The Kaveri Cold-Drink House in Belgaum�s Hutatma Chowk area, is the city�s hot spot for cool reasons! It has been selling the most amazing ice-creams, fruit and nut cocktails, sundaes, faloodas, milkshakes, fruit juices, lassis, sharbats, and what it calls cream sodas since 1977, and all of Belgaum goes here to cool off at some time or the other. The proprietor Vishwanath Hande�s father Parshuram started the business. But the family has been in this line for the past 80 years with Vishwanath�s grandfather having started the Laxmi Soda Factory in 1925 in Belgaum and then the Imperial Cold-drink House in the 1950s. �This is the third outlet in the business,� Vishwanath says.

The Handes make the ice-creams themselves and sell it under the label �Hande�s Imperial Ice-cream�. �We learned how to do this on our own,� says Vishwanath somewhat guardedly. The family is also into the manufacturing and marketing of fruit pulps and dryfruit syrups which are sold under the Kaveri label.

The ice-cream parlour is big, it sits 200 comfortably, and is open from 10 in the morning till 11 at night. It is packed at any given hour and sometimes, there is a short waiting period for a table. �Officially, we close at 11, but customers keep coming till 12.30 a.m. in the summer when it gets unbearably hot. Our fruit-and-nut icecream is most popular with them,� says Vishwanath. His claim to fame is that the rates at Kaveri Cold-drink House, and the quality of the products, is unmatched in all of Karnataka. It is true, the ice-creams cost Rs. 5, 6 and 7, the milkshakes Rs. 12, the fruit juices Rs. 16, the sundaes Rs. 18, the lassis Rs. 12. �At Sukh Sagar, they also serve pav bhaji, but we only have ice-creams and cold-drinks,� says Vishwanath Hande.
Kaveri Cold-drink House,
Hutatma Chowk, Belgaum 591113.
Tel: 0831 2421429.