KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 – The question itself feels like a trap: "What happens if a bartender opens an ice cream shop?”
The answer, it turns out, is far from a trick and closer to a treat: "Well, boozy ice cream of course!”
Instead of boring old rum & raisin, how about Raisin’ The Bar, a whisky and raisin ice cream made with Dewar’s 12 Year Old Whisky, raisins and tonka beans from South America?
For chocolate mint lovers, Nothing Good Happens After 8am infuses dark chocolate and spearmint with a healthy dose of Fernet-Branca for a bitter kick.
These creative flavours are the brainchild of a trio of friends – Rick Joore, 34; Kit Yin Chan, 33; and Shin Chang, 39. Together they founded Licky Chan, a purveyor of ice cream concocted with spirits and liqueurs – the sort you can find at any decent cocktail bar.
Cocktails gave two of them a head start: Rick had won multiple awards in international cocktail competitions while Kit, who studied accounting, worked in Berlin Bar in Melbourne before returning to KL. The duo also opened Licky Chan’s sister restaurant JOLOKO together.
Shin is an architect who, aside from running his own firm MentahMatter, also launched Chocha Foodstore and Botakliquor with his partner Penny Ng and his sister Chang Li Youn. He and Penny are the creative brains behind JOLOKO’s vibrant interior.
All this talent helps Licky Chan stand out from the rest of the pack, given artisanal ice cream – even alcoholic ice cream flavours – are hardly a new concept. It’s that sharp design sense, quick wit and more than a smidgen of irreverence.
Even the name "Licky Chan” wasn’t something they agonised over. Kit recalls, "Over dinner and wine, a friend had taught Rick how to write his name with my surname in Mandarin and the rest is history. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and love being a little rebellious.”
(What do you get when you mix ice cream cones and cocktails? "Cone-tails”, of course.)
The team knew they wanted to incorporate alcohol in their ice creams and to also push themselves creatively in terms of what flavour combinations they could come up with.
Rick says, "We felt that most ice cream brands serve something more familiar or comforting and while that isn’t a bad thing, we wanted to create adventure, and excitement and make you feel curious like a kid again.”
That sense of adventure can take one to places near and far.
The Land of the Rising Sun provided ample ideas, for instance, with flavours such as Midnight in Kyoto (matcha, orgeat syrup, coconut, soy milk and vegan pineapple almond crumble) and Lost in Translation (which pairs black sesame with raspberry coulis, an unlikely but winning combination).
Further west, Italy’s summery Amalfi coast inspired them to create the low calorie Fit Batch, an all day breakfast ice cream conjured from a blend of Amalfi lemons, rolled oats, chia seeds, flax seeds and dried cranberries.
Closer to home, their Fior De Latte flavour is made with Malaysian milk sourced from a local farm in Pahang. Naturally, the Licky Chan crew had to put their own twist by adding sweet soy sauce.
For fans of sorbets and chocolates, there is the Chocolate Concierge, consisting of 70 percent Malaysian single origin cacao, cold brew cacao husks and Dewar’s 12 Year Old Whisky.
Kit shares, "Rick developed most of them based on his knowledge in mixology, where you layer flavours and let them dance with every lick.”
This dance of flavours is apparent with one of their most popular ice creams, Lickin’ On Gin and Juice – which recreates a gin & tonic with Bombay Sapphire and calamansi, topped with olive oil for an added depth and richness.
Another bestseller is Two Truths and a Lychee, a most singular ice cream that plays with both complementary and contradictory flavours: mint and lychee, white chocolate liqueur and cili padi.
Who knew a spicy ice cream could work so well?
Well, Rick did. Tongue-in-cheek names for ice creams aside, the team is very serious about recipe development.
He explains, "We create our flavours from the perspective of a mixologist or fine-dining chef... the flavours evolve as you lick. We use ingredients that are less common in regular ice cream shops but you can find them in a culinary setting, such as fig leaf, tonka bean or ylang ylang.”
Certainly some magic happens between churning and scooping. The staff at the Licky Chan shops (the original at Jalan Yap Ah Shak, KL, and a new outlet in SS15, Subang Jaya) will be happy to advise on flavour pairings.
Inclusivity is a priority; Licky Chan makes all their cones vegan and gluten free, as well as having lactose-free and kid friendly flavours.
Consider Nirvana, one of Licky’s vegan flavours. With its masala chai notes of almond milk, cashew, turmeric and chai, it would go really well with Monkey Business, which contains banana bread, pecan and dates.
Ice cream can be a difficult product. Kit says, "It’s obviously extremely sensitive to temperature and the alcohol makes the melting point even lower, making it a logistic nightmare. We needed to learn a lot more about the production – none of us had ever made ice cream!”
Expansion is currently on the agenda. Rick says, "We’re dreaming big. We believe we can make this a brand for South-east Asia and we’re preparing for it. I don’t think anything in this region comes remotely close to what we do.”
Or, to take a cue from one of their more caffeinated flavours, there is No Rest For The Wicked (comprising Ethiopian cold brew coffee, Plantation 3 Stars white rum, hazelnut, coconut and cacao nibs).
Licky Chan’s faithful fans might well be thankful for such diligence and refusal to rest on their laurels.
When you have such seductive scoops like In the Mood for Love (macadamia, salted popcorn, dulce de leche), who wouldn’t be in the mood for more... or indeed, amor?
Licky Chan KL:
24, Jalan Yap Ah Shak, Chow Kit, KL
Open Mon, Wed & Thu 12pm-10:30pm and Fri-Sun 12pm-11pm (Tue closed)
Phone: 011-6410 3677
Licky Chan SS15:
26, Jalan SS 15/8B, SS15, Subang Jaya
Open Mon-Fri (except Tue closed) 1pm-11pm and Sat-Sun 12pm-11pm
Phone: 03-5612 3324
Web: lickychan.com
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