azzura gelati cafe, katong v

so, I don’t like ice cream. I’m a cake kind of girl, a dense chocolatey block of something-or-another over a melting scoop of iced something any day please, thank you. but I’m discussing semantics here – where ice cream is that too-ephemeral dessert that melts quickly and leaves nothing behind but the sad tightening of trousers and quite a lot of guilt for very little pleasure.

gelato, however, I can get behind. in the hands of an expert, it churns out thick, dense and with deeper flavors and a full mouthfeel, and stays both colder and smoother than its quick-melting, icy cousin.

we’ve seen a slew of one-off, hipsteresque ice-cream places open up – but good gelato isn’t easy to find. enter azzura then, with its mix of traditional flavors and modern iced confections – and I might have just found my new favorite.

ice cream gallery, tiong bahru

great gelato-esque ice-creamery in the rather abandoned suburban mall that is valley point. this place was strongly recommended by an aunt, and it’s a shame we haven’t come before this: the ice creams are dense, not-too-sweet, inexpensive, and come in a spectrum of familiar-to-exotic.

awfully chocolate, town

great deep chocolate ice cream at this local chocolate chain – I had this at their store in the crowded basement of the raffles city mall, but I’m pretty sure it’s been made at some central location before distribution so they all ought to be the same. just to share the love a little – this is one of my greatest discoveries since coming back.

azabu sabo hokkaido ice cream, clarke quay

really good ice cream at the central in clarke quay – really more in the style of gelato in its density and consistency. let’s start this sweltering sunday off easy with a bit of ice – this place does a pretty large range of flavours, and all pretty good.

I prefer dense ices like these, instead of the americanised places like andersen’s, since the flavor stays longer on the tongue because it doesn’t melt too quickly. we had the black sesame and salted caramel this time, and you should try at the asian flavours if you’re ever there.

andersen’s of denmark ice cream, town

ice cream and more at this open air outlet of the dutch ice cream chain at marina square. another quick dessert post while I prepare the recipe for the tau sar piah: this is one of my partner’s favourite ice cream places – he particularly likes their rum and raisin flavour – and we came here with the family for a spot of sweet after dinner. it’s not the coolest place to be eating ice cream – those hipster places with their fancy liquid nitrogen and exotic flavours – but it is an old standby, and still pretty good for it.

baskin robbins, ho chi minh

american ice-cream chain popular throughout ho chi minh – so popular, in fact, I don’t think I saw other brands there. this isn’t a post so much as a ponderance – how young do you have to be to appreciate the psychedelic pinks, blues and greens so prevalent at this shop? they nearly hurt the eyes – but my sister (who is 18, and very clearly ought to be over these things) loves them, which is why we return.

incidentally my father does like their coconut flavour, and I remember a macadamia one, so there’s probably something there for the sanest of us. a little too sweet and coloured though, for me to even entertain thoughts of getting a scoop – haagen dazs’ belgian chocolate for me, thank you very much.

chocolate ice cream

a simple chocolate ice cream – not the greatest recipe so I’m not sharing it with you this time. I was wondering – what do you think about the retro effect on the photographs? I’m so envious of all the dreamy sort of effects you see on quite a few food blogs, but I’m also pretty hooked up on the straight-up photos I usually post, so I can’t decide.

what do you think?

cookies-and-condensed-milk ice cream

I’ve told you about our giant one-purpose insulated bowl, haven’t I? qualitatively an impulse buy but hindered from full submission to this denotation by the fact that we’re still using it pretty regularly, it’s taught me a few things – I know almost absolutely nothing about ice cream, I pretty much enjoy instant gratification, and I don’t necessarily really like ice cream (horrors right? I know).

appropriate volumes and ratios elude me – and I still haven’t nurtured the same fervent curiosity I have in acquiring knowledge in baking and cake-ing – and while churning ice cream doesn’t take that long, there’s this whole line of prep that’s required, from remembering to freeze the bowl, to getting ingredients that I don’t often have – cream, usually, which is also expensive here to boot. and well, ice cream just doesn’t do very much for me. calorifically-dense, and sort of low on my satisfaction scale, a spoonful is usually enough to satisfy any cravings I get.

it’s a whole different story for my partner though, who will eat at least half a tub in a sitting (he basically has an unchecked affinity for chocking down the thing, but my incessant health warnings nag him to death probably help). so we source out recipes, and I rather obviously like the ones with special ingredients, which led us to this one.

köko casa, chengdu

amazing gelato at kuanzhai street, also 宽窄巷子, which means wide-narrow street. this is an ancient street preserved such that its facades are traditionally and beautifully chinese, but the stores and restaurants are remarkably and almost astoundingly modern and well-furnished.

köko casa is located (I think) on the ‘narrow’ street – but neither street is that long, so it’s quick enough to walk down either side. the chocolate is exceptionally good, and we also had two types of sorbets – mango and raspberry – which were fresh and not too sweet.

this had us craving gelato for the rest of our trip. nice.

dri dri gelato, london

gelato in notting hill. opened till late too, which is nice for a late post-dinner. the fruit sorbets do a lot more for me than the gelatos, though those are very good too.