ice cream here is one thing, but once you start travelling, you realise that quality-wise, you’re getting shortchanged here.” So, Deepak started to experiment with flavours that he thought would stand out from the rest, and kept it fresh with no pre-mixes, essence or flavouring. He elaborates, “I wanted to give people classics like vanilla, but with authentic vanilla bean, and flavours that are typically Madras, like ‘Maami’s Filter Kaapi’.” He adds, “Whenever people see that on the menu, there’s always a big smile on their faces.” The best part is that, all the ice cream made at Amadora is produced from scratch at the store. “We pick fresh fruits from the Koyambedu market and I get around to churning out the day’s ice cream from about 9.30 am,” he says. All colour in the ice cream is derived from the fruit or other ingredients and every bit is made with TLC (tender loving care) by Deepak himself.
Other favourites include Salted Butter Caramel, a family-inspired Trifle pudding ice cream creation and refreshing Fresh Lime Sorbet.
So what’s next? Deepak says candidly, “I want Amadora to be a brand to reckon with in the future, which means we will be branching out to other cities.” He adds, “For now though, we’re just focusing on making great ice cream.” From the looks of the many customers who drop in for a scoop of heaven, mostly late at night, it looks like mission accomplished. And with no additional staff, save for his mother, aunt and cousin helping out, Deepak still manages to run a mini ice cream factory, hand over a waffle cone, and man the cashier, all the while bonding with customers. “I want to be a good host,” he shrugs with a smile, “and so far, people seem to really like the flavours I serve up.” No arguments there, grab a waffle cone and get in line.