Ice Cream Chefs

Look beyond Ice Cream Chefs' fancy mix-n-match concept, and you'll find some well-made ice cream.
Amy Yeong
amyyeong@sph.com.sg
Aug 02, 2007
AsiaOne

A new ice cream parlour has opened in East Coast Road, and while some of its recipes could do with a bit more refining, it is probably the only place in town where you can create almost any flavour of ice cream imaginable.

Sounds far-fetched? That's what I thought when I first received the press release of Ice Cream Chefs. This 2-month-old outfit is the brainchild of two good friends who love the cold dessert so much that they taught themselves how to make ice cream, all in the name of 'bringing their ice cream dreams to reality'.

All the ice cream flavours in Ice Cream Chefs are made in-house, and we are not talking about just plain ol' vanilla and chocolate.

The day I dropped in, they were making a fresh batch of cinnamon apple ice cream, with apples sourced from nowhere else but France - home of fine produce and every gourmand's dream destination. Of course, they do have the 'regular' flavours as well, but I believe that the allure for most of its patrons lies in the fact that you mix-and-match your ice cream with a whole lot of other goodies.

One thing unique to Ice Cream Chefs is its 'ice-plate'. This freezing cold sheet of metal allows the 'Ice Cream Chef' to mix and match any combination of ice cream flavours, munchies, and condiments into a unique treat.

Naturally, some flavour combinations are already firm favourites with the ice cream parlour's regular customers, such as the 'Durian Surprise' - a combination of 40 per cent chocolate ice cream, 60 per cent durian ice cream and Loackers waffles, along with a generous helping of chocolate sauce. The combination sounds weird, but it was surprisingly palatable (maybe that is where its name came from). The dark, rich taste of the chocolate ice cream blended very well with the strong taste of the durian ice cream, while the crushed Loackers gave the resulting concoction a satisfying crunch. Durian lovers will get a kick out of this, and even non-durian lovers (like yours truly) may find it enjoyable.

While the "mix-n-match" concept of Ice Cream Chefs may draw in the kids, there are diners who will be more interested in the quality of its home-made ice cream. Those who love fruit flavours are in for a treat - the several different flavours that I tried here were all extremely well done, thanks to the owners' insistence on using quality ingredients. The durian ice cream is made from D24 durians, while its mango ice cream uses only a particular variety of mango to attain its flavour and sweetness.

The watermelon sherbet was extremely refreshing and did not stint on taste - this is as close as you will get to having watermelon in ice cream form.

That said, some of its base flavours will benefit from tweaking. This is not as easy as it sounds, as the owners have to take into consideration factors such as the texture and density of the ice cream both before and after it goes through the mashing-up process on the ice plate. While the vanilla ice cream is not very impressive on its own (despite the generous amount of vanilla bean used), it makes a great base for the different ice cream creations.

One flavour which left a positive impression on me was the green tea. Now, green tea ice cream should taste like green tea - most preferably macha green tea, which is thick, bitter and smooth. Ice Cream Chefs' green tea ice cream scored high on taste, being bitter and strong enough, but it could do with a tad more creaminess in texture. Nevertheless, the folks here are on the right track, and I am looking forward to seeing (or rather, tasting) how their different ice cream flavours will improve over time.

Ice Cream Chefs
520 East Coast Road
#01-06 (Ocean Park Condominium)
Tel: 64466355
Opening hours: Sun-Thurs 12pm to 10pm; Fri-Sat 12pm to 11pm