KHULFI BAR INDIAN ICE CREAM

Khulfi Bar is located at Upper Dickson Road, off Serangoon Road (Little India). It is more than just an eating place serving authentic Northern Indian ice cream and finger food. The place is like an art gallery, displaying various beautiful Indian artefacts and colourful decors.



Since it was my first time eating Indian ice cream, I wanted to be safe and ordered the best seller – Bollywood Silver Khulfi. The dessert was specially made of hazzlenut khulfi with chocolate fudge, lined with pure edible silver. Other ingredients included pistachios, cashew nuts and roasted almonds. Overall combination was delicious and very sweet (I expected Indian desserts to be sweeter than normal). I also ordered a cup of hot mint tea, which was of normal standard. As much as the khulfi was good, it was really quite expensive – khulfi at S$12.90, mint tea at S$3.60. Service from the lady boss was friendly. She took the trouble to explain the khulfi ingredients and menu items.

• Food & Beverage 7/10 • Ambience 7/10 • Service 6.5/10

ICE CREAM GALORE!

The ice cream frenzy in Singapore really caught up with me lately. Within a period of 2 months, I checked out 4 different establishments to try out their unique ice cream. Frankly I have never been an ice cream fanatic. I just wanted to find out what was the frenzy all about and to understand more about the unconventional modern ice cream.

My first stop was at Udders Ice Cream (www.udders.com.sg), situated at Goldhill Centre level one. My friend and I ordered the "Mao Shan Wang" (Cat Mountain King) durian ice cream, "Orange Choc Bitters" ice cream, "Rum Rum Raisin" ice cream and Waffle with chocolate sauce. I loved the taste of durian ice cream very much. Strong durian taste and not too creamy and sweet. I could actually taste small pieces of durian. The "Orange Choc Bitters" ice cream was very rich and unique, combining well orange and dark bitter Belgian chocolate. The "Rum Rum Raisin" ice cream had a strong rum content, with twice as much liquor than normal. Honestly I got abit tipsy after a few scoops. Lastly, the Waffle with chocolate sauce was very good. Very crispy and flavourful. Service from the lady boss was friendly.

• Food & Beverage 8/10 • Ambience 6/10 • Service 7/10



Next I visited the newly-opened Marvelous Cream (www.marvelouscream.com) located at City Link Mall basement one. The ice cream outlet is the first overseas store outside of Japan. The store uses the "Cold Rock" concept – ice cream is mixed with fruits and various toppings (nuts, sprinkles, chips, etc) on top of a frosted granite slab. I ordered a regular 100ml cup of "Angel's Parfait' ice cream, which consisted of white milk cream (ice cream imported from Hiroshima, milk from Hokkaido), strawberry, melon and macaron vanilla. I liked the rich milky flavour. The ice cream was smooth and not too sweet. Service from the staff was friendly.

• Food & Beverage 7/10 • Ambience 6.5/10 • Service 6.5/10




My third stop was at Haato (www.haato.com.sg) located at Liang Court Shopping Centre basement one. This flagship outlet was formerly known as "Gelato di Crema" and has been at the same shopping mall for 16 years. Haato produces gelato in Singapore, using traditional recipes from Japan. The staff at the counter recommended a mix of black sesame and green tea gelato in a cup. The combination was very good. The gelato mix was rich, smooth and not too sweet. The green tea gelato is the best I have eaten so far. The staff were quite friendly and chatty.

• Food & Beverage 7.5/10 • Ambience - • Service 7/10




I came across the fourth store – Yoguru (www.yoguru.com.sg) – by chance while I was at Raffles City Shopping Centre basement one. I was invited to try a small cup of soft-serve yogurt ice cream by a friendly Korean store manager. The ice cream tasted really good and refreshing. I was told that Yoguru uses fresh ingredients without preservatives or additives. Every yogurt ice cream is non-fat and produced at the store. This health benefit concept hailed from South Korea (the owner of Yoguru is a Korean). From my personal perception, Yoguru does not project a "made-in-Korea" identity and brand. I did not see any Korean icon, from the logo to the store design. I saw Yoguru merely as a local establishment selling healthy yogurt ice cream.

I ordered a regular cup, combining Original (white yogurt) and YoguBliss (mix of dragon fruit and promegranate), with no toppings. I was surprised by the generous amount! The yogurt ice cream mix was tasty and not too sweet. What came to my mind while eating was: "a very healthy dessert". The Korean store manager was very friendly and patient.

• Food & Beverage 7/10 • Ambience - • Service 7.5/10

A LA CARTE THAI BUFFET @ SUANTHAI (LIANG COURT)

I wanted to give a friend a birthday treat and we decided on Thai food at SuanThai (Liang Court Shopping Centre #B1-03/04/05). My friend and I ordered the standard A La Carte Buffet (SGD19.90++ per person), with 29 dishes to choose from. One time order for some dishes, such as seafood tom yam soup, beef salad and stuffed chicken wings. With an additional $1.50+, there is free flow of pineapple rice. Overall the dishes and desserts were delicious and value for money. The pineapple rice was the only disappointing dish, having a strong thai spice aroma. I highly recommend the stuffed chicken wings, chicken wrapped in pandan leaf, beef salad and desserts.

Service was good and assorted dishes were served rather quickly.

• Food & Beverage 8/10 • Ambience 6.5/10 • Service 6.5/10

 

 

 

 

TAMPOPO & BISHAMON RAMEN

For the last 3 months, I only managed to check out 2 Japanese ramen restaurants. This was partly due to my new-found craze for ice cream (to be featured later). The first location was Tampopo Family Dining restaurant (www.cfc.com.sg), situated at Liang Court Shopping Centre level one. I ordered the kyushu-style "Ramen Original". The soup (pork bone broth) was very delicious and not too salty and oily. The thick noodle was well-cooked and not too soggy. The one big slice of fatty kurobuta (black pig) was tender and excellent, melted in my mouth. Other ingredients included braised egg and wood ear fungus, with topping of spicy cod-roe mentaiko and sesame seeds. 

• Food & Beverage 8.5/10 • Ambience 7.5/10 • Service 6/10



The second ramen restaurant was Bishamon, located at Raffles City Shopping Mall basement one. I ordered the sapporo-style shio ramen, plus a plate of gyoza. The salt flavoured soup (pork bone broth) was not too salty but quite flavourless. Where was the pork bone taste? The fat curly egg noodle was not well-cooked and tasted abit hard. The one big piece of charsiew was thick and lean, rather tasteless. Very disappointing. Other ingredients included bambo shoots, seaweed and spring onions. Overall the shio ramen was below average. Ramen from Ajisen certainly tastes better. The 6 pieces of gyoza were too hard and not crispy. The ingredients inside were dry.

• Food & Beverage 4.5/10 • Ambience 5/10 • Service 5.5/10