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V Try U Buy - Kulfi

Nov 06 2013.

To those of you who aren’t familiar with this yummy dessert, it is a frozen dairy delicacy from the Indian kitchen. You may hear one casually describing this as the “Indian ice-cream.”

Although quite similar to ice cream, since it’s frozen and dairy, kulfi has an unbeatable flavour. It is truly the best of both worlds – a frozen dessert that has the flavour of an Indian sweet. If you haven’t had it yet, it is a must try Indian dessert, even more so because you get to enjoy the irresistible rich flavour of Indian sweets, without feeling guilty about the oil or sweet content. It may not be too popular over here, nevertheless, there’s no denying its taste once you’ve had it, and we suggest you do.

We checked in at some Indian restaurants in Colombo to try out this dessert. Ironically, we found some good kulfis being served only upon request and were not on the menu!

It is a pity indeed if you miss out on it thereby. A rather gratifying round this time, we loved all five kulfis, they tasted good in their different ways. Our ratings are below.

The kulfis at Navayuga & Navratna are our personal favourites. What’s yours?

	Plain Kulfi Red Fort - (No.2, Victoria Place, Elvitigala Mawatha, Colombo 08)
Taste	*** * * ***
Price	Rs.275+ service charge and taxes
Value for money	Average
Variety	None
Overall	The kulfi we ate was delicious, milky and extremely refreshing, much like an iced, frozen Rasogolla sweet. It was served on a small plate in thick slices, which seemed to melt quite fast but we came to realize later that kulfi melts faster than regular ice cream. You won’t find kulfi on the menu at Red Fort so you will have to ask a waiter and they will serve you promptly.

	Mango Kulfi Chutneys, Cinnamon Grand
Taste	*** * * ***
Price	Rs.290+ service charge and taxes
Value for money	High
Variety	Chutneys serves two other variants of kulfi which are cinnamon and saffron.
Overall	Imagine a frozen mango smoothie ice cream, and this was exactly what we thought when we delved into the little bowl of delicious orange ice cream served with a sprinkling of sliced almonds. A very light dessert, the mango kulfi comes highly recommended as it is filled with a delicate mango flavour along with little cubes of frozen mango embedded in the dessert.

	Plain Kulfi Navayuga (No.9, Abdul Caffoor Mawatha, Colombo 03)
Taste	*** * * * ***
Price	Rs.280 + service charge and taxes
Value for money	High
Variety	None
Overall	Kulfi isn’t listed down on the menu at Navayuga, which is a real pity because it was one of the two favourites we picked. The yoghurt cup shaped block of kulfi was rather frozen solid when it was served, and it was extremely creamy and thick with a subtle hint of cardamom and chopped nuts in each frozen but delicious bite.

	Malai Kulfi Navratna, Taj Samudra
Taste	*** * * * ***
Price	Rs.625+ service charge and taxes
Value for money	Average
Variety	Navratna serves a mango kulfi too but the Malai kulfi came highly recommended by the waiter serving us.
Overall	Strong hints of cardamom penetrated this kulfi, which was presented in the way of four quarter shaped blocks topped with almond and pistachio shavings. Creamy, thick and frozen deliciousness despite being rather expensive.

	Plain Kulfi The Mango Tree (No.82, Dharmapala Mawatha, Colombo 03)
Taste	*** * * ***
Price	Rs.450+ service charge and taxes
Value for money	Average
Variety	None
Overall	The plain kulfi was subtle in its milky flavour and not too thick, overly creamy or sweet, but just frozen and refreshing. It was served as thick slices topped with almond and pistachio shavings.