Wildest creams

know what to do when the temperature and humidity rise: travel through air-conditioned shopping centres and covered walkways, seek shade under trees and awnings and eat lots of ice cream.

Whether it's Mister Softee's soft-serve, mango or coconut ice cream at Hui Lau Shan dessert shops or cups of Dairy Farm's ube (purple yam) flavour at convenience stores, there's no shortage of options.

And to attract more customers, some ice cream makers are putting new spins on the frozen treat.

This is a formula that Lab Made in Tin Hau has put to good use. The shop, which is the first to serve liquid nitrogen-made ice cream, was opened by two former pharmacists. Ice cream paste, made at the research and development unit of its Kowloon Bay factory, is combined with liquid nitrogen freezing it in less than a minute and giving off a dramatic, smoky vapour.

Lab Made is so popular that a second branch will open later this year, in Tsim Sha Tsui.

"As Hongkongers, we are lucky because we understand the market and knew there would be interest in a product like this," says company director Ronnie Cheng Hong-wang who, with his girlfriend (and business partner), learned about the product while working in London.

"What we do is not just about the smoke. It is important to maintain quality and be creative," he says.