Haato: Lovely Japanese Gelato!

I’m quite a sucker for Japanese ice cream. Mainly because it’s (1) Japanese and (2) got more familiarly Asian flavours. And that’s on top of the fact that Japanese ice cream seem to taste smoother, lighter and of course the illusion that all Japanese stuff equates healthier choice (even without moderation).

So I was whiling away my time before the Jackie Cheung concert (my review and photos) at the newly opened Kallang Leisure Park when I chanced upon haato in the basement, just beside the supermarket.

Curiosity and skepticism got the better of me and I decided the take a closer look. The flavours available are predictably Japanese, like matcha, black sesame, milk tea just to name a few. However the flavour that caught my eye was the sweet potato and honey chestnut. I was given a generous sample to try and decided to get a cup.

What I liked about this flavour was that it wasn’t too sweet and it was possible to taste chunks of the Japanese sweet potato with traces of its purple skin and yellow flesh throughout the cup. The honey blended very well to add the extra punch of natural sweetness and the chestnuts added its rich body to the texture and aroma. The combined result was a really well-balanced palate which doesn’t leave a heavy feeling.

5 Stadium Walk, #B1-01/02
Kallang Leisure Park
Singapore 397693
Email: enquiry@haato.com.sg | feedback@haato.com.sg
Website: http://www.haato.com.sg

Food Review: Ice Cream Chefs

While on Leonard's mini-van, I talked about the newly opened Ice Cream Chefs somewhere in East Coast. I provided an inaccurate location of East Coast Park and we spent some time circling a carpark until someone finally connected to the internet and googled for them. It was in East Coast Road instead. So we moved along.

We then hit a roadblock of sorts when we couldn't find a parking lot in the vicinity. So we Xinzhan got off the vehicle and went straight to the shop to ask about parking. Surprise! Parking is free if you are customers.

One challenging thing about coming here is really figuring out the choice of ice cream. Like a few ice cream places in Singapore, Ice Cream Chefs makes it possible to mix flavours, 2 for a small cup and 3 for a large one. For every topping, or more correctly, mix-in as they call it, it's an extra 70 cents.

We got ourselves 3 large cups for 5 of us. No, make that 4 since Leonard was suffering from diarrhea had to be left out from partaking the ice cream. We stuck to 2 of the staff's recommendation of a fruity concoction and a chocolatey durian combination along with my mad mix of butter pecan with kinder bueno and marshmallows along with horlicks and mocha ice cream. All of which were rather enjoyable.

It is quite a fascinating sight to see the chef whip up your customised ice cream.
First your flavours are laid on the cold plate.
Then with one spatula laid on the ice cream, the other taps on it to create an indentation for the mix-ins.
Repeat the spatula actions to crush the mix-ins and then further reduce the size by chopping with the spatulas.
Fold them around a few times.
Finally scoop them into the cup and served.
Personally I found the ice cream on the watery side. It wasn't as rich and creamy as I expected. The novelty of zhng-ing your ice cream definitely helped a bit. But for continued success, they need to improve their ice cream formula.

Ice Cream Chefs
520 East Coast Road #01-06 (Ocean Park)
Tel: 64466355 Beside St. Patricks School & Along East Coast Road
Sun-Thurs 12pm to 10pm
Fri-Sat 12pm to 11pm

Post Script: Pardon the poor colour as the batteries (Sanyo rechargeables) in my flash died yet again. It seems that they just can't retain power for more than a week.