$100 ICE CREAM

On 6th October, I blogged on ice cream in the UK (see ''The Best Ice Cream?'') and included the cost of the many varieties of ices on offer at the best ice cream parlors in Britain. Sadly here in the UK we cannot compete with the good old USA, who can boast of the $100 ice cream. Rosa Prince of the Daily Telegraph has recently tried this ‘world most expensive’ gelato.


The massive $100 price tag ice cream (above) has 16 scoops of ice cream, 11 toppings, and enough calories to keep Weight Watchers in business until the end of time.  Bubby’s, a trendy new restaurant with its own 1920s-style soda fountain and situated in New York’s Meatpacking district, is home to the “Kitchen Sink,” an abominable extravaganza of a dessert meant for 8 to 10 people to share.  Few have attempted to eat one by themselves, and to date no one has managed it – a challenge if ever there was one.

So it was that Rosa Prince sat down in front of a bowl containing 16 scoops of vanilla, chocolate, mint choc chip, pistachio and strawberry ice cream. Not to mention pretzels, pecans, peanuts, chocolate chip cookie crumbs, chocolate, caramel, raspberry and cherry syrup, rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream and cherries on top. All topped with an American flag.


From the first bite Rosa knew that this was a most superior dessert – the ice cream, handmade by Bubbys' chefs, was delicious, she said, and each and every topping (all also made in-house) worth its weight in dollars. But it was also obvious that it was going to be a long, long session, as her first few mouthfuls barely made a dent in what was a mountain of gooey, sugary loveliness. She ordered a strong coffee, a tall glass of water and, having vaguely remembered once hearing that the trick to eating a lot of sweet stuff was to have something salty to hand, she had a plate of chips. It seems that the fries proved the lifesaver. After every couple of mouthfuls of ice cream Rosa grabbed a few chips to keep the nausea at bay.

Don’t eat all that,” a passing British tourist warned her as she ploughed away, while an American lady gave her the thumbs up: “Keep going, you’re doing great.” Around the room most of the other diners, including, somewhat surreally, the actor Christian Slater, blithely ignored the crazy, greedy English women eating a dessert made for 10. There’s a reason, after all, why America is the obesity capital of the world.


After five minutes Rosa very much regretted wearing tight jeans and by a quarter of an hour in she knew exactly how Paul Newman felt in Cool Hand Luke – the film in which he accepts a challenge to eat 50 boiled eggs in an hour. Rosa also suffered brain freeze, a runny nose, watery eyes and a swollen, churning tummy. Somewhere around the $30 (£19) mark of the $100 (£62) feast her quesyness began to turn to dry heaves and for the sake of Christian and the other clientele she thought it best to call it a day.

Rosa’s verdict on the Bubby’s $100 ice cream: revolting, stomach-churning, disgusting, nausea-inducing - but delicious.



Are you up for this challenge? Where’s your $100 then?

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