Love & Lentil: Eat Out Reviews

There are two kinds of people in this world. One - people who like ice cream. Two - people who love ice creams. If you are someone who says ..Oh..I don't like ice cream, here's my response - Please go back to your planet.

Today's post is a review on a ice cream joint in the San Francisco area. So, this place I'm talking about here is just where you should go to sit down and chat with your buddy, be it your best friend or an office colleague or even your long time crush! And not just chat. The fun time should be spent along with a big bowl of your favorite ice cream.

I've said it a couple of times. This blog has bought me many good tidings along with some great friends. And I have this big group of girls that I got introduced to through the blog. We got talking, one thing lead to the other - and now we are all good friends. I've even visited them a couple of times now and had the best time with loads of fun.

One of the friends from that group is another Anu and the first time I met them, she was talking to be about this new venture she was going to undertake - an ice cream shop. Wow. And by the time I visited them the second time, her place was open and was booming and making a lot of people happy. I had to visit of course. And I did. Twice. I loved loved the ice creams, and even though she did not ask me to do a review on the blog, I wanted to do one. So, I requested her if I could take pictures of her place and do a post on the blog. She gave me her go ahead and that's why we are here now. She did not ask to write anything in particular about the ice creams - she gave me full freedom to write what I want. But then she also gave me the ice cream. That made the deal. The product does not need selling people. I told her that I'm willing to work for her and she can pay me with just a scoop of each flavor every hour. The only thing I wish now is that I had one of these places closer to me. Anu, maybe its time for a franchisee in our neck of the woods.

And this cozy shack is aptly called Nirvanaah. Probably for the way you feel after you've eaten their ice cream.

The big difference between this place and the others is that all their ice creams are vegetarian and also eggless ice creams. And they have all of the specialty Indian ice cream flavors.

There's the wall of opportunity. Pick how you'd like your happiness served!

Some of their specialty flavors include Sitaphal, Mava Kulfi, Thandai and many more. They also carry Falooda, Cassata, Malai Kufli and other very popular Indian flavors.

I loved the colorful display and trust me - it was way too difficult for me to make a choice. So, I tasted every single one of them! What if I had missed a great flavor - no taking chances here.

Some of the flavors here - Alphonso Mango, Black currant, Orange Pineapple, Coconut water icecream (was awesome!), Strawberry, Guava, Pistachio, Kesar Badam, Coffee, Chocolate and many many more.

This one here, people, is Pan Masala. Yes, Pan Masala. The one you eat after a hearty meal back in India. And this ice cream tastes exactly like that but won't turn your tongue red. There are pieces of betel nut, betel leaf, fennel seeds and the pan masala in here that you actually bite into.

This was one of my other favorite flavors - English Toffee - absolutely creamy and delicious. I had a full scoop of this and was satisfied beyond imagination!

Just in case you can't eat them all in there, take a pack home where you can finish it off without anyone judging you.

This is the hard part to do..

I didn't have a shake..rather I was too full after everything else - so saved my shake-a-quake for the next time.

They also make cakes for birthdays and other occasions.

Or you can even order custom character cakes for your little kids' birthday. I saw a Dr. Suess cake and it looked super pretty!

This was the flavor of the month - Sitaphal. I'm not a big fan of the actual fruit - but this tasted delicious.

And you can always top your ice cream with some nuts or sprinkles. Just for an extra kick. My little one had hers of course with the chocolate sprinkles!

So what was finally my favorite flavor - the Malai Kulfi. This is usually stored as a big slab and when you order, the nice people cut it into little cubes and serve in a cup. Reminded me of my growing up days in India where we would have the kulfi-wala ringing the bell in his little wheeled cart and going from house to house selling kulfi. As little kids, we would sit out in our house entrance steps and wait for him to come exactly at 9:30 in the night. And then, we would all order our kulfi's and he would take a big banana leaf, cut up the kulfis and serve with a very limp spoon. This will remind you of that if you have eaten the street kulfis except of course this is made with top quality ingredients and you can taste that. So, whatever you order, get this one along with it and taste it just because I say so. You'll thank me.