The hot Singapore weather makes it shiok to have some soft serve ice cream, yet the ‘whammy’ is that it often melts too fast.
Soft serve is a type of ice cream that is softer and less dense than regular ones. This is due to air being introduced during freezing.
There used to be many more shops in Singapore though. Remember Honey Creme, Milkcow, Kokopanda, Kiss The Tiramisu, and Mr Churro? All opened to some fanfare, but departed rather quickly as well.
Let’s show some love to the following soft serve specialty shops:
Aqua S Singapore
#B1-01 Orchard Xchange (above Orchard MRT Station), 437 Orchard Road, Singapore 238878
Opening Hours: 10:00am – 10:00pm (Mon – Sun)
Aqua S, that dreamy baby blue soft serve from Sydney Australia, has arrived in Singapore at Orchard Xchange basement, located at a level above the Orchard MRT station exit.
The Aqua S softserve is famed for its blue-hued twirls on a cone, surrounded by a cloud of fluffy cotton candy and caramel popcorn.
The dreamlike blue has started a wave of other soft serve brands going multi-coloured as well.
The one thing special about Aqua S is that while the blue-coloured signature sea salt flavour remains as the only constant, there will be two NEW flavours rotating every 2 weeks. And they seldom repeat. Aqua S (Orchard Xchange)
Emma
Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road, #B2-45, Singapore 238839
Opening Hours: 11am – 9:30pm (Mon – Sun)
You may have seen boomerang or videos of gravity-defying soft serves appearing on your Instagram feed.
These soft serves are from Emma, which has set up its first-ever overseas branch right in Singapore. The popular brand which specialises in soft serve and tea, has already 7 outlets in Japan despite being relatively new.
There has been a couple of Japanese soft serve shops opening in Singapore (typically offering matcha flavoured ones), but Emma should be the first that specialises in just milk and charcoal cheese flavours.
There is something about milk soft serve – that pure, smooth, unadulterated mouth-feel.
Emma’s Original Soft Serve uses premium Japanese milk which gives that an extra-rich and thick yet slide-down-your-throat texture. Would recommend the Charcoal flavour. Emma (Plaza Singapura)
Little Damage Singapore
Wheelock Place, 501 Orchard Road, #B1-05A, Singapore 233880
From Los Angeles, California to a small shopfront at the basement floor of Wheelock Place along tourist-centric Orchard Road, Little Damage has opened its first outpost in South-east Asia.
Previously seen on CNN, BuzzFeed, INSIDER and Time Out LA, I had high expectation for this Gothic-looking soft serve which was previously trending on Instagram.
Instead of the conventional flavours, Little Damage offers unique ones which rotate on a regular basis.
The soft serve is prepared daily in small batches using ingredients from local dairy farms without any preservatives.
At the time of visit, four flavours are available – Coffee Caramel ($7), White Chocolate ($7), Unicorn Tears ($7) and Vegan Cookie Butter ($7.50).
Activated charcoal would be added to one of the flavours to turn it black, and in this case, it was the Coffee Caramel.
Generally, the texture of the soft serve was smooth and velvety, but leaned towards the sweeter side. Little Damage (Wheelock Place)
Moosh
44 Haji Lane, Singapore 189237
Opening Hours: 11am – 8pm (Mon – Thurs), 11am – 9pm (Fri – Sun)
A hole-in-the-wall soft serve place along the hipster Haji Lane. Moosh is Muslim-owned and uses 100% Halal-certified ingredients in their soft serve and toppings.
The menu is short but yet concise at the moment, with Softserve that comes in 2 sizes: Regular ($4 – 4.50) and Large ($5.50 – 6), Cone and Kurtos (Kürtőskalács, a Hungarian chimney cone).
The Ondeh Ondeh SoftServe (Regular $4.50/ Large $6) comes with fixed toppings such as desiccated coconut and coconut flakes, with green pandan sauce drizzled on the walls of the cup and on the surface of the softserve.
Made with gula melaka (brown sugar) as the base of the Ondeh Ondeh soft serve, the sweetness level was just right and I could finish a large sized cup on my own without feeling too jelak (rich). Moosh (Haji Lane)
Naganuma Ice
Gopeng Street, 1 Gopeng Street, Carlton City Hotel Singapore 078862 (at the back of the hotel)
Tel: +65 6741 9108
Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm (Mon – Sun)
Naganuma Ice’s soft serve is raved for using 100% Hokkaido raw milk, and with queues in Japan and Taiwan that lasts for up to an hour.
It is also the only softserve company from Hokkaido known to use 100% Hokkaido raw milk and Hokkaido ingredients.
Compared to many soft serve shops that offer say maximum of 2 to 3 flavours, there are actually 9 that you can pick from. No twists though.
They include Rich Milk, Matcha, Corn, Yubari Melon, Ebisu Pumpkin, Red Wine, Strawberry, Chocolate, and Aomori Apple.
Priced at $5.00 per cup, $5.50 on a cone. There is also a Singapore-exclusive Crème Brûlée Soft Serve ($8) powdered with sugar at the top, then torched. Naganuma Ice (Gopeng Street)
Coney Donut
111 Somerset Road, TripleOne Somerset, #01-K1, Singapore 238164
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 9:00pm (Mon – Sun)
This Soft Serve Donut Cone features a choice of vanilla or salted caramel soft-serve ice cream that comes with a sauce and toppings. (Flavours are on a rotational basis and change every month.)
Pick from any of their classic sauces, such as chocolate, butterscotch, white chocolate, coffee, salted caramel and apple.
For the toppings (you can pick two), they offer nuts (hazelnuts, almonds), branded snacks (Pocky sticks, Lotus biscuits), cereals (honey stars, fruit loops), chocolates (Kit Kat), marshmallows, mocha bean, fudge cake, etc.
Experience the warm and cold sensation of the fried donut and cold softserve, and contrast in texture of fluffy-doughy with soft-airy ice cream.
Be quick as this home-made soft serve is made without stabilisers.
The other surprise comes in the form of the inside which is lined with chocolate sauce.
Small Potatoes Ice Creamery
313@Somerset, 313 Orchard Road, #B3-48, Singapore 238895
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 10pm (Mon – Sun)
Hong Kong franchise Small Potatoes Ice Creamery specialises in Japanese purple potatoes (yam) soft serve ice cream.
The soft serve come in two basic flavours – Japanese purple potatoes from Kumamoto, and Japanese sea salt.
Toppings include caramel popcorn, crispy rice (that was not too crispy), green tea or soy bean warabi mochi, shiramata, azuki beans, purple yam sticks, and Japanese red bean Dorayaki pancake.
With different textures of yam paste and the actual yam ‘colliding’ together with rich soft serve, the bite was rather enjoyable. However, that can be a small and pricey cup. Small Potatoes Ice Creamery (313@somerset)
Brother Bird
30 Bali lane, Singapore 189966 (Bugis MRT)
Opening Hours: 12pm – 9:30pm (Wed – Mon), 6pm – 9:30pm (Tues)
In case you are wondering why this shop is called “Brother Bird”, this is because one of the Stateland Café’s owners likes eating granola and is nicknamed “Bird”.
something different at Brother Bird would be the Mochi Donuts with Softserve ($9), came with dual swirl of cookie butter and coconut softserve with almond crunch, dehydrated raspberry and salted caramel sauce.
On a closer look, it is shaped like bird’s ahem (poop) and ahem… pretty apt for Brother Bird’s image.
The mochi donut used was fried to crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. Not too tough and good for shaping our jawlines.
The entire cross-sectional area was filled with glutinous rice and the mix of warm doughnuts with cold soft serve was comforting.
Sunday Folks
44 Jalan Merah Saga, #01-52, Chip Bee Gardens
Opening Hours: 1pm – 10pm (Tues – Thurs), 12pm – 11pm (Fri – Sat), 12pm – 10pm (Sun), Closed Mon)
From the originators of Creamier at Toa Payoh, Sunday Folk’s soft serve ice creams are freshly churned and served in a delicious handmade charcoal cone.
Their flavours are distinct, from the popular favourites of Earl Grey Lavender and Sea Salt Gula Melaka, to the tried-and-tested Roasted Pistachio and Summer Strawberries. Most hipster looking.
GODIVA
Suntec City West Wing (Near Convention Centre) #02-307, 3 Temasek Blvd, Singapore 038983
Tel: +65 6341 9203
Opening Hours: 10:00am – 10:00pm (Mon – Sun)
GODIVA Chocolatier is best known for its famous truffle, shell-molded chocolate pieces, and European-style biscuits.
Its Chocolate Soft Serve which is rich, smooth and indulgent, has been popular among ice cream lovers as well.
If you are a fan of matcha, then the Decadent Matcha Softserve or the Chocolate Twist will definitely satisfy your craving.
Sweet Monster
Our Tampines Hub #B1-K31, 1 Tampines Walk, Singapore 528523
Tel: +65 9841 3233
Opening Hours: 10am – 10pm (Mon – Sun)
This is Korean soft serve ice cream brand Sweet Monster’s first outlet in the East, located in the basement of Our Tampines Hub (near iTea).
The Popcorn Monster Ice Cream ($4.80, $6.80) is available in a variety of flavors, from Caramel, Choco, Strawberry, Green Tea, to mix of Caramel & Cheese.
The Mix Flavor Monster Popcorn Ice Cream ($6.80) which comes with both caramel and cheese flavored popcorns is a crowd pleaser – rich, milky softserve surrounded with a mixture of sweet and savoury popcorns.
Spinelli Coffee
Our Tampines Hub #01-K8, 1 Tampines Walk, Singapore 528523
Opening Hours: 8am – 10pm (Mon – Thurs), 8am – 12am (Fri – Sun)
Probably the first (and only) in Singapore to introduce the Cold Brew Soft Serve, the treat is served in a cone or on freshly baked waffle, topped with mochi, marshmallows, biscotti or chocolate chips.
Have a bite at the smooth, velvety swirl, and get perked up with the aroma and lingering taste of cold brew coffee.
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* Compiled by Daniel Ang @DanielFoodDiary and Nicholas Tan.