When Meghna Rao and Rohan Lepps started their first ice cream joint `Oh So Stoned’ in Karkhana, Secunderabad, three years ago they knew it would do well but the success surpassed all their expectations, which egged them on to start a branch on Road Number 2, Banjara Hills. A super duper hit with the youngsters in the city, their first café lounge threw its doors open in Madhapur recently and there is a beeline for their exotic offerings already.
One thing that looms large like a halo around your head when you visit ‘Oh So Stoned’ is confusion. You heard it right! The moment you’re handed the multicoloured menu, you get so drawn into the unique permutations and combinations with quirky names to match, that you just can’t make up your mind. Here’s a mini dekko. While you have the best of both worlds in `Red Velvet Cake Sundae’, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Brownie Ice cream’ is an instant hit with most youngsters for whom this place is a cool joint quite literally. ‘Chikki Chikki Bang Bang’ is a crunchy blend of Vanilla and Butterscotch ice cream with chikki and hot caramel sauce.
Pandu, pandu, pandu named after a superhit Chiranjeevi song got his son Ram Charan’s wife Upasna so kicked that she asked the owners and her friends, Meghna and Rohan, to come up with an ice cream in his name. That’s how `Cherry Cherry’ – creamy Vanilla ice cream fused with Amaretto flavoured Cherry Pie – was born. You also have ice cream burgers which unless you dig in, you can’t tell they are frozen. `Amercian Pie’ – happens to be a rich Vanilla ice cream fused with apple pie filling, cinnamon sugar and hot caramel sauce. We also tried `Barbecued Macaroni’ and `Amaretto Capuccino’ to warm up our tongues that were slurring by now. We’re mentioning just a few scoops of ice creams, savouries and coffee we managed to taste, mind you! How much can you expect a normal human being to devour in one sitting?
Also on offer are Ice Cream Cakes – Black Forest & Golden Treat – which have become hugely popular for birthdays and Ice Cream Fingers – Nutella, Coffee and Fruit besides thick shakes, baked cheese cake ice creams and a huge variety of coffees. Oh shoot, we forgot the whacky Rum Baba – coffee ice cream mixed with chocolate rum balls doused in chocolate rum fudge sauce! All the sauces are made in house, the ingredients are organic and you can tell the difference.
Finally comes the `Paan Shaan’ – a creamy kulfi ice cream with real paan infused with roasted almonds. Did you just say OMG? You can say that again!
“Basically, the idea was to spoil the city with the choicest of ice creams and a place with a certain cool quotient that people can identify with,” says Rohan speaking about their newly opened Café Lounge in Madhapur, “Our Karkhana and Banjara Hills outlets are more popular for take aways and we wanted to offer a place where people could just hang out indulging in some frozen delights.” “We also serve munchies and coffee to complete the experience,” says Meghna, his life and business partner, who has designed the lounge in keeping with their vision. The former ISB students perfectly complement each other in their roles. While she is the creative head, coming up with perfect recipes and names, he ensures everything is executed perfectly including the operations. “Oh So Stoned, The Ice Cream Joint, is the name we both came up with. Pun intended,” they say in unison. Their offers also have quirky names. Monday Blues, Wheel of Fortune Wednesdays, Flower Power Fridays, so on and so forth.
Location: Oh So Stoned,
1-65/82/83, Accor Blu kavuri Hills, Madhapur,
Hyderabad
Call: +91 40 6519 9411 / +91 76800 75541
