Milo Musings – a guide to iced milo in the city & suburb

The Alchemist – Milo Dinosaur

You’ve probably heard of the Alchemist, the small café a stone’s throw from the beach in Hulhumale. Not a bad place to while away an afternoon, the streets aren’t too busy and there’s a pretty tree just by the entrance.

Anyway, they call theirs the Milo Dinosaur and with good reason. It arrives in a jar on a saucer, topped off with chocolate ice cream crowned by a mound of milo. And that’s not all, the saucer is strewn with milo powder. Its visual impact is, as you can imagine, massive. You’re quite obviously contending with something primeval, gargantuan, the chocolate-malt beverage equivalent of a sauropod.

“At home, milo is about conservation,” Ahmed says. “But here, it’s about excess.”

“I wonder what palace of wisdom it leads to,” I mutter and take a sip. The milo is like a cold sea beneath the snow-capped iceberg of ice cream. It’s pleasant but, paradoxically, could use just a bit more of that chocolate-malt stuff as the ice cream was making it a tad too creamy.

“You know, if they were to go just a step further, the waiter would have to chuck a bucket of milo on you,” Ahmed adds. I’m inclined to agree. The bill arrives, 75 MVR for the milo.

Citron – Iced Milo

“What the hell happened here?” I ask Ahmed. “Why’s it so full today?”

“Pay day,” says Ahmed.

It’s late afternoon and this seaside restaurant is thick with people. I order our drinks and wait, enjoying the setting. Waves lap lazily at the seawall, the sloping sun lends the sea a golden sheen. In the distance a plane takes off, its dull roar now an inextricable part of Male’s East Coast environs.

“Citron’s a melting pot,” Ahmed begins. “Look around us. You get all sorts here.”

The milos arrive in tall glasses. I test mine. Smooth, cold. Lots of milo, not too much. Fair amount of sugar, though sometimes they can get a bit carried away here. Today, it’s a near perfect drink. Milo is simple at Citron, a back-to-basics thing. At 30 bucks a pop, this is the cheapest of the lot. It’s surprising is that a restaurant like Citron serves milo this cheap, don’t they know how much others charge for theirs? Perhaps these restaurants are like parallel universes. Things that occur within one have no bearing on the other.

Regardless, it’s the best value for money milo I’ve come across so far.

Kavarna – Iced Milo

Dusk is settling over Hulhumale. The surrounds are dim, the roads pretty much deserted. Kavarna, however, is busy. The tables outside are packed with diners. Or coffee-ers, enjoying a hot cuppa as the heat of the city wears off.

“Not sure about the type who comes here,” mentions Ahmed after we walk in and place our orders. “Not in familiar territory. Although, I feel these guys could get away without a proper cleaning job for quite a while.”

“Yeah, they did pretty well with the décor,” I say.

Soon, our drinks stand before us like a couple of chocolate soldiers, cold and still.

Shaking my head, I take a sip from my drink and it’s immediately clear that this is what I’ve been looking for. The deep, malty chocolate flavour is enhanced by crushed ice, which makes the drink thick and cool, but not at the expense of taste. I’ve made it, folks. This is milo heaven.

“Crushed ice,” says Ahmed wrinkling his face again. “I can’t stand it.”

“How dare you?” I reply. “That’s what makes it so good.”

“Eh,” says Ahmed. At times like this, I just want to punch his face in. His comment notwithstanding, let me assure you, dear reader at 50MVR this is, with nary a doubt, the best of the bunch.

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