Chaat Meets Ice Cream – At Papacream!

Situated in a tiny lane in the heart of Oshiwara, Papacream is a cute and inviting ice cream parlour that offers an assortment of yummy desserts. They have two other outlets as well – at Juhu, and Churchgate.
Prior to our visit to Papacream, I had read a lot about them on the internet, and was extremely keen to try out the Pani Puri sorbet, a signature dish on their menu. We went there on a Sunday at about six in the evening, and it was crowded. Parking can be a bit of a hassle too, especially if you head over to this place on a weekend. Also, their seating area is a bit limited, so it gets full within minutes.

Decor and Ambience

This tiny ice cream parlour is simple, with a touch of funk. The ambience is pleasant, and the atmosphere is cheerful. The interiors are mostly done up in white, with pastel colors that give the place a calm, soothing feel. Their seating arrangements vary – they have couches with tables, bar stools with a counter and also an outdoor seating. In fact, I’d like to give them full marks, for making good use of every bit of space available, in the most innovative way possible.

Food

Papacream has a variety of sorbets, ice creams, waffle sundaes, milkshakes and beverages. Their signature desserts are the Pani Puri Sorbet, the Hummus Ice Cream, Cookiewich, Cookie Sushi Roll and Madras Sorbet.
We called for the much-awaited Pani Puri Sorbet and a Belgian Chocolate Milkshake.
The Pani Puri Sorbet was, to summarize in one word – quirky. Served in a small paper box, this dish encompassed crunchy puris, topped with mashed potato mousse and garnished with coriander, and the Pani sorbet. The puris were firm and crispy, and the sorbet was your regular Pani – frozen and served in a cup. The frozen Pani had a pretty strong, sharp taste, and after a while we ended up finishing the puris with the potato mousse, and were left with just the sorbet part (which you can’t finish by itself because it’s just that strong!) It could have been better, and the aftertaste it left urged us to call for another dessert. But it was an ingenious remix of an Indian street food classic, and definitely high on the uniqueness factor.

The Belgian chocolate shake was yummy and irresistible! In fact, it was a sweet and welcome change indeed after the sorbet. Chocolate milkshake, topped with little bits of choco chips was surrounded by crispy cornflakes. The chocochips and cornflakes added just the right amount of intermittent bitterness and crunch to this absolutely delicious milkshake.

Service

This is one aspect which calls for improvement. Papacream needs to step up on the service front, because it is extremely slow. They took a long time to make a note of our order, and there was quite a queue at the cash counter. Moreover, we had to wait for a good 20-25 minutes for a single dish, and I ended up going to the counter multiple times to enquire about our order.

Overall, we had a great experience. Could it have been better? Yes, absolutely! Nevertheless, these things can be worked upon, and I’d definitely like to visit this place again, to dig into their range of unique desserts and unconventional ice creams!