CHENNAI: Before the advent of the Feast or the more upmarket Magnum, there was the ever classic chocobar. And ice cream enthusiast or not, one has to admit we’ve all bought one (or several) as kids. Clutching on to the stick and trying one’s very best to prevent the fast melting vanilla dripping from on to your hand...those are fleeting moments that childhood memories are made of. So imagine our surprise when we heard that one of the city’s most popular ice cream haunts in Nungambakkam is gearing up to introduce their ‘handmade chocobars’ in retail stores by the end of July. And here’s where things get even more exciting – it comes in not one, but six all- flavour combinations ranging from a Madras-style Filter Kaapi to Banana Mocha. Says the man behind it all, Deepak Suresh, owner of Amadora in Nungambakkam, “I’ve always loved chocobars as a kid and so we decided to do a little experimenting and so far people seem to love it.”
And the six options that are planned to hit retail outlets around the city are already available at Amadora – these range from a classic soft vanilla interior to Chocolate Caramel (chocolate ice cream with a gooey caramel swirl), Filter Kaapi (procured all the way from the Sethuraman estate in Chikmagalur) and Banana Mocha (banana ice cream with a chocolate + coffee coating). “Each one is dipped in premium quality Callibut Belgian Chocolate,” explains Deepak. This explains their whopping rate per piece as well, a flat `100 for all. And if you thought that was it, wait till you hear this. There are even two fair and lovely white chocobar variants, a Vanilla Raspberry (with vanilla ice cream and raspberry coulis) and a desi-inspired Kala Jamun (vanilla ice cream with bits of kala jamun)!
“We’ve been playing around with chocobars for a year now,” the proprietor of Amadora tells us. He adds, “And with our staff I think we can easily dish out about 500 chocobars a day to start with.” Incidentally, Deepak is also planning vending machines for customer hotspots like the airport, although he states this is all in talks at the moment.
Given the size of their 60 gram chocobar, that is comparatively smaller than average purchase off an ice cream push cart and the fact that very soon this will be the most expensive chocobar in town – one has to wonder out loud: will it work in retail? “You can’t compromise on quality and bring your rate down,” responds Deepak. But he sounds supremely confident when he leaves us with, “So I guess we’ll know soon enough.”