Montreal's New Indian Ice Cream Spot Makes Delicious Flavours You Won't Find Anywhere Else

If you're scrambling to eat as much ice cream as humanly possible before the weather turns cold, make sure you don't miss Crèmerie Meetha. The new Indian ice cream and chai shop in Park Ex serves up South Asian-inspired flavours you're unlikely to find anywhere else in the city.

These ice cream flavours — which come in scoops, pints and cakes — include Mango Rasmalai, Elaichi Pista, Gulab Jamun, Jalebi, Falooda and Masla Chai-G. And, if you can't decide, there's a tasting menu with mini scoops so you can try them all.

In case you're unfamiliar with some of the flavours, Meetha gives you the "inside scoop" on Instagram:

• Mango Rasmalai: "A fruity twist on a classic dessert, this flavour is mixed with cardamon and saffron to highlight the rasmalai and infused with mango for a refreshing finish."
• Elaichi Pista: "Elaichi means Cardamon and Pista means Pistachio. Two very traditional ingredients used in Indian desserts - this flavour is infused with a subtle hit of cardamom and sprinkled with crushed roasted pistachios."
• Gulab Jamun: "A classic Indian fried dessert soaked in a sweet cardamon and saffron infused syrup - transformed into an ice cream, with pieces of Gulab Jamun mixed throughout."
• Jalebi: "Another classic deep fried dessert similar to a funnel cake - drenched in a sweet saffron and cardamon infused syrup. This flavour combines pieces of Jalebi and crushed roasted pistachios."
• Falooda: "A popular milkshake throughout Southeast Asia, this flavour is infused with a light rose flavour and mixed with sweet basil seeds (similar to chia seeds) to mimic the popular drink."

The Masala Chai flavour is based on India's famous spiced tea.

"Our parents immigrated from India, so we both grew up eating Indian food on a daily basis," Aakruti Patel told MTL Blog. Patel co-owns Meetha with her fiancé, Deexit.

The couple also co-owns Tiffin Montréal, an Indian street food catering company.

"When Covid hit, all our contracts got cancelled and we had spare time to test recipes that we would've eventually put on a restaurant menu," she said. "Because the ice cream got so popular, we decided to open up an ice cream shop."

Patel said Meetha will be in soft-launch mode until summer 2022, meaning it's only open Friday to Sunday. She said they have plans to launch more flavours next year and to offer hot masala chai, as well as South Indian coffee, during the winter months.