Find Persian Egyptian Ice Cream Flavors at Pasadena’s Kinrose Creamery

Smorgasburg favorite Kinrose Creamery is bringing its ice cream to Old Town Pasadena with a permanent location that opened on January 13, 2024. The company was initially born during the pandemic when owners Maria Oveysi and Moe Kamal moved to Los Angeles from Virginia and started making ice cream that drew on the Persian and Egyptian flavors they were raised on. As interest grew, they started delivering packaged pints across Los Angeles, before evolving into a pop-up at Smorgasburg.

While developing their flavors, Kamal and Oveysi found themselves turning to their family and the recipes they grew up on as a sounding board. “These recipes have raised us and continue to inspire us,” Kamal tells Eater. The name itself is an homage to Cafe Rose, the restaurant Oveysi’s parents own in Virginia where her mom makes saffron ice cream.

The opening lineup at Kinrose Creamery includes flavors like baklava, saffron pistachio and rose, kanafeh, and sour cherry, which is served with Iranian cotton candy. While they will offer their staples year-round, Oveysi and Kamal also plan to add special flavors around Nowruz, Ramadan, and more holidays.

In opening their new space, Oveysi and Kamal wanted somewhere that was more than just a place to grab ice cream. “With the brick and mortar we envisioned bringing a lot of families and people together,” says Oveysei. They looked at locations across LA before landing in Pasadena along Mills Place. At the shop, find a seating area complete with mid-century furniture and a Pac-Man machine, plus plants that remind Kamal of the desert landscape in Palm Springs.

While Los Angeles has other Persian ice cream shops including Mashti Malone’s and Saffron & Rose, Oveysi and Kamal aim to do something different with Kinrose Creamery. “We hope to really capture as much of the Middle East as possible, not just flavors that are maybe a little bit more common,” Oveysi says.

Kinrose Creamery is located at 140 Mills Place, Pasadena, CA 91105, and is open daily from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.