It is said that you can’t have lived in Hyderabad for any amount of time and not heard of Famous. Your memory of this place might have been a 10-counter huge arena of delicious treats but, now Famous is restricted only to one counter.Started 60 years ago by Md Abdul Haleem a Hyderabadi, Famous was and has been popular for its natural hand-made icecreams.Situated in the quaint old world clock tower at Mozamjahi Market, it is the oldest ice cream place in the city. When Abdul Haleem started the place in early 50s, Famous offered ice-creams at just the cost of 25 paise per scoop and the place ran only in summers, which was later extended to an year long fair of chilled treats.With some parts given up after the lease ended 10 years ago and after the divide between Abdul Haleem’s two sons, Md Saleemuddin and Md Azeemuddin, the huge place only occupies the centre of the clock tower, now. And also only Md Azeemuddin choose to retain the original name.A sheer delightSituated right in the middle of a hectic cross-road, the area is generally crowded, but you will find a place to park your vehicle only after violating one or two parking rules.But the trouble is worth under going because the complete experience comes only by eating the ice-cream right there, partly because it melts very soon.The place offers various fresh fruit flavours like chickoo, custard apple, musk melon, water melon and the all time summer favourite, mango.The makers claim to use absolutely fresh and natural ingredients to flavour the ice cream and your spoon surely does not contain a single drop of chemical, not even gelatin! The difference between the Famous scoop and your regular synthetic scoop is so marked that you can’t even begin to compare.The full flavour of the fruit remains intact which makes the ice-cream extremely light on your stomach and one scoop just does not seem to be enough; you can easily gobble down at least three in a row.That’s also one of the reasons why Famous can afford to keep it’s prices so low as no one can stop at one.With Rs 7 per scoop and melt-in-the-mouth texture, people have gone up to six helpings in a row and the waiters inform that much greater gastronomical feats have been achieved.The general chocolate, vanilla and strawberry is also served here but they are nothing worth writing home about. Famous is where you specifically come to enjoy the old world charm that the city has to offer and meet the flavours of the season.An iconic existenceAll though many places now have Famous’s secret recipe, you would get the authenticity only over here. As the current owner Md Hussaam, grand son of Abdul Haleem claims, “Our formula has been the same since the past 60 years and not a thing has changed about the place apart from a few extra refrigerators and a lot of chairs."The place has a strong clientele and has not even suffered any loss from competition, with so many new parlours springing all around it.As the manager Ejaz Ahmed says, “30 percent of our customers come back every evening with some of them being a regular since past 30 to 40 years.”You can always find a bunch of moulanas and burqa clad ladies enjoying the natural delight but the place seems to lack young college crowd, which are obviously more swayed towards posher addresses.But if you are in the city and you have not tasted a Famous scoop you are definitely missing something.The place is definitely a treasured Hyderabadi landmark which has become iconic in its existence.
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