Ben Ungermann to start his store in India soon

After treating his fans in Australia to his unique flavours of ice-cream, MasterChef Australia Season 9’s runner-up Ben Ungermann could soon be indulging his fans in India.

During a visit to Bengaluru last-recently, the 34-year-old chef hinted at a possible store in the city. “I do not know if it will be Ungermann brothers but there will definitely be something in India very soon. Bengaluru is the first place we looked at. I can not reveal too much,” the chef said.

After the finale, he planned to start a Dutch-themed cafe dedicated to his grandmother. But his fans would not hear of it and he started Ungermann Brothers Ice Cream Parlour in his hometown Ipswich with his brother.

“My fans only wanted an ice cream shop. So I gave the people what they wanted. Now people travel interstate and overseas just to visit the store. At the store they can see how the ice cream is being made and then walk to the retail pub to choose from the 32 flavours including unique ones like salted caramel bacon and pecan ice-cream and organic carrot cake ice-cream,” he said.

Ungermann is known to have the most number of Instagram followers from India. While in Bengaluru recently for the launch of ‘Brunch with Brews’ in The Whitefield Arms, Ungermann conducted a live demonstration of his signature dishes for his fans. Among them was his unique Beer Ice Cream served with Mascarpone, Cinnamon Biscuit Crumb, Salted Butterscotch, dehydrated carrots and even vegetable chips.

Though his hectic schedule did not afford him any time to explore the city, he says he is already planning another trip.

“It is my first visit to the country and I am loving it. The people here are so full of life and happy. And they are always trying to feed me. I had idlis with chutney for breakfast and absolutely loved it,” he says.

Besides the idlis, Ungermann also has a penchant for Indian goat curry. “We do not really eat goat in Australia. But my best friend in Australia is an Indian and every Christmas he makes me a goat curry,” says the 34-year old chef.

He has also tried his hand at Indian cooking. “I have tried a few Indian dishes but they are usually deconstructed. Apart from goat curry, I have made Butter Chicken, but in a completely different way. I also made coriander ice-cream,” he said.

Though the show brought him recognition as an Ice Cream King, Ungermann had until then never made a single dessert in his life. “I got into the competition purely as a savoury chef. I was actually scared of desserts. When you cook savoury dishes you season as you go. On the contrary, while working on pastries everything has to be in exact measurements and if you go wrong you can run into trouble,” he says.

“When I was on the show the producer told us that we are never going to win the competition being just good at one thing and we should work on our weaknesses. That is when I decided to learn desserts and came up with this ice cream recipe. There has been no looking back since then. My weakness turned into my strength at the end,” he added.

Despite the thriving business in Ipswich, Ungermann has decided to take a step back and move to Indonesia. “I will be starting a dessert parlour there and also work in television shows. So I have given the store to my family as a gift for their support while I was on the show. I wanted to leave them something to say thank you. But the legacy will go on,” he signed off.