The newest global food trend has finally come to Prishtina: Tai Sweet has instagram-perfect Thai rolled ice cream, but we’d like to see some more flavor options.
Tai Sweets rolled up to Prishtina with its ice cream rolls, which come in a few flavours with several toppings, only last week. But this correspondent was too excited not to try it immediately after the hole-in-the wall ‘gelateria’ turned on its lights.
A tiny counter cub next to downtown Prishtina’s famous bar Lulu’s (which is currently on a hiatus), Tai Sweets will most definitely attract Prishtina crowds through its novelty ice cream – rolled ice.
Despite being an Asian sweets staple, rolled ice cream only hit the western world last year. Meanwhile, in Prishtina, ice-cream choices have been limited to styles served by the famed Elida (in the Palace of Youth and Sport) and the conveniently located Metropol (on Mother Teresa Boulevard), or the home-made variety served by Trosha (on Rexhep Luci Street). While many a sweetshop can make a killer ‘Facebook’ ice cream flavor (yes, it’s blue), they all taste practically the same.
Which is why Thai ice rolls are an event for any Prishtinali with a sweet tooth.
Here, one can order the ice cream rolls with two different bases, yoghurt or cream, in cheekily named flavors such as “In luv wit’ coco” (in love with the coco), Choco Overdose, or even the raspberry-infused Ndre Mjedrra (a pun on the name of classic Albanian author Ndre Mjeda). At last, one can add as many toppings as one desires, including M&Ms, crushed Oreo cookies, chocolate, strawberries, raspberries, and various syrups. There are no seats, so be prepared to devour your treat walking in the sizzling hot streets of the city, or at a cafe nearby.
The liquid base is first poured out onto a freezing platter, like an inverted pancake pan. Based on what flavour one orders, the kind and quick servers chop up the ingredients into the ice cream and mix the contents until frozen (right in front of you!). The ice cream is then flattened on the platter and scraped into rolls. Once the rolls are snugly stuffed into a Tai Rolls’ paper cup, you can add toppings, and voila, you’re no longer the owner of a flat tummy.
When we visited, they had run out of the yoghurt base, so we ended up getting ‘Choco Overdose’ ice cream with strawberries and raspberries. The ice cream flavour was a little bland, but then again, aren’t these rolls all about the toppings? In my case – since they were healthy fruits – they helped only a little. I also tried Caps Lock – a banana and cookie flavored ice cream, which was a little better, but still fell short of spectacular.
We also tried the ‘In luv’ wit’ coco,’ a coconut ice cream mixed with Kinder Bueno chocolate bars, which was surprisingly served with only the chocolate bar and coconut flakes as toppings.
While we wish we’d see more exotic flavors and toppings (a mango base anyone?), with a price of only 1.5 euros for a cup, no matter how many toppings you add, Tai Sweets ice cream rolls are worth trying. Alas, don’t expect this to be the best ice cream you eat this year.
18 July 2017 - 11:33
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