Mövenpick Ice Cream Taste-Off.

The ice cream scene in Colombo has been picking up the last couple of years, and boy aren't we glad! Last time we checked, there were 14 independent ice cream parlours in Colombo. The veterans like Rio, Il Gelato and Carnival have being consistently good at what they do, and Isle of Gelato, Jolly's and Roots Gelato whipping up new creative flavours, while home-based ice creameries like King Cone Ice Cream ² entering the fray, there are plenty of places here for us to get our ice cream fix.

Mövenpick ice cream has been in Sri Lanka for quite a while now. Crafted so passionately with the finest ingredients, and paired with the artistry of Swiss ice cream, these stuff are one of a kind.

So this time, YAMU decided to bring these delightful, creamy, cold indulgences to a single table for a taste-off.

The Flavours

Mövenpick's ice cream comes in eight distinct flavours – Caramelita, Crème Brûlée, Maple Walnut, Stracciatella, Strawberry, Swiss Chocolate, Tiramisu and Vanilla Dream. They also do four flavours of sorbets – Yoghurt, Mango, Blackcurrant and Raspberry.

You can grab yourself a scoop at Mövenpick’s Lobby Lounge, Brasserie, Robata Grill and Lounge, AYU and the Vistas Rooftop Bar. Or simply drop by the Arpico – Hyde Park and the Cargills Food City down Staple Street. They are available in 100ml cups, 500ml and 1-litre tubs.

In this taste-off, we have rounded up only five of the ice cream flavours, which were available at the aforementioned supermarkets. Priced at Rs. 395, these are 100ml cups.

Vanilla Dream

Starting with the simplest flavour out of the lot – the Vanilla Dream. Vanilla is a flavour that has never floated my boat, but I must say that I quite enjoyed this one. The vanilla flavour that shone through the light, yet creamy texture of the ice cream was quite strong, but not in an overly sweet way. A scoop of this would do really nice with some hot fudge, or choco-nut brownies.

Caramelita

Talk about being hit over the head with a load of flavours – Mövenpick's Caramelita ice cream was pure caramel bliss! With well-distributed swirls of caramel to go with every spoonful, this one also had quite a bit of crispy biscotti bits to make it much more interesting. The texture was so smooth and scooped easily – we loved this one.

Maple Walnut

Harmonising the flavours of good old Maple syrup and bits of caramelised walnut to perfection, this was a pleasure to dive in. In every spoonful, we could see how the ripples of maple syrup evenly dispersed throughout its silky texture. There was a good balance between milky and sweet flavours, while the walnut bits added a welcoming crunch.

Swiss Chocolate

This is probably our favourite one out of the lot. Reminiscing the flavour palette of the Swiss chocolate, this one also had a handful of Maracaibo Cocoa shavings, which enriched its flavour even more. The dark chocolate notes here were so intense – quite similar to what we experienced during our review of King Cone Ice Cream ²'s Double Dutch ice cream.

Strawberry

Presenting a dash of real strawberry bits, this one is every strawberry lover's dream. It's not the weirdly pink coloured strawberry ice cream that you'll come across in some local brands. The colour here was almost red, and we enjoyed catching a whiff of natural strawberries in it. In terms of flavour, its sweet and sour elements were well-balanced and certainly had the fruity notes of fresh strawberries packed so neatly in it.

Conclusion

We were super excited to try the Crème Brûlée, Stracciatella, and Tiramisu ice cream flavours, but I guess we have to wait a while until the stocks come in. Anyway, we quite enjoyed all the flavours we found. True – it's expensive (I mean, almost Rs. 400 for a cup is not the most affordable option). But we'd say, it's worth it, considering the significant and successful flavours that they offer.