COLD ROCK ICE CREAMERY - Newtown

I'd never heard of Cold Rock until a colleague in-the-know took me there for a quick ice cream fix this week. Cold Rock isn't just your average ice creamery, it has an unusual concept that was born in Boston USA during the 70's when a local ice cream owner mixed Oreo cookies into some ice cream for his daughter. After a few customers saw this and asked for the same this unique idea evolved. Now the stores have a refrigerated granite slab called "the cold rock" where they create thousands of different ice cream combinations to order. The way it works is you choose a cone or cup (the easiest decision in the process let me tell you). Then comes the ice cream..hmmm...now the Newtown store had many flavours to choose from, and the ones I can remember were Chocolate Cake Batter, Apple Pie, Caramel Mud Cake, Chocolate Gelato, Lemon Sorbet, Bubblegum, Baileys, Rum and Raisin, Choc Mint, Macadamia, White Chocolate and Strawberry to name a few. There are other amazing flavours as well such as the Sticky Date, Tia Maria, Donut, Licorice and White Cookies and Cream, not all are available each time you visit. Ok, so if you've managed to make those two decisions, now is the real test! And rest assured, while you are standing at the counter, you won't be alone. If you take your time making a decision, your position in the line just gets further and further back. I was there on a week day, mid afternoon, and the human traffic was pretty continuous. I'm told that on the weekend and in the evenings (its open until 11pm) they are so busy it keeps 4 staff running raggard! Back to the decisions....if you are a beginner like me, I suggest you stand back and watch for a while simply to gather your thoughts. When faced with such an array of sugery delights, you can easily get thrown off course. Watching the wacky combinations that are chosen also gives you an idea of how far you can go with your concoctions. It seems that no combination is too strange to be made. The staff, Chris and Chrissie are happy to give you exactly what you want and give advice on what is popular and what works. As I watched, mesmerised by the blobs of ice-cream on the frosty slap being pulverised by the two Chris's, I realised that there is something very therapeutic about watching someone smash a poor little caramello bear with a crunchie in to soft clouds of white chocolate ice cream! It didn't take me long to get on the band-wagon. I love ice cream, and I love chocolates and lollies, so my mind started racing to what would go with those fruit tingles? I LOVED fruit tingles as a kid, they were my favourite lollies, would it be the lemon sorbet? Good old vanilla? Hmmm...no, I always like white chocolate, and those malteasers look nice. How and what would go with the gummy bears? No, I think I'll just go with vanilla and have some peanut butter balls mashed in. Ohhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhh. Right choice! As I waited, and watched, I mentally checked off the list of accompaniements that could be mixed or mashed in to the icecream on the "cold rock". Some of these were the balls of Cookie dough (yes, Cookie dough, boy I was tempted to have that one), M & M's, Tim tams, Oreos of course, Cherry ripes, and most of your usual favourite chocolate bar varieties. Oh, and not forgetting a selection of fruit, but I'm not sure that I even NOTICED the fruit as I seemed to be momentarily hypnotised by the chocolates and lollies! I felt like a kid again and I think this is one of the biggest drawcards of Cold Rock. Really, if your favourite memory as a kid was a Flake bar, and nearly every kid loves ice cream, then why not mix the two? Creating your own combinations means you get what you want, and you don't have to settle for a run-of-the-mill flavour that you are only half excited about. Grown ups, uni students and kids alike were all oohing and aahing over their iminent feast! Of course, this isn't all that Cold Rock does, there are also smoothies, banana splits and some fantastic cakes to order. Chris will custom make a cake of your choosing, if you want 3 layers of different icecream with 3 different additions, all of them different, then so be it. Just give them a call and place your order. They are also able to put any photo of yours on to a cake which can be pre-ordered for birthdays and special occasions. In the fridge they also have some regulars like the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream with Peanut M&M's snickers and nutella! Serving 10-15 people that would set you back $56.80. Another in the fridge was the Chocolate and White Chocolate Ice Cream with two Oreo layers which was $45.80. Most people would be happy with either of those, I'd say they would definitely be crowd pleasers. This Cold Rock was on King Street Newtown, towards the University and has just opened through Winter. It has already gained popularity amongst the locals, and I'm sure that summer is going to bring on more booming business. Ooh, bring it on I say! Hapi Eating!