New York · ice cream
Malai
A shop that treats South Asian flavour as its first language rather than as a seasonal gesture, on an eggless base churned with little air, founded and still led by Pooja Bavishi from the Smith Street flagship it started in.
What we know
- The base is eggless and churned with deliberately little air — a stated method, not a general claim of craft
- South Asian spice is the first language of the flavour list rather than a seasonal special: chai, cardamom, saffron, rose
- Named flavours are built on specific dishes and drinks — Thandai, Kaju Katli — rather than on a generic idea of Indian flavour
- Founded and still led by the same person, from one Brooklyn shop in 2015 to counters in Manhattan, Philadelphia and Washington
- Status
- open
- Address
- 268 Smith Street, Brooklyn, New York, NY 11231
- Maker
- Pooja Bavishi
- Opened
- 2015
- Website
- www.malai.co/
- Last checked
- 2026-08-21
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