Nightmare on East Street

from Rockafella's, Horsham on 1 Apr 2023

This was described by the menu as: Choc-chip cookie dough gelato, with choc-fudge cake and red velvet cake adorned with strawberry slices & sauce.

The chunks you see on top are the (two!) slices of cake (red velvet & chocolate). The cake certainly isn’t particularly fresh, but then again this isn’t a cake shop and it’s being served on top of a milkshake so I’ll cut them some slack there. I’d count it as reasonable cake, making it a win in terms of interesting milkshake experiences. Thankfully I was provided with a full set of cutlery with which to deconstruct and eat this tower of sugary deliciousness. I would have been a bit sad with just a spoon (or, as is known to happen, not cutlery at all).

I find myself unreasonably annoyed that the wafer was so covered in sauce that I didn’t have a clean place to grab it without dirtying my fingers. First-world problems indeed.

As for the shake itself: I’ll be honest I struggled to find the “cookie dough” flavour, and it’s not the thickest shake I’ve had. Maybe for the best, to contrast with the accompanying (fairly dense) cake. Interestingly, I ran into a problem I’ve not hit before with mason-jar-style milkshake containers: there isn’t a single “bottom” point. So getting the last of your shake out is actually something of a challenge. I suppose classical milkshake glasses have a good reason for existing!

While the milkshake on its own is fine, the packaged experience is where this really shines. The cake, the shake, the sauces around it, the straw provided (propped up on a swirl of cream), there’s even an icing-sugar-dusted “R” logo on the “plate”.