No matter how many new desserts, pastries, or confectionaries are being put out, none of them still can’t beat the rich sweetness of the ice cream.
In Yangon, it’s easy to find typical ice cream shops selling different delectable fruity flavors these days. Yet, there are not many shops where you can experience the original classic taste from your childhood.
So, I decided to track down some classic parlors and found Ko Hla Thein ice cream’s original shop in South Okkalapa Township. It’s located on Thu Mingalar Road, South Okkalapa Township, and it’s just across the Thu Mingalar Park.
Google map here – https://goo.gl/maps/59qYXz77DSFcYfVG6
The little oasis
The shop was surprisingly small despite being the talk of the town, with a few seating areas outside, but the front view is superb, Thu Mingalar Park.
View from the shop
Ko Hla Thein ice cream shop was founded in 1962 by U Hla Thein himself and his wife. It can be described as one of the longest surviving ice cream parlors in Yangon. With the dream of making the best ice cream in town, U Hla Thein started learning the ice cream making from his master and started running this shop in his late twenties and with the best effort, they succeeded.
They offered a variety of ice creams, mix-ins, desserts, seasonal juice, and smoothies unchanging the original taste. Some popular menus there are Domino, Falooda, Three colored ice cream, Fruity Ais Kacang, Ice salad, and the original famous one, the ice cream sandwich. They said the ice cream sandwich menu got popular with the start of Ko Hla Thein shop’s recipe.
Picture from the shop (food panda)
The menu card
Out of those fantastic desserts, I tried the ice cream sandwich, the ice salad, and soft pudding.
The ice cream sandwich and ice salad The soft pudding
The ice cream sandwich was a dessert which has two slices of bread together with some colorful jellies, sargu seeds, shredded coconut, sweetened milk, and vanilla ice cream on top of it.
The ice salad was also a famous dessert after meals, which contains sweet juice, jellies, peanuts, sweetened milk, condensed milk, and a bit of pineapple jam.
Since both of them already gave me such a full load of sweetness, I finished my order with soft and gentle pudding. It was not very sweet and gave a mild and still flavor and that’s the unique point of this Ko Hla Thein Ice cream shop. They never use a grain of Saccharin, the artificial sweetener, giving the natural taste of normal products.
The prices of the products are not more than 2500 MMK. So, compared with their quality, it was totally worth it and the shop can be described as a cozy place with a great view. Yet, the rainy days could be a bad choice and better dropped by the shop on clear days.
Taking a walk in Thu Mingalar park after an ice-cream tour can shape one fine evening for you.
Hoping everyone has a better day…