Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: YummY! - Coconut Ice Cream @ Love Locks, Penang

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YummY! Jotaro's Food Review
COCONUT CREAM ICE CREAM @ LOVE LOCKS

George Town, Penang, Malaysia - 2nd December, 2012

Is this coconut ice-cream? No, not in the sense that coconut shavings has been added to milk ice-cream. It's truly a coconut ice-cream; using coconut cream (the locals call coconut cream Santan) instead of milk to make the ice-cream.

(UPDATE 22ND JUNE 2013 - This place has closed down. Nevertheless, I do hope that something along it's line serving good santan ice-cream will crop up soon)

And it can be found at Love Locks, a unique ice-cream deli in Chulia Street, George Town, Penang Malaysia. Like many new businesses located in the UNESCO Heritage Core Zone of George Town, the owners had refurbished an old pre-war shop-house. The place though looking new have that good old feeling about it.

So what's so special about Santan ice-cream?

Is it healthier on account that it uses Santan?

Many new age health fans have been touting the good healthy aspects of coconut; from lowering cholesterol to high contents of anti-oxidants and vitamins.

I can't say myself, so leave that to the health experts.

Scoops of Santan Ice-cream before toppings added

But how does it taste?

Is it better than milk ice-cream? We will come to that later.

What makes this ice-cream interesting is the range of fresh toppings that comes with it.

These range from strawberry red globules that pops nicely when bitten into, letting the strawberry flavor ooze in together with the ice-cream.

To Chia Seeds for those seeking even more health benefits.

To cubes of sea-coconut, sago pearls, etc.

And then there are the dried toppings - marshmallows, ground nuts, pine seeds, etc.

I went for the combo of 4 scoops with three toppings - Strawberry globules, Chai seeds & Lemon Jelly strips.

So how does it fare?

The ice-cream itself is very smooth and adequately thick. The aroma and creaminess of the santan are very much distinct from that of milk. It has that special coconut smell and taste without being over-bearing (those ice-cream using toasted coconut shavings have that over-bearingness).

The toppings are the things that make it interesting and unique.

Other than that, I must add that I have tasted better Santan Ice-cream - this one would have done better if the coconut aroma & flavor is slightly stronger.

Still, I definitely like it better than the milk ice-creams.