Ice cream lovers are spoilt for choice these days.
Jaime Ee
Sat, May 19, 2007
The Business Times
IT used to be that if you wanted an ice cream cone in Singapore, about the only choice you had was a drumstick or a cornetto.
Long gone are the days when Magnolia and Walls dominated our freezer shelves. First, fancy ice creams from overseas like Haagen Dazs, Baskin Robbins, Swensen's and Ben & Jerry's started to edge their way into the palates of more sophisticated ice cream eaters. Then, Italian-style gelato started muscling in. Currently, the ice cream scene has seen a wave of homegrown ice cream parlours like Island Creamery and the Daily Scoop carving out a strong niche for themselves among Singaporeans with a penchant for localised flavours like chendol, chempedak, teh tarik or bandung.
Of late, some new and newish players have entered the frozen arena - notably, they are not enterprising Singaporeans churning out 30 different flavours by hand each day, but interesting concept ice creams imported from Japan and Korea. At the same time, upmarket F&B operators better known for their upscale restaurants are also creating their own line of ice creams.
Here, we take a close up look at some of them:
RAFFLES CREAMERY
Raffles Hotel
Tel: 6337-1886
WALKING through the Raffles Hotel shopping arcade - from say, Ah Teng's Bakery all the way to Seah Street Deli - can be a sweltering experience especially on a typical hot Singapore afternoon. Now, though, you'll find a cool oasis just outside the Deli - a little pavilion that used to serve drinks and snacks has since been turned into Raffles Creamery, the hotel's version of an ice cream parlour.
While it's technically an outdoor cafe area where you can enjoy a range of healthy juices and smoothies along with a simple meal of sandwiches, salads, soups or pasta, the real showpiece of this creamery is the extensive range of ice creams developed by the hotel's chefs.
'We wish to inject a lively addition to Raffles Hotel's repertoire of dining experiences with the creation of Raffles Creamery,' says general manager Robert Logan. 'Together with the culinary panache of our chefs, we present a multitude of 30 ice cream and sherbet flavours including non-dairy ones to reflect the greater lifestyle consciousness of our patrons.'
Prices start at $4.80 for a single scoop ($8 for two), and an extra $1 for one or two toppings. Flavours include macadamia nut caramel, hazelnut frappucino, Snickers bar, rocky road, green tea, kalamansi frozen yoghurt and low fat/sugar coconut cream and fresh banana. If you're lactose intolerant, there's a range of dairy-free sherbets like pink guava and soursop, and it will be introducing ice creams made from soya milk like vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.
The ice creams are good quality, natural-tasting stuff that aren't too rich or cloying. Rocky road is nice and chewy with marshmallows and great with crushed oreo cookies; the mango and apricot flavours are refreshingly fruity. If you're indecisive, ask for the Cold Marble Teppanyaki where you can custom-blend different flavours and toppings like granola, M&Ms, cookies, chocolate and butterscotch sauces, and fresh fruit. The result is a mish-mash but kids will have fun with it.
Aiming at capturing students from surrounding universities, corporate execs and shoppers, the Creamery is a friendly and accessible ice cream parlour - the pricing isn't much more expensive than other brands around and who knows, Raffles ice cream might be the next buzz word for brand-conscious sweet-toothed consumers.
HOKKAIDO ICE CREAM
Available at: Azabu Sabu,
6 Raffles Boulevard, #02-170/171,
Marina Square. Tel: 6338-1244.
Branches at The Central
and Takashimaya Food Mall
www.azabusabo.com
AZABU SABO, a chain of tea-and-dessert cafes that started off in the Azabu district of Tokyo in 1979, is using Singapore as a test market for its Hokkaido ice cream, and it should come as no surprise that the locals are fully appreciative and lapping it up.
Since it was first introduced here about 13 months ago, the ice cream - served in traditional hand-scooped form rather than the machine-dispensed, soft ice cream style commonly found in Japan - has enjoyed a rapidly growing fan base. Another interesting difference is that the ice cream is sculpted by the server into a tall, vaguely pyramid-like shape when served in a cone.
According to Ellis Cheng, a director of the company that owns Azabu Sabo, Singapore was chosen because of its tropical climate - which makes it prime ice-cream territory with year-round appeal. There are now three outlets here, served by a central kitchen that produces the ice cream using Hokkaido milk and other base ingredients from Japan - even the three-sided cones are imported.
Several more are slated to open in the coming months, says Mr Cheng, and the eventual target is something around 20 outlets. While the Singapore business is wholly owned by the parent company, there are also franchise operations in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Other potential markets include Indonesia, Thailand and China.
In keeping with Azabu Sabo's philosophy of low sugar and low fat in its food, and also keeping it all-natural and preservative-free, its ice cream is neither too rich nor too sweet - it is smooth, semi-soft (which makes it easier to shape) and suitably creamy. Generally, its taste is consistent with a high-quality specialty product. There are some 20 flavours available at the moment, including traditional favourites like green tea and black sesame - this being Singapore, durian flavour is also available.
Mr Cheng says there are plans to introduce new Japanese flavours such as tofu, sake, wasabi and sakura. The manufacturing process is overseen by an ice cream specialist from Japan. Meanwhile, the ice cream is priced at $3.50 (cup) and $4 (cone) per scoop. On a busy day, the company's main branch at Marina Square will sell around 1,500 scoops, says Mr Cheng. It's also not unusual to see queues at its recently-opened counter at The Central, which faces the Singapore River.
'The market for ice cream in Singapore is already substantial, and it's only going to get bigger,' he adds.
--By Geoffrey Eu
PREFERE ICE CREAM CAFE
Novena Square 2, #03-04
THE concept of soft ice-cream in Singapore tends to be equated more with the swirls of icy confection pumped from special machines at McDonalds, but the Japanese/Korean version of it is starting to make its presence known here.
Prefere (which is French for 'favourite') is a popular brand of soft-serve ice cream in Korea, and brought into Singapore for the first time by IT professional Quak Wan Ling and her cousins. After a friend who tasted it in Seoul told her cousins about it, 'one of our family members went to check it out in Korea and felt that it was an interesting concept to bring to Singapore,' she says.
Like another similar Japanese ice cream chain Uzumaki, there is no mucking about churning ice cream flavours from scratch and scooping them up from individual containers in a freezer display. Instead, just one simple machine developed in UK (but modified by the Korean ice cream maker) called a one-shot dispenser, is used. Individual prepacked servings of ice cream are popped into this machine on one end, and with one push, the ice cream emerges in a swirl into a cup or cone.
There's literally no muss and no fuss, which was why Ms Quak and her relatives pooled together a little more than $100,000 to open a tiny cafe that sells the ice cream by the scoop or in specially concocted desserts like affogato, in which the vanilla ice cream is drowned in espresso and served to you at one of the three tables in the cafe.
The ice cream is all pre-made in Korea and flown in direct and ready to be pumped out, says Ms Quak. Flavours include melon, chocolate vanilla, yoghurt blueberry, grape and cherry. Priced at $3.50 a scoop, the ice cream is very smooth, creamy and dense - the choc-vanilla, in particular, has that lovely sticky, chewy mouth feel that's really satisfying.
Ms Quak says that sales are encouraging, although the shop's visibility is somewhat hampered by its location in the confusing configuration of the Korean-themed mall. She's looking for other locations to set up stand alone kiosks and currently has a temporary one at West Mall.
She reckons that there is always a market for ice cream regardless of the competition. 'Ice cream is an impulse buy, so if you are in a good location, it should be ok.' She's also trying to differentiate her product by creating different kinds of desserts using the ice creams as a base. The set-up isn't slick or visually inviting - there are no tantalising displays of colourful ice creams - but once you get a taste of its smooth, chewy creaminess, chances are you might be hooked. Only problem is that there's no takeaway option, but it seems they're looking into that.
UZUMAKI
Outlets at Bugis Junction, Lot 1,
Harbourfront and Cathay Cine-Leisure
IF Uzumaki has its way, the traditional look of the ice cream vendor is about to undergo a major makeover. This new Japanese ice cream chain is nothing more than a tiny green kiosk with no ice cream on display - only a menu and a display case of plastic ice cream cones. In fact, you might even mistake it for some photo developing shop, just don't bring your memory card because the less than friendly male staff are not likely to be amused.
Uzumaki is the brainchild of 24-year-old former flight attendant Jacquelyn Ng, who was inspired by the ice creams she tasted in Japan and the quirky technology behind them. Fascinated by the unique dispensing machine used in Japan that pumps out soft-serve ice cream, she joined forces with manufacturers there and developed her own line of ice cream flavours under the Uzumaki label.
The unique selling point of Uzumaki is its bubble tea ice cream - a follow-up of the near extinct bubble tea that raged through Singapore not too long ago. Made with Ceylon tea, milk and the ubiquitous sago balls, it's the best-selling flavour of the moment. There's no scooping involved. You choose your flavour and the guy takes a little tub of ice cream, forces it through a machine and you have your soft swirl ice cream in a cup or cone.
Priced at $3.50 to $4 a scoop without toppings (50 cents for a dollop of chewy pearls), it's not cheap. The serving is small compared to say, Prefere.
While we didn't try the bubble tea flavour, the $4 Sakura cherry ice cream with chocolate chips did not impress with its grainy, airy texture and ho-hum flavour. The toppings - chewy pearls made of seaweed and coated with caramel - look pretty sad in their tiny plastic containers that look like they've been there for some time. But if you're not into toppings, then check out other flavours like wasabi, black sesame and green tea.
Meanwhile, the response to Uzumaki has been so good that it now has four kiosks and the plans are to open more of them - proof that plonk and pump ice cream is here to stay.
CANELE
11 Unity St #01-09. Tel: 6738 8145
#B1-25 Paragon Shopping Centre
Tel: 6733-8893
CANELE may already have built up a reputation for its designer-quality pastries and chocolates, but it's also quietly been churning out its own line of specialty ice creams for the past year and it's been a popular choice among its regular customers.
Pastry chef Pang Kok Keong uses a traditional French ice cream making recipe that includes 'pasteurising and maturing the mixture for 24 hours before churning'. While it sounds like a complicated process, the result is clean-tasting, milky rather than creamy ice cream that emphasises the delicate flavours of its ingredients. Sold in one-litre tubs priced from $12.50 to $14.50, flavours range from the exotic - L'Amour is a rose petal ice cream with raspberry jelly, while Nougatine is a praline ice cream with crunchy hazelnut candy bits - to the intense, like 66 per cent dark chocolate ice cream.
Canele's ice cream is not the rich, unctuously creamy mixtures that you might expect. The chocolate ice cream is intensely flavoured yet isn't at all rich - more like a cross between sherbet and ice cream. It may not be as rich as aficionados may like, but if you just want clean chocolate flavour, this is it. The L'Amour is yummy, though, with its fragrant bandung like flavour, while the Nougatine is richer with its caramelly flavour and crunchy bits.
