Thomasian brings taste of Pinoy sorbetes to Belgium

Dirty ice cream in Europe, anyone?

UST alumna Kamille Rodriguez, together with her Belgian husband Jelle Bories, are the owners of “Sorbetes ni Manong Jelle,” a micro-creamery business based in Sint Niklaas, Belgium.

“Being born and raised in Manila, I know the tastes that we are all craving for here abroad,” Rodriguez told the Varsitarian in an interview. “I know what flavors remind me of childhood.”

Ice cream making started out as a hobby for Rodriguez’s husband, who is a pastry chef, but positive feedback from family and friends encouraged them to eventually start their own business and sell sorbetes, popularly known as “dirty ice cream” in the motherland.

“I requested [Jelle] to make me some Pinoy-flavored ice cream since it’s not readily available here in Europe,” she said. “We started sharing our ice cream with our close friends and they urged us to sell it to the other Pinoys here in Belgium.”

The name of their micro-creamery was also inspired by UST’s own “Mang Tomas Pinoy Sorbetes,” she added.

Dedicated to their motto, “We can bring you back to the islands,” the couple serves handcrafted Filipino-inspired ice cream flavors such as ube, halo-halo, durian, and their bestseller among foreigners, Rum Raisins, which is made from Negros rum.

Rodriguez said that one of the obstacles they continue to encounter is sourcing raw ingredients as they want to maintain the quality and authenticity of their ice cream.

“We started buying from small Asian stores but eventually, they couldn’t keep up anymore with our orders, so we now order directly from the distributors,” she said.

And just like the typical sorbetes vendors in the Philippines, Sorbetes ni Manong Jelle caters to its customers via a kariton-inspired ice cream bicycle to cover the city they are based.

At present, the micro-creamy is manned by Rodriguez and her husband, but they hope to expand their team, set up a physical store, and hopefully, export their ice cream products to neighboring European countries.

Rodriguez earned her nursing degree from UST in 2008.