K. Rustom & Co., also just known as K. Rustom’s is an old-school, Iranian ice-cream parlour which is set up with coloured bulbs all year round, and has been churning out the yummiest, freshest ice-cream biscuits since 1953.
This iconic ice-cream is served as a thick slab sandwiched between wafer biscuits and wrapped in thin butter paper. Its most popular flavours, walnut crunch and kesar pista are also layered with bits of walnut, caramelised sugar, and pista respectively.
The story began in 1953 with K. Rustom and his family selling bars of ice-cream on beautiful glass and porcelain plates to tourists and families of Marine Drive, but several years and disappearing plates later, they came up with what they’re now best known for their ice-cream biscuits.
Having retained the classic flavours that they started out with, this is one colonial shop which has kept its original charm, but believed in innovation. They keep creating, tasting and adding new flavours such as paan, ginger lemon, and choco roasted almond crunch to their ice-cream list, sometimes courtesy of imagination, sometimes thanks to ever-hungry customers who offered suggestions.
The family says that although one of them may be tired of sweets, another is literally sick of sweets {she has diabetes}, they do pop in a few ice-creams every now and then themselves, all for quality control’s sake, of course. Of course!
They also let us in on a tiny harmless prank of theirs: though they keep adding New Flavours, they don’t remove the sign ‘new’ off the older new flavours. They just keep adding it to the list!
When we arrived at the board K. Rustom & Co., we were slightly befuddled when redirected a little to the left where the real entrance (with the name in small font) to the ice-cream shop was. After devouring the ice-cream (especially loved the walnut crunch) we asked if they deliver at home – they don’t, but if you like you can get a family-sized bar packed in an insulated case that can serve 9 – or more or less, depending on how you cut it.
At Rustom’s, they also make the most of the seasonal fruit and we’re so looking forward to the seasonal fruits peach and sitafal ice-cream which they sandwich between their biscuits every summer season.
Whether it is to lap up the ice-cream that is so lovely in its simplicity or to spend a little time on a breezy day with this family that has kept alive its sense of humour and K. Rustom’s legacy, we’d be coming back to this Mumbai Classic again.
Hours might be affected by Covid-19, we suggest you call them before heading over
Paritosh Biswas
How much of rupees per piece of rustom sandwich cream