Tom's Palette

Tucked in a quiet corner of Shaw Leisure Gallery is a little surprise called Tom's Palette which sells home-made ice cream.

When curious me entered their premises for the first time, I was greeted by sincere counter staff who are really proud of their little ice cream parlour and their flavours. That pretty much scared me away, plus I had no intention for ice cream that day.

So a few hours ago, I decided to go for it. I stepped in to the ice cream parlour, got greeted by the rather sweet lady boss (I think), tasted the Oreo Cheesecake flavour, which was good, but settled for their Pisang Honey Walnut and Horlicks flavours in a small cup. You get to taste 2 flavours in a small cup at no extra charge and each cup is $2.80, which is considerably cheaper than other ice cream places. I thought it is a good tactic, to create a sense of value that the customer can taste 2 flavours for the price of one. It definitely helps those who can't decide between flavour 1 and flavour 2.

Their ice cream is definitely one of the better ones I've tasted. Rich in flavour and really smooth texture, slightly creamier than the Japanese ice creams. I really enjoyed their Horlicks flavour which I believe had extra amounts of the ingredient to pack the extra punch. The Pisang Honey Walnut though only managed to leave a mild impression with a weak banana flavour. But at least they were generous with the walnuts. The Cherry Almond was a refreshing mix which I really enjoyed. The Apple Pie lived up to its name with real chunks of apple, pie crust and a rich undertone of cinnamon. And if you love cheesecakes, their Blueberry Cheesecake and Oreo Cheesecake are to die for.

Anyway, overheard a conversation between the staff and a customer, there was apparently a batch of cockles flavoured ice cream... see-hum ice cream? Ice cream mai hum? mai hum, mai hum, hai hum...

Address: 100 Beach Road, #01-25 Shaw Leisure Gallery Singapore 189702

Ministry Of Food Finally Got It Right!

If you do remember, I had ravaged MOF for their lousy food and lack of variety in an earlier review. Somehow and for some reason, somebody did give a damn (I am assuming this) about that bad review, or maybe the management was really not proud of what they had to offer at the Marina Square branch. And since they couldn't "re-brand" their stupidest name in the world, they probably thought it would be the best move to concentrate on selling their good stuff. Which is probably the only best thing that came out of MOF, by the way.

Simply said, the Girlfriend and I loved that just-you-and-me moment with the Macha Sundae (seen in picture). For S$6, you get soft-serve ice-cream with a scoop of their very good green tea red bean ice-cream and a whole lot of other toppings like green tea sauce, cereal, jelly, azuki red bean, peaches, waffle, watermelon wedges and cherry. We thought it was a very good deal if compared to places like Ben & Jerry's or Häagen-Dazs. On another occasion, I tried the item with their green tea ice-cream, rice dumplings and red bean paste (which they claim to use red beans imported from Japan). The rich flavour from the green tea ice-cream was really pleasant and the rice dumplings were chewy with just the right texture. The red bean paste was unfortunately still a little too sweet to my liking. But overall, it was an enjoyable takeaway dessert. The menu has also been bumped up, which only means more choices and that's a good thing. Do give the items recommended in the menu a try, you may just be pleasantly surprised too.