The road to House Khas village is always dilapidated. Traffic jams, screaming sign boards tempt you to get drunk quickly and cheaply, shady salesmen chatting ‘Ladies Night, Ladies Night’ throughout the week, loud music coming out of pubs, and an endless stream of people wandering incessantly. During one such busy evening trip, I discovered an ice cream boutique on my way to a restaurant. I read the ‘Hockey Pok’ sign board. The name aroused my curiosity.
As it turns out, this Mumbai-based brand is much more than just a fun wordplay. They specialize in creating ice cream by mixing different flavors called ‘Cold Stone Slab’, which is set at -23 degrees. You can choose from a wide range of flavors like Falling ‘Double Chocolate Therapy’, ‘Mad King Alfonso’, ‘Night in Armor’, ‘Chocolate Assassin’, ‘Live and Laugh Brownie Break’, ‘Fusi French Vanilla’.
The Hokey Pokey boys are creating a chocolate-based creation.
But the best part? You can create your own! This is when you feel like a part of the experience. The guys at the back of the counter did a great show, cutting and blending their way to create some weird designs.
I tried one of their own creations called ‘Very Very Berry’, which is basically strawberry ice cream that is decorated with sweet rainbow sprinkles, jujubes, glue fruit and gems. Overall the ice cream was light, fragrant, not too sweet, and presented well.
Hokey Pokey’s Very Very Berry Creation
Their other highlight is Double Chocolate Therapy. It’s a delicate blend of dark Belgian chocolate ice cream with brownie, dark chocolate fudge and nutella. The ice cream is rich in flavor, it has a slight bitterness, but it is well appreciated by the soft-textured dark chocolate fudge. This is quite obvious for fans of dark chocolate. The company claims they use only natural ingredients and fresh fruit extract. Their ice creams are also 100% eggless, which is good news for vegetarians.
And while you’re enjoying your creations, there’s something you can totally miss first: a separate kiosk with a television and headphones to watch the documentary. It’s a great effort to make the experience more inclusive and special.
But sometimes, it takes more than just good service and environment to make an impression. Hokey Pokey guys seem to understand it well. Employees are not only trained and humble, they do not hesitate to leave their way to please someone.
Hokey Pokey staff is offering pieces of chocolate.
In this case, this little one, and his parents. And as I was about to go out, the man behind the counter offered me a napkin and it read “Be Stoned”. I laughed, and all at once, all the heavy distortions of a packed HKV faded. I got what I missed the most from an experience for a long time: Madness!
