Roda Aunty or her Ice Cream?

I can’t decide which one I adore more! :D

We were sitting on the plastic chairs at K. Rustom, trying to decide which scrumptious ice cream sandwich to have next, when this tiny bespectacled lady from behind the cashier’s desk got up, shuffled off into the factory behind, came out a few moments later holding a little plastic cup, walked up to us, and said with a cute little smile: ‘Here, try this. It’s a little experiment.” And that’s how we got chatting.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, K. Rustom is an ice cream parlour in Churchgate, South Mumbai, extremely popular for its ice cream sandwich: a thick slice of ice cream (pick any flavor from their menu) sandwiched between two thin sheets of crisp wafers, the entire thing held in a piece of butter paper and bitten into directly! The wafers are placed on either side of the ice cream slice just before it is handed to you, creating a cold, creamy crunchy treat -- its fabulous!

Picture courtesy www.foodspotting.com

K. Rustom & Co. began in 1953 as a chemist shop, tobacconist and general provision store, with a small ice cream counter on the side. Today there is no trace of the chemist shop, but the ice cream parlour is a name recognized across the city of Mumbai. And Roda Irani, the aforementioned bespectacled lady, is one of four daughters of the founder!

Roda Aunty was a tiny lady with a large complexly intertwined bun of hair behind her head. She had a witty sense of humour and was full of stories to tell. We chatted about the original chemist shop and about a Santa Cruz branch they had once opened… she told me about a nephew and a niece of hers (both chefs)… and about her search for a quicker, more efficient method to cut the solid slabs of ice cream into proper slices for the sandwiches.

And then came the best part! Anybody who loves K. Rustom ice cream can imagine how thrilled I was when I was actually invited to see how it’s made!!

I was given a quick tour of the factory by Roda Aunty herself. I saw the gleaming steel equipment, got to know about the two-day long process that goes into making the delicious, authentic ice cream, heard about the various flavours… it was all so exciting!

As we were leaving, my father – himself an ice cream fanatic – said to me in an awestruck voice: “Forty five years! Forty-five years I’ve been eating ice cream sandwiches at K. Rustom’s, and not once have I even been acknowledged by any of the owners. And here you are, on your third visit, not only chatting with the owner, but also being invited to see the factory behind the shop!!!”

Roda Aunty must have instinctively recognized the ice cream lover in me, to share so much with me, a customer she’d never met before!

So now I really cannot decide which I adore more, Roda Aunty or her ice cream…