Perhaps it should have come as no surprise, given the ignominious location under the freeway where Mission favorite Bombay Ice Cream relocated in 2011, but this: I went by for icecream the other day to discover the place was totally vacant, with no clues as to where its cones of cardamom and chicku icrecream might reappear.
Old-timers (people who have lived here since 2011) will remember Bombay’s heyday as a counter-service Indian restaurant, icecream shop, and Indian bazaar, a one-stop shop for lassi mix, Ganesh decal stickers, bindis, and samosas to go. It was featured on a segment on the Food Channel, and at one point National Geographic named it one of the top 10 places to eat icecream in the god-damn world.
There’s no news on the website that would indicate that the business is no more, but the phone number of the Mission District standby has been disconnected and the contact email on the website deactivated, which would suggest that the rumors swirling on the Yelp page about a return to Valencia Street (perhaps started by early reports that the South Van Ness site was only temporary) may just be wishful thinking.
Owners Bharti and Suresh Parmar in the Guardian’s 2004 Best of the Bay issue