HIGHWAY TO POA
Ice cream parlor famous for its fruit and artesenal ice cream put together in one bowl.
Michelle Rojas B.
Porto Alegre. July 21st, 2014. When you come to Porto Alegre, other than trying the churrasco and chimarrão, you can take a walk to the public market and go to their most famous ice-cream parlor and restaurant, Banca 40.
This restaurant has been open for no more than 87 years and created a simple, yet, magnificent dessert called the Bomba Royal, royal bomb in English. Unlike the name of the dessert, this place is not fancy at all, probably one of most simple restaurants located in the middle of the public market.
The Bomba Royal consists of an exotic mixture, starting with sliced-up fruit salad at the bottom, then covered with three flavors of their artesenal ice-cream and their best ingredient, natural homemade whipped cream or as brazilians call it, nata batida.
The story behind the name is that back in the day , towards the end of WWII in 1945, Banca 40 sold fruit and ice-cream but not together. Then one day, refugees from the war showed up in Porto Alegre and wanted to try everything the restaurant sold in one dish, so that´s when Bomba Royal showed up.
Banca 40 has many stories to tell, one that makes them especially proud is when Bob Dylan visited the place, and was said that it turned out to be his favorite restaurant in POA because nobody recognized him and he was able to eat calmly.
Bomba Royal: an explotion of flavors
For only R$9,50, around USD$4,25, you will get to taste this explotion of flavors. The Bomba Royal can be modified with different flavors out of 27 that Banca 40 offers. After many years of tradition, unfortunately this dessert went down to second place after the banana split.
Carlos Bonnel, partner manager of Banca 40, commented that, “everybody likes the Bomba Royal mostly because its tradition from our past generations, and it´s cheap, healthy, and delicious”.
If you come to Porto Alegre, summer or winter, the Bomba Royal is a must, then you´ll know why its called the best ice-cream in town.