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Monday, November 12, 2007

Saffron Spot - Artesia (Little India)

Saffron Spot - Artesia (Little India) 1

After our lackluster lunch at Belacan Grill - Redondo Beach, UnHipLA suggested Saffron Spot for dessert. Since I've never had Indian ice cream before, I was all up for trying it out. Especially since I was mesmerized by the gorgeous pictures of Saffron Spot that she had uploaded onto Biggest Menu.

I had never seen the like before. Think of all the best parts of Indian cuisine, the wonderful spices, the colors, and imagine them in the most amazing ice creams.

The little shop is located inside the Little India Shopping Center, one of many strip malls on Pioneer Boulevard. Look for the round building and drive through to the inside. Saffron Spot is on the right side.

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So many ice creams to choose from with tropical flavors that I'm familiar with and new combos that beg for me to sample.

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The colors!

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And the chunks of something inside!

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We decided to share several different desserts so we could sample more of the menu. The pistachio kulfi is an Indian boiled milk ice cream that's frozen into a tube so it's sliced per order, $3.50.

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The kulfi was dense and rich, but not heavy, studded with pistachio bits.

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We got two scoops of ice cream, Saffron Silk (Indian saffron, rose, and pistachio) and Mawa (Indian cardamom), $4.50. It's impossible to describe the flavors, delicately floral, sweet, nutty. Just so soo sooo goooood!

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But I couldn't stop there. I wanted to try more of the menu. So we also got a kulfi falooda (Indian ice cream slices served on a bed of noodles with rose syrup and topped with basil seeds), $4.99.

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This was too sweet for me, but I loved the slippery basil seeds. And you can't beat the presentation. You can also get this as a sundae with mini ice cream scoops instead of the kulfi.

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On another visit, after lunch at Woodlands Indian Cuisine with some Biggest Menu-ers, I got Rajbhog (Indian saffron, pistachios, cashews, almonds, and cardamom) and pistachio ice creams, $4.50. Again, just out of this world amazing.

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Once when meeting up with a college friend at Hwang Hae Do Korean BBQ - Artesia, we came here for dessert. My friend's husband and cousin love Indian food, but she thinks it's too spicy, so they jumped at the chance to have something Indian. Saffron Spot was a great compromise as they satisfied their Indian craving and she could sample the cuisine without the spiciness. Her cousin even got a second scoop of ice cream because he loved it so much.

Here's the falooda as a drink, $4.99. Not nearly as arresting as the sundae version.

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If you're ever in the area, definitely stop by Saffron Spot because there's just nothing like it.

Who else ate at Saffron Spot?
Pleasure Palate hosted a tasting here with her eating group and has the background story of how Smita Salgaonkar started selling her unique ice cream.
UnHipLA attended that tasting and blogged about it.
All of our pictures of Saffron Spot on Biggest Menu.

Other ice cream posts:
Bert & Rocky's Cream Company - Claremont
Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain - South Pasadena
Fosselman's Ice Cream Co. - Alhambra
Scoops - Los Angeles

Saffron Spot (Little India Village Center)
18744 Pioneer Blvd.
Artesia, CA 90701
562-809-4554
Closed Mondays
Tuesday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Friday to Sunday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

3 comments:

  1. Amazing, amazing, amazing! I would have loved to eat scoops of the saffron silk... and the pistachio kufi. As soon as I come back to So Cal, I'm coming here with you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now I'm regretting the times we could've made a detour to Artesia and didn't :(
    The flavors all sound so interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anna,
    Sure thing lady! Next time you're back in town, let me know when you want to hit it up.

    GP,
    I told you! Next time we're down in OC, we can do a detour on the way home.

    ReplyDelete

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