KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 – On a hot day, there’s nothing better than savouring something cold and sweet like a scoop of decadent and smooth Valrhona chocolate ice-cream from Inside Scoop.

With the city’s temperatures getting hotter and hotter, this cosy nook in Bangsar is the go-to ice-cream joint for flavours like Smoked XO, pistachio, peanut butter cup and the local favourite durian.

The business is the collaborative effort of Edmund Tan, 31, his fiancee, Lim Shiew Li, 32 and two other active partners who hail from Singapore. “We were looking for a business to go into and ice-cream seem to be one of the things,” explains Shiew Li.

Previously, she worked for about eight and a half years in an insurance company doing product development but now she works full-time at Inside Scoop.

The trained actuary is crazy about all kinds of desserts hence the love for ice-cream. “She’s the ice-cream lover in this relationship,” says Edmund who prefers cooking. Looking for something different from their day-to-day work, the investment banker wanted to invest in a small food business. “If it does not work out, we can always go back to corporate work.”

Inside Scoop’s fluffy buttermilk waffles are made upon order (left). Freshly churned, the Valrhona chocolate ice cream is scooped into containers (right)

Prior to kickstarting their ice-cream business, both of them gained their know-how through research. “Historically I’ve always been curious so I’ve done a lot of research before hand,” Edmund explains.

In addition, they got some exposure to commercial ice-cream making since one of their partners’ family owns an ice-cream business in Singapore. Once they decided to delve into the ice-cream business, Shiew Li took a three-week course at the Gelato University in Bologna, Italy to hone her ice-cream making skills. “We understand how to make ice-cream already but the final course was to give her a hands-on formal application rather than mucking around in the kitchen,” says Edmund.

Once Shiew Li returned, she applied those techniques to the business. Through trial and error, they discovered that the softer gelato texture was not appropriate for the Malaysian weather. “We found that the gelato was a bit too soft so we felt ice-cream was a better fit as we serve it colder. We don’t want people to take it, walk out of the shop and it starts to melt.”

Shiew Li also adapted the recipes to appeal to the local taste, adding crowd favourite flavours like durian and cempedak. Unlike a franchise, she custom makes each ice-cream from scratch. Usually, their ice-cream is a mix of cream and milk while the fruit sorbets omit any dairy products.

On alternate days, Shiew Li churns the ice-cream on site, usually in small batches. The recipes for the various flavours is developed in-house. Usually, she sets aside one day a week to experiment with new flavours. She often gets inspired from desserts or food that she eats.

Cendol ice-cream is made with coconut milk and gula Melaka

With her mathematical background, Shiew Li finds that making ice-cream is not much different from her previous job. “Ice-cream is not much different, as it’s very scientific and there’s a lot of balancing of ingredients. My recipes are all in Excel spreadsheets.”

One of its popular flavours that has gathered a large following is the Valrhona chocolate one. “The variant we use is a secret but it’s got a very high cocoa content,” says Shiew Li. “It’s more than 80 per cent cocoa mass, hence it’s really dark in colour. If you don’t like dark chocolate, you won’t like it.”

(from left) Shiew Li uses a commercial hand blender to combine the cendol ice-cream mixture. The gula Melaka is chopped into small pieces for the cendol ice-cream. Once the Valrhona chocolate ice-cream is churned, it’s kept in a blast freezer

Edmund admits he’s not  a fan of the dark chocolate. “When I first started eating it, I didn’t like it as I like the sweeter, milkier type of chocolate,” says Edmund. However, the customers chose the premium French chocolate after tasting them in a trial run.

“It was a competition. I didn’t like it as the cost was quite prohibitive. So I had a bet with my other partner which chocolate we should use: Valrhona or a Belgian brand that was also high quality chocolate but cheaper. People voted for the Valrhona instead.”

Patrons share their happy memories on Polaroids that decorate the place

Patrons take a shine to their local flavours like kopi peng, Milo dinosaur or teh tarik. Their bestseller is the creamy durian made with D24 durians. “We were playing around with the other varieties but it’s too expensive and our supplier said, once you put it in with the milk the flavours do not come out so you waste the durian.”

Another well-received pungent flavour is cempedak, which Shiew Li prefers to the durian. “When we’re pasteurising the mix, it smells like fried cempedak.”

Recently, she also mastered making cendol ice-cream – coconut milk ice-cream with the green cendol bits. It was a big challenge for her to get the recipe right, since the cendol or green pea flour bits tend to harden when frozen in the ice-cream. For Hari Raya, she’s also introduced a bandung flavour with a subtle rose syrup aroma.

It’s hard to choose from their extensive range of flavours

Inside Scoop also carries a small selection of alcoholic ice-cream as requested by their customers. “We have had the alcoholic flavours for quite some time as a lot of people have been asking for rum and raisin.” They also make an XO cranberry flavour, their twist on rum and raisin where the red fruits are soaked with cognac for a decadent treat. Working with alcoholic flavours is also a challenge. “You need to work out how to use different sugars and freezing temperatures.”

Due to their freezer’s capacity, they usually carry about 17 flavours each day that includes bigger batches of their bestselling durian and Valrhona chocolate. The ice-cream can be eaten on its own or accompanied with their waffle cones in a choice of vanilla or chocolate.

The crunchy cones are made in-house using a long tedious process. Another popular order is their fluffy buttermilk waffles. Shiew Li prefers the waffles to be light in texture since most patrons often visit them for an after-dinner treat.

Happy faces all around Inside Scoop as patrons share their ice-cream

​One thing you won’t see at Inside Scoop will be savoury flavours, something Shiew Li admits that she’s not taken to. “The savoury ice cream is just not me. I prefer it to be sweet as to me it’s a dessert.”

In Italy, she had the chance to taste mortadella or Italian ham ice-cream.

“It was weird to eat it on a cone. Maybe it’s fine on its own or with bread. But as a dessert, it tastes really strange.”

The cosy place is a magnet for sweet lovers looking for an after dinner treat

She also observed that about three quarters of her gelato class were just keen to try the savoury version but did not develop a liking for the taste.

“I think if you’re in a cafe, it’s okay when it’s paired with something but on its own, it can be a bit weird.”

Recently, they hit an important milestone: their six-month anniversary. The next milestone will be the opening of their second outlet at Damansara Jaya.

The seasonal bandung flavour is the perfect choice with waffles

Listening to their customers’ request, they decided to venture into a quieter area in Petaling Jaya for better accessibility. The new place is expected to open anytime so look out for the announcement on their Facebook page.

Inside Scoop, 9, Jalan Telawi 3, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur. https://www.facebook.com/insidescoopkl