Based in Manila, Philippines, Dessert Comes First is a chronicle of the food-obsessed food writer, Lori Baltazar. This website is all about desserts, restaurants, coffee, and the pleasures of homebaking. Read more about me Ice cream’s Rocks and Stones
Wed, July 13th of 2005
6:00 pm
Cold Stone Creamery was open for a mere month at the Power Plant Mall in Rockwell. It didn’t have anything going for them. It had the stall space, chairs and tables, and a silly little cart with a dinky red umbrella. Most people were expecting a real store where you could go up to the counter and order. So you can imagine the collective disappointment when Cold Stone Creamery turned out to be a cart that sold cupfuls of pre-mixed ice cream at P150 each. That’s a whole damn lot to be paying for a cup of ice cream, I tell you. Granted, it was good ice cream loaded to the teeth with mix-ins, but the concept delivery was wrong, wrong, wrong.
I asked the people manning the cart why they were selling pre-mixed ice cream instead of giving the whole “show” — a performance of mixing ice cream with mix-ins. They said that this was the company’s first venture outside of the US and they were more than wary about spending so much money on a volatile market.
Uh. Whatever. Now that the store went bust after just a month, of course Cold Stone is probably heaving a sigh of relief and thanking their lucky stars they didn’t make the trip overseas. Silly.
I’m glad that a similar company has decided to take a chance on the Philippines. This time, it’s Cold Rock from Australia. Located at the Fort Strip right beside Filo’s, this store is everything Cold Stone could’ve been.
Owned by Sam Yambao, the store opened just last Friday. “The response has been tremendous!” she says. “We didn’t think it would get so crazy!” Welcome to the food business. Sam and her husband fell in love with Cold Rock on their trip to the Gold Coast, where they found themselves eating the ice cream every day. They won the franchise and are now sharing their joy with their fellow Filipino ice cream lovers.
It works this way: go into the store and become mesmerized and confused with the array of ice cream flavors and variety of mix-ins available. You could literally create thousands of new flavors, perhaps even one that Ben and Jerry’s would pay you big bucks for. (Now that’s something to dream about!) Flavors include Mango, Macadamia, Strawberry, Chocolate Chip, Bubblegum, Tiramisu, and a host of others. Mix-ins include categories such as nuts, berries, sweets and chocolates, and others. So be dazzled and be bewildered with choices from among raspberry, passionfruit, Brownies, Cookie Dough, Nutella, Peanut Butter, favorite chocolate bars such as Mars, Snickers, M&M’s, Maltesers, Tim Tams, Butterfinger, Sour Lollies… phew, I can’t even type fast enough to keep up with this!
After you’ve coaxed yourself out of this self-induced candy hypnosis, you choose a size that fits your appetite: kiddies P99; regular P149; or large P189. Cold Rock currently has an introductory promo where your first add-in is free, so I urge you to go now! Otherwise, each add-in is P25.
The girls behind the counter then scoop your desired flavor onto the frozen granite slab. Afterwards, a small “well” is hollowed out onto which your chosen fill-ins lie. Then with the aid of two spades, they slap, mix, and mash the icy goodness. (Man, it sure looked like a good way to beat aggression!)
When my sister and I were there with our kids, we got to try the coffee with chocolate chip add-ins, the strawberry with Gummi Bear add-ins, and the bubble yum with Nerds add-ins – an electric blue concoction that just screams “for kids only!” (I liked it though).
As you can see from the photos of the ice cream, the mix-ins are there, but it’s not like the ice cream is exploding with it. Kulang talaga. (Not enough). I asked Sam about this and she said that the mix-ins are really portioned out. (You’re telling me.) Welcome to the food business.
Still, Cold Rock is worth a trip. It can’t be denied that the ice cream is creamy and velvety, lush on the tongue. Enjoy the experience of watching your ice cream being beaten to death. I want to go back there to try the vanilla ice cream with the cookie dough mix-in. I lovelovelove cookie dough, and I’ll scream if it’s in my ice cream.
THIS RESTAURANT IS NOW CLOSED.
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This is the same concept they have at Floyd’s at Eastwood Cinemas. They have that granite (?) slab where mix Better Than Ice Cream with your choice of mix-ins. I guess it hasn’t really taken off because of its location (too out-of-the-way for the non-movie going crowd) and the fact that the cinemas are already too cold to actually be bringing ice cream in.
[Reply]
Comment by c — July 14, 2005 @ 6:31 am
Tried the stuff last Tuesday – cookies and cream with Maltesers. Yikes, too much sugar in that combo. Nakaka-umay, but I forced myself to finish my kiddie cup -Php99 pesos yan. Couldn’t sleep from the sugar rush. I’d probably look comic, competing with the hamsters on their wheel, burning off the calories on the in-laws’ treadmill. : D –K
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Comment by Anonymous — July 14, 2005 @ 9:06 am
yes, my sister and i went gaga over at floyd’s last year.. pero since it was such an obscure place to go, we werent there often if not for the ice cream. sayang lang.
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Comment by coconutalk — July 14, 2005 @ 9:23 am
It sounds very interesting. We’ll probably swing by when we do get to the fort area.
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Comment by Eric — July 14, 2005 @ 5:13 pm
C and Paulo,
I’ve been to Floyd’s a few times but I’ve never eaten there. I really don’t find it too appealing. And yes, the location is obscure. They should move — perhaps they’ll get the business they deserve.
K-
Cookies and cream with Maltesers, eh? Surely you must’ve known that only those with a supreme sweet tooth can handle such a combination!
Eric-
Yes, do swing by. You never know how long these places will be around. Hopefully, this one will last.
lori
[Reply]
Comment by Lori — July 14, 2005 @ 7:48 pm
Floyd’s has another branch in Greenhills Promenade, on the second floor near Good Earth Roast.
Lori, what kind of ice cream does Cold Rock (?) use?
[Reply]
Comment by Tin (ni Johann) — July 16, 2005 @ 9:07 pm
hi again lori!
hehe, another winner of a blog entry.
i loooove ice cream, and i’m so intrigued by the concept. really can’t wait to try it out
i’ll drop by sometime next week, as i’m already thinking of the possible combinations >:) (but oh! my poor figure. ahahahaha)
school has been really, really busy. but i’m always ready to spare some extra time to try out a new resto/kiosk/anything dessert related
~April
[Reply]
Comment by Anonymous — July 16, 2005 @ 9:10 pm
Tin-
Cold Rock uses ice cream that’s made for them inhouse. Try it soon!
lori
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Comment by Lori — July 17, 2005 @ 11:41 am
hay naku, this place is so evil. MUST they be located right across my friggin gym??
sarap this ice cream, lor, thanks for writing about it.
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Comment by awi — July 18, 2005 @ 9:52 am
I was told Cold Rock ice cream is imported from Australia, as are a lot of the mix-ins: Jaffas, for instance, (totally strange to us Filipinos, right?) and of course my favorite Violet Crumble, which I mix with any and all flavors of ice cream. Other people choose an ice cream flavor then agonize over what mix-in to try. I pick my Violet Crumble, then agonize over the flavor. I love their coffee, rhum raisin, Aussie vanilla, and lemon sorbet!
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Comment by napoleon — July 19, 2005 @ 6:43 pm
Napoleon-
You’re right, that’s exactly what I was trying to say. Duh me
lori
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Comment by Lori — July 20, 2005 @ 3:39 pm
Floyd’s uses FIC ice cream, a great local brand. But I don’t recall that the one in Promenade folds/mixes your ice cream (I think, anyway). What they do have are ice cream cakes which I have yet to try. Love their caramel, strawberry, durina, raspberry-choc and dark choc.
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Comment by Garch — August 4, 2005 @ 1:29 pm
sarap sa cold rock…i had cookies and cream mixed with strawberry with cookie dough mix in…yummmy!!! i like cold rock better than floyds =)
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Comment by mina — November 28, 2005 @ 10:42 am
I’m doing a feature on sugar-free frozen delights for diabetic patients. Would you know if they have sugar-free variants? Thanks!! =)
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Comment by patricia — February 3, 2006 @ 1:47 pm
of course australia is the home of dairy so ice cream pa lang, yummy na!
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Comment by Anonymous — May 29, 2006 @ 6:11 pm
vanilla with cookie dough and caramel or fudge is great!!!
just back reading on your entries. your blog title reeled me in from marketman last year (but its my first time to comment!)
-chrissy
(always saves space for dessert)
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Comment by Anonymous — June 6, 2006 @ 3:03 pm
I think my boyfriend and his family have been turning my bones into ice cream. They opened two ice cream parlors and said “We’re going to cream you.”
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Comment by Anonymous — October 20, 2006 @ 11:14 pm
COLD STONE is much, MUCH better than cold rock.
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Comment by lauren — March 27, 2007 @ 8:12 pm
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Trackback by ixnfgfwckoideyby — September 18, 2007 @ 12:00 pm