ICE CREAM / GELATO

Have been wanting to try venchi for some time and it did not disappoint! It now ranks quite high in our list of great ice cream places. The gelato was reaally smooth, texture was kinda in between creamy and milky. The hazelnut was reminiscent of kinder bueno, while the cappuccino had a nice, mellow coffee taste. Both were great! Will be back to try their other flavours :) Btw is it just me or this place kinda reminds me of grom gelato?

The mint flavour was refreshing but not too in-your-face (I usually avoid mint flavours as it feels like I’m eating toothpaste?? does anyone feel that way too?), but for us it kinda overpowered the watermelon taste. The Chia seeds gave some crunch! The texture was slightly different from their other flavours, but still nice and smooth and light :) This flavour is not my thing, but it’s a personal preference - to each their own!

We checked out this new spot for gelato, which does pretty unique flavours! The smoked hay was true to its name - it wasn’t grassy/green tasting at all (thank goodness!) and was rather pleasant. Preferred this out of the two, as smoky flavours in dessert are rather appealing to me.

The banana burnt butter tasted a little like Korean banana milk, and I liked the banana crisps sprinkled on top! Would have been nicer if there was a deeper banana flavour. They allow for taste-testing here, so we tried their apple & cinnamon, but that tasted a little flat so we didn’t go for that.

We weren’t a big fan of the texture. A little too crumbly / not creamy enough. Would probably return after they’ve sorted out any operational kinks to try their waffles and other flavours :)

The waffle was rather crisp, but it wasn’t very fluffy inside. Both flavours of ice cream were alright too, but it was a little too milky for my liking - the honey / rum&raisin flavour could have been more integrated into the ice cream base. I had somehow expected a honeycomb crunch (the actual beehouse, not the sugary toffee thing) since the name of the flavour is “honeycomb” after all, but it was just honey mixed in.

Have previously reviewed the hojicha as well as rum & raisin, so this review will be for the other two.

The kueh dardar flavour had notes of pandan and gula melaka, with shredded coconut folded into the ice cream. Was pretty sweet for us!

The carrot cake flavour was like having carrot cake (not the hawker fried carrot cake) but in ice cream form. There was the earthy, cinnamon + cream cheese taste, pretty true to the name of the flavour!

Tom’s does innovative flavours that actually work, I’m always excited to try them! Although I’ll have certain flavours that I prefer better than these more ‘wacky’ flavours, they do it well enough such that I’m not hesitant to try their new stuff :) There’s another ice cream place that does wacky flavours, but theirs sound much better than they taste - this is not the case for Tom’s 👌🏼

Haagen dazs @ Holland was super comfy and empty compared to the other cafes at HV but this was really pretty overpriced at $14-15?? (Can’t rmb the exact price) the waffle was meh (not crispy and pretty soggy and small) and green tea ice cream was rather sweet. I did enjoy the macadamia ice cream tho!! Actually pretty solid.

ahhh ice cream cakes are my weaknesses (really just ice cream disguised in cakes) this was such a good satisfying cake!! The cookie base had a nice crunch coupled with the hazelnut ice cream and soft cake layers 🥰

Heard so so much about dopa but somehow it didn’t live up to my expectations but it was still good!!! Gelato was smooth ok the matcha cheesecake didn’t taste like matcha nor cheesecake and was tad sweet :-( but the pistachio was RLLY RLLY good the flavour bursts through and wasn’t sweet at all :-)

The waffle had a slight sourdough tang, and was crisp outside, kinda cakey inside. It was really airy though, and we prefer waffles that have some density to it. The whiskey crancherry had a strong alcoholic kick, with some tartness from the cherries and cranberries. The marula tasted a little like pear, and the crunchy cacao bits were a good addition. Flavours were alright, but in terms of texture, it was kinda flat and thin. The gelato dissolves immediately when eaten. Everything here (waffle / gelato) was weirdly airy, not a big fan.

The tauhuey one had a very mild soyabean flavour, it had some youtiao folded into the gelato base so that helped a bit. The Chee Cheong Fun one was better, it really tasted like ccf because of the savoury-sweet brown sauce, but this was a little too salty for us. Texture wise, the tauhuey one was crumbly; the ccf one was alright but melted quickly.

Second time having butterknife folk and I was still disappointed :( They always have new interesting flavours that I am attracted by, but I’m hesitant to give the gelato a third chance. Is it me or I’m choosing the wrong flavours?

We chose the flavour “despicable”, which is a banana ice cream with brownies and walnuts. I liked that it had a fresh banana flavour, without any artificial banana essence taste. They were also rather generous with the walnuts which provided a good crunch element.

Waffles-wise, it didn’t impress me much, but it was decent as it was a little crisp outside and slightly chewy inside. It’s a rather light waffle, so it doesn’t make you feel too full. Will be back to try other flavours, but maybe not the waffle.

Pistachio had a strong nutty flavour, and the texture was great too - smooth and almost sticky/chewy, which to me is the hallmark of great ice cream, as you know that they’ve really taken the time to churn it properly.

Bounty was a bit of a miss for me, as the coconut ice cream felt a bit heavy, and I personally prefer lighter/more refreshing coconut sorbets. My friend enjoyed it though, so it’s really a personal preference!