Rolled ice cream takes hold in Honolulu

Ice cream lovers are no longer content with just a scoop or two, garnished with a few toppings. Even a frozen treat with toppings blended right in falls short. Now the way to roll is literally to roll up your ice cream, starting with super-thin sheets that become cylinders standing upright in a bowl, embellished to the hilt.

The rolled ice cream craze originated in Thailand a couple of years ago, snowballed across the mainland and landed in Honolulu this year with two shops that offer the trending treat. Sweet Creams was the first, opening near Ala Moana Center in February, and Cream n’ Roll followed in May.

At Cream n’ Roll, entrepreneurs John Hua-Vo and Dominic Wah Yick, both in their 20s, thoroughly explored the marketing angles when they opened their shop, deliberately choosing the old Bubbies Homemade Ice Cream & Desserts Hawaii location near Varsity Theatre. They wanted to capitalize on the spot’s longtime reputation of novelty ice cream made from quality ingredients.

The former McKinley High School classmates even set aside a wall with a glowing pink neon sign boasting the company slogan — “Roll With Us in Hawaii” — complete with a “shaka” icon. Customers stand in front of it with their made-to-order dishes and take selfies that have spread across Facebook and Instagram. Wah Yick said tourists love it because of the word “Hawaii.”

Customers average 300 a day, mostly millennials and families with young kids. The line can stretch out the door and down the block during peak hours after dinner and on weekends, even when five of their frozen “griddles” are going at the same time.

A major factor is the show — watching the server make magic with all sorts of sweets. Center stage is what looks like a giant pizza pan, frigid enough to keep those ice cream rolls tightly wound and intact.

The liquid cream base — vanilla, green tea or milk tea — is poured over the griddle and turns solid instantly. Customers have a choice of 14 ingredients that can be folded in, and the mixture is spread into a thin sheet. The trickiest part is rolling up strips fast enough, before the sheet cracks, Wah Yick said.

He and Hua-Vo taught themselves the technique by watching videos, and it took 20 to 30 tries to get the process down to about three minutes. Demonstrating, they wielded spatulas that resembled paint scrapers, one in each hand. Like seasoned teppanyaki chefs, they chopped rapidly, rolling and turning the ingredients. Then they spread the mix into the thinnest of rectangles, exerting some muscle to work against the flash-freeze factor on a surface set at 13 or 14 degrees.

The rolls are placed upright into a dish and topped with goodies of the customer’s choice. The options in taste and texture keep one of their customers coming back four times a week, Hua-Vo said.

The rolled ice cream doesn’t melt as fast as regular scoops, and can be transported 10 to 15 minutes away without losing its aesthetic appeal, Hua-Vo said.

Sweet Creams’ co-owners Jeffrey Kao and Bari Carroll started their business nearly a year before opening their brick-and-mortar shop, taking their roll-up machine to special events. Kao said it’s technically called an “anti-griddle.”

Kao said it was a video that introduced him to one of the “biggest things in New York City,” and relatives there raved about its popularity. He was surprised it hadn’t yet come to Hawaii, so he bought a machine for under $1,000 for his daughter’s first birthday bash. From there he took the machine to a flood of weekend parties and pop-ups at shopping centers. They opened the shop to meet the demand, fortified by Instagram. This year Sweet Creams won Honolulu Magazine’s Best of Honolulu ice cream treat award.

Sweet Creams averages some 300 customers daily and up to 500 on weekends. Kao still runs his own insurance investment firm, and his partner keeps working as a marketing executive.

“We both try our best to juggle this venture between our day jobs and young families, but we definitely owe a lot to the support and encouragement of our family and friends,” who still pitch in at special events, Kao said.

Both shops use fresh, local, seasonal ingredients that can be customized. They make their bases from their own ice cream recipes every day and use unprocessed fruits and other mix-ins like Okinawan sweet potato.

At Cream n’ Roll, a 12-ounce bowl is $7; at Sweet Creams it’s $5.50 for 5 ounces, $7 for 8 ounces. Add more for extras.

Find Cream n’ Roll at 1010 University Ave. B-4; call 670-6117 or visit creamnrollhi.com. Sweet Creams is at 1430 Kona St. No. 102; call 260-4725 or visit sweetcreamshawaii.com.