If there's one city that loves its ice cream as much as its IPL team it's Chennai. For most of us, no IPL or International cricket game is complete without a visit to the ice cream kiosks around the stadium. My first memories of cricket games at Chepauk aka the MA Chidambaram Stadium (or just MAC) always revolve around polishing off a few Choco bars.
That hasn't changed to this day. Most Chennaites will tell you that the city is the ice cream capital of India. There's enough evidence to back this audacious claim.
The city's ice cream landscape was dominated by local players through much of the 20th century. Brands like Dasaprakash, Joy and Buhari ruled the roost even as newer players like Arun entered the scene. While most of these were grab-and-go options, the city saw the emergence of ice cream parlours from brands like Chit Chat and Snofield that still serve old-school sundaes like they used to in the 1980s.
The gourmet wave of gelaterias and the premiumisation of ice cream happened in the 2010s and then came the pandemic and the rise of the homegrown (literally) cloud kitchens that morphed into gourmet ice cream and gelato destinations. We take you through some of the city's must-try ice cream stops in a fun trail: 1. Ciclo Cafe We were at the sneak peek a few months ago when Ciclo's Kotturpuram outlet showcased Scoops by Ciclo that's fronted by Sanjana Ramesh, who helms the production of one of the city's most delicious ice creams.
Sanjana has leveraged her experience in.