Famous Ice Cream

You can't have lived in Hyderabad for any significant amount of time and not have ever heard of Famous, even if you're one of the very few people that's never made it here. It's not often that a good thing stays a good thing for so long. The fruit ice-creams here are just as delicious as they've always been, and they're still sold for Rs. 6 per generous helping (as we write this in August 2004). It's a simple, yet thoroughly effective, formula. And even though now Famous isn't the only place with the secret recipe - it shares premises with at three other stalls - the ice-creams still go by the same brand name.

Situated right in the middle of a hectic crossroads, Famous is perpetually crowded, but the ingenious vendors will still find place for you. Usually at the risk of one or two parking violations. The place used to have a sizeable parking lot that has now completely been taken over by the ever-expanding number of tables. And for the complete experience, you must eat your ice-cream here. Partly because it melts super quickly.

You'll find fresh fruit ice-creams of various flavors, like Chickoo, Custard Apple, Musk Melon and Mango. They're all good, but ones like Chickoo and Musk Melon are the specialties almost all year through. The ice-creams are the freshest you'll ever have. The difference between this and your regular synthetic scoops is so marked, you can't even begin to compare them. The full flavor of the fruits stays intact, and because it's so light, you can easily polish off at least 3 ice-creams in a row. And your waiter won't even raise an eyebrow at your sixth helping. Greater gastronomical feats have been accomplished here.

That's also one of the reasons Famous can keep its prices low; literally no one can eat just one. And part of the reason Famous ice-creams are most effective eaten at the spot is the lovely sight, as you make your way there, of row upon row of fruit stacked on the streets of the thriving Mozamjahi Market.

Ice-cream is also sold in family packs, and the outlet undertakes catering as well. Famous serves sundaes and fruit salad too, but neither is anything to write home about. If you wanted to get the usual gloopy stuff, you could go anywhere. Famous is where you come to meet the flavors of the season.