Oh Dough: An Exceptional Dessert Safari

"I don't always eat red velvet cookie, but when I do, I make sure it's Oh Dough!" -- YG

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Self indulgent note -- My review writing mojo has been crimped for some time now. Something tells me it's time to make a comeback...

...and what a strange way for me to make a comeback than to write about a cookie and ice cream place! Seriously.

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I ain't no sugah pushin' junkie. Even my dessert preferences veer savory, read citrus or even as far left field as good fish or pork belly. 

To the uninitiated folks:- Non-sweet loving people partaking of desserts tend to love citrus because in the taste bud wars, sour-citrus trumps sweet in the signalling pathway and undercuts sweetness.

The first time I heard of Oh Dough, I heard...ODO and wasn't particularly thrilled by the initial impression but a genuinely heartwarming lunch at Thai Pav had me in a pliant agreeable way, and I tagged along for the dessert safari.

This was about three weeks ago. Yesterday was my third or fourth visit there.

Oh Dough does three things, and it does em all gosh-darned-well.

The bomb offering is their spread of artisanal ice creams. 

Usually, adding the word 'artisanal' before anything is priming the customer for a hefty bill. In this case, Ritika's ice creams earn the tag. 

The black sesame ice cream is a savory food lover's dessert dream come true. Words fall short in explaining WHY it tastes as good as it does. But taste supergood? Yes, it does.

Black sesame ice cream. Exceptional! One of the best scoops around

On the other hand, the lemon tart ice cream is a citrus lover's special. Ritika is evil genius on this one! Even as the pot of ice cream a'churning, she drops in a bunch of finely crumbled tart pastry base, and the pops of pastry work beautifully with this citrusy ice cream delight.

Lemon tart ice cream. Intense and right just for hardcore citrus lovers

The salted caramel ice cream is not everyone's cuppa, even though it is beautifully balanced. Me? I loved it!

Salted caramel ice cream. Intense but balanced

The smoked vanilla is the Ice Cream 501 advanced class to Amul's or Vadilal's 101 kiddie starter class. This has a mildly smoky aroma. Note that the ice cream is smoked and not the vanilla bean. Pair it up with a cookie for max mileage.

Smoked vanilla ice cream with red velvet cookie

Most of these ice cream flavors are so intense, you'd do well to share a scoop rather than try power through one yourself. Just sayin'!

The cookies at Oh Dough are wholesome winners too. Not the piddly dosa-thin cookies some other places tend to dole out. These are well neigh German 'Strongest Man in the World' heft and height and that's a major source of satisfaction.

The undisputed champ is the sizeable oatmeal and raisin cookie followed by the red velvet and the chocolate chip cookie. The chocomaniacs would do well to jump at the double chocolate and chocolate + orange, but those are a tad bit too much for my sugar-phobic taste buds.

(L) Red velvet; (R) Chocolat chip; (Foreground) Oatmeal and raisin

Coffee anyone? The Ohfogato is a definite reco. 

Taking a scoop of vanilla ice cream and dropping a shot of espresso in is an act of madness that only an Italian could have managed, but this madness is now reaching our shores and we're just at the early stages of the affogato-zombie-calypse.

The owners here are super personable folks, whether it be Pawan or his Dad, TT. A fun chat over a coffee and cookie simply enhance the experience.

Net net -- "Exceptional" is not common. So, when you find it, cherish it. Go visit. You're missing something if you haven't.

Disclaimer -- The writer paid for every last tasty calorie he devoured. No undeserved free-food praise here.