You don’t need an introduction to food thalis, but mention an ‘Ice cream Thali’ and it is sure to elicit ‘A what?’ But we assure you, it does exist and it tastes good. Kiga Foods Pvt Ltd, a city-based food company, has conceptualised Kiga Ice Cream, where ice creams are served in the form of thalis. And hold your breath, it gets more interesting, the flavours are not vanilla or strawberry, they taste like traditional Maharashtrian dishes. Now, this calls for a visit.
Kiran Salunkhe and Ganesh Gosavi, two MBA students, started their production unit at Shirur in 2018. Last October, they started their factory outlet of Kiga Ice Cream at Bajirao Road. This was followed by six franchises in Pune, including Hadapsar (near D-Mart), Katraj (near Bharati Vidyapeeth), Wagholi (near Ivy Estate), Bhekrai Nagar in Phursungi, Krishna Chowk at Sangavi and Ravet. They have a total of 19 franchises all over Maharashtra.
Telling us how they came up with this innovative concept, Gosavi says, “After thinking over it for a long time, we realised that there was no place serving ice cream thalis having flavours of traditional Maharashtrian dishes. And that’s how Ice Cream Thali was conceptualised.”
We made a visit to their factory outlet at Bajirao Road earlier this week. The factory outlet was more like a normal restaurant. But the frames on the walls with photographs of their ice creams did speak of their uniqueness. Currently, the ice cream parlour offers Peshwai Thali, Classic Thali, Chocolate Thali, Baalraje Thali and Upwas Thali.
“We manufacture the ice cream at the Shirur plant. The shelf life of our product is up to 9-10 months provided it is stored under minus 20 degree Celsius,” informs Gosavi adding, “The flavours served at each and every franchise are the same.”
Peshwai Thali has an ice cream platter consisting of Sajuk Tupatil Puranpoli, Sajuk Tupatil Ukadiche Modak, Shahi Meva Kheer, Shahi Gulkand, Tilgulache Ladu, Badam Royal Creame, Gajar Badam Halwa, Special Mango Mastanai and Special Dryfruits.
Classic Thali offers flavours like American Nuts, Butterscotch, Birthday Cake Special, Panipuri, Kasata, Pineapple Mastani. Chocolate Thalli has ice cream varieties like Belgian Chocolate Choco Chips, Cold Coffee with Softy, Death By Chocolate Mastani, Cappuccino Brownie and Choco Filter Coffee.
Upwas Thali has Special Khajur ice cream, Special Ratalya Halwa and Special Banana ice cream. Balraje Thali has flavours like Kids Candy / Cotton Candy, Belgium Chocolate Choco Chips, Special Kiga Thick Coffee With Softy, Strawberry Cookies, Modak and Sweet Corn.
There are 48 types of natural-flavoured ice creams, which are prepared from natural ingredients. Says Gosavi, “For example, if we are making Misal Ice Cream, we grind all the misal ingredients and mix it into the ice cream. This makes the Misal Ice Cream 70 per cent pungent.”
Usually, ice creams are sweet, but at Kiga, the Pani Puri, Misal and Peru flavours are spicy. Misal Ice Cream, which also has sev in it, tastes just like Misal. The Pani Puri Ice Cream which also has sev, gives you the thrill of having Pani Puri in a new way.
The Peru Ice Cream, which has masala sprinkled on it, tastes just like the natural peru (guava) with a pinch of masala on it.
We also tasted Puranpoli, Modak, Sheer Khurma ice creams and indulged in Peshwai Thali. The best thing about these ice creams is that there is nothing artificial about them.
While we were enjoying Peshwai Thali, a customer named Yogita Shelar walked in and ordered Upwas Thali. Shelar said, “We are having this kind of thali for the first time and each and every flavour in the thali tastes exactly like the original dish it has been named after, which is such a unique thing.”
Shivanjali Bhosale, another customer, ordered Gulkand Ice Cream and she confirmed that the ice cream had the original flavour of gulkand in it.
Apart from the thalis, one can also have ice creams in various flavours such as Chai Pani, Paan, Panipuri, Puranpoli, Misal, Tilgulache Ladoo, Sheer Khurma etc. Those who want to cut down calories also have the option to choose a sugar-free option.
Kiga also serves Milkshake, Falooda, Cold Coffee, Mastani etc. However, their Peshwai Thali, which has the flavours of all traditional Maharashtrian delicacies, is much in demand. The ice-cream parlour also offers Rainbow Sundae that has seven different types of flavours served in a glass. If you love Mastani, you have an array of options to choose from — mango, gulkand, pineapple, sitaphal, anjir and other such flavours. While the different flavours of ice creams are priced between Rs 40 and 110, the thalis are priced between Rs 90 and 250.
With summer here, can you resist the temptation of an Ice Cream Thali?
