The Divinity Within....

Review: Haagen Dazs

The most fond memories I have of my childhood is going with my family - parents, cousins et al to this ice cream parlour called Yankee Doodle’s at Marine Drive. We sat together on the bench swing, me holding on tight to my cone, wrapped in a tissue, licking my chocolate ice cream while the melted cream slithered around my hand and made its way to my dress. Life was carefree, homework the only biggest tension and ice creams the bestest thing in the world!

It’s raining outside, as I wait anxiously for the door to swing open. With every swing I spring to see, but no sign of him. I am at the Haagen Dazs, New York’s finest ice cream parlour, newly opened in Mumbai waiting for the glimpse of mi amour.

Reminiscing my childhood days, I wonder, if I can ever feel that carefree again? I look at the kids around and see their satisfied expressions while licking that dripping creamy ice cream and immediately come to a conclusion that ‘it's a child thing’. The innocence just fades, you get conditioned!

While waiting, I order for a Raspberry Sorbet... Rs 200 for one scoop! Hell this better be good. I take the first bite of crystallized ice cream – the tangy flavour is refreshing, but can’t sustain you for long. After a while you get bored and can’t eat much of it.

The door swings open, he walks in and my heart skips a beat. My arms fling open, as naturally as when bird unfurls ready to fly. A leap, a hug and there is electricity in the air!

 Banana Caramel Crepe

We order. The Banana Caramel Crepe - wafer thin French dessert drizzled with butterscotch sauce, one scoop of Dulce de Leche and another of Pralines & Cream on the side, scattered with banana slices and hazelnut bits. The entire combination – the buttery sauce, the rich ice creams, and the layered crepes can make the world seem like a better place!

We talk. Actually we talk a lot. I love talking to him. That’s the best part of being us. We can talk about anything under the sun.

Our next dessert is the Lone Ranger, these come in 3 different flavours, we order for the ‘Summer Berries & Cream’ one - summer and berries ice cream on a bed of raspberry sauce, some cream, raspberries and crushed biscuits. The ice cream’s fruity flavour combined with the rich dollop of cream below was yum. The only thing I didn’t like about this dessert was that the raspberries were frozen, once you put them in your mouth all you could taste was ice!

The Lone Ranger

We both are sarcastic in our own way, we share that. A sense of humour only we can understand. A side I could never share with the world, not many people appreciated cynicism. We let it out with each other, sometime we make fun of others, sometime poke fun at each other, sometimes try to hurt just so that we get attention. It’s our dark side, we may not be proud of it, but we live with the solace that there is one person in the world who will live with us inspite of it.

The fourth dessert (yes fourth! Statutory warning: These stunt i.e. eating four desserts I mean, can be performed only by experts...DO NOT TRY THIS on your own) was the Love in Belgium. Now this is a huge dessert! A lava cake with molten chocolate inside waiting to pour out with Belgian chocolate and normal chocolate ice cream on the side. But the best part of this dessert was two small pieces of flourless brownie. The moment we put it in our mouths – something happened, our eyes closed to fully taste the ambrosia, then opened we looked at each other and burst into laughter. Suddenly I was transported back on the swing of Yankee Doodle. Then came my moment of Epiphany!

Love in Belgium

Divinity lies within, it’s there somewhere, beneath the dust of cynicism, the cobweb of distrust, it’s there waiting for a trigger. Chocolate is the trigger, Love is the trigger!

A meal for 2 would cost between Rs.1000 -1500/-. Each dessert is in the range of 440 – 1300 bucks. But Haagen Dazs is a dessert meal not an after food option!

Verdict:

Food: Divine

Ambience: Serene

Service: Good

Quick Tip: Spread the joy, take your most favourite people here and experience the divine!

The Co-ordinates:

Haagen Dazs

Where: Palladium, High Street Phoenix, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Tring Tring: 022 43474449, 022 42952900, 022 42952902

Timings: 11:30 AM to 1 AM

Food Type: Dessert Meal

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted