Nine years ago Las Paletas was born in the kitchen of Diana Chavarro. Her dream was to bring a little bit of Latin America to Cape Town. She equates her success to the hard work done by her all women team. From humble beginnings and surviving adversities, Diana strongly believes that her brand is more than just ice cream in a cone and I have to agree.

We were invited to attend the official launch of Las Paletas flagship store in the Old Biscuit Mill. Upon arrival we were greeted with Strawberry Shots made from strawberry sorbet ice cream, rose and sparkling water with fresh mint. It sounds refreshing because it was refreshing.

Diana had arranged for us to taste all that Las Paletas has to offer. Tastings included floats, sundaes, sorbets, milkshakes and affogatos. Where did I fit all of that? Well luckily it was served in stages and in shot glasses. Think of flavours like tiramisu, Dulce de leche, granadilla, strawberry and belgian chocolate. The tastings included it all!

The tiramisu sundae was heavenly. Bits of crunchy crumble, layered double chocolate ice cream and coffee cream. It is not overly sweet and the coffee kick rounds it off perfectly. The banoffee was made from their delicious Dulce de leche ice cream, crumble, banana and whipped cream. I am not a fan of banana in dessert or my ice cream for that matter, but this was more than decent, it was tasty. The last of the sundaes was a mixed berry meringue made with white chocolate, berry juice, fresh cream and ice cream. I gave this one a skip but by the looks of it, everyone else enjoyed it.

As a palate cleanser we were served granadilla and vanilla sorbet. This sorbet is refreshing. It also reminded me of my childhood when I used to down those granadilla sherbet suckers. We were then introduced to the milkshakes. The Dulce de leche and popcorn is a winner. It is rich and creamy and the crunchy bits of the popcorn just made it a little more delectable. The other flavour I tried was peanut butter with berries. When you read it, it sounds odd but when you taste it, it is actually quite nice. There was also an apple and caramel milkshake which I skipped because I do not touch anything apple flavoured 🙂

To end off the tastings, we were given one last palate cleanser which was a strawberry sorbet. It was cool, sweet, refreshing and definitely the sort of thing I would want on a hot summery day. The last tasting was an affagato made with dark chocolate. It washed all the sweetness away perfectly.

Diana was really sweet in allowing each guest to choose from her selection of tubs and lollies. Because I have boys who love chocolate, I opted for the smores tub and a belgian chocolate lollies so they could indulge a little bit too.

Suffice to say, I was stuffed but in a good way, my serotonin was pumping and all that ice cream made me happy. The venue is neat and tidy and I love the white finishes. It is perfect for when you want to take your children for an ice cream or if you want to buy the ice cream as take-aways.

The store is currently not certified halaal but the lollies and tubs are sealed and are certified.

By Munira Allie
Project Manager by day, everything else all of the time. A wannabe baker and passionate chef who loves an adrenalin rush cos it makes me feel most alive. I love fast cars and daydream about superbikes. I have a predilection for all things nature and love capturing the Almighty’s majestic beauty even more. If I had a statement to describe my life it would be “she turned her can’t into can and her dreams into plans”.