So much has happened since I last blogged. The most important thing being that I married a guy who makes me smile every day:
And following our beautiful wedding, K and I hopped on a plane to kick off our around-the-world honeymoon adventure! In less than three weeks, we visited five countries. The first destination was Singapore!
While the main reason we visited in Singapore was that it's on the way to the Maldives (our second stop), I was really excited about visiting the city-state and island country in Southeast Asia. We had one full day to explore and, boy, did we fit a lot in! Despite the heat, we did lots of walking, window shopping on Orchard Road, taking in the impressive city views from the rooftop bar at
Marina Bay Sands, and even enjoyed an original Singapore Sling at the
Raffles Hotel (the birthplace of the popular cocktail).
Given the oppressive August heat, stopping for an afternoon ice cream was imperative. That's where
Udders Ice Cream came in. Udders is a popular Singaporean ice-cream chain with five locations around the city. While it's best-known among locals for its "adult" (i.e. alcoholic) ice-cream flavors, I must admit that the store's silly name is what caught my eye. But given that there was a line of customers on a workday afternoon, I figured there must be more than great marketing to the story.
The interior of the store was colorful and creative; I 'd read that founder David Yim was a schoolteacher before venturing out as an ice-cream entrepreneur, and I could see evidence of this throughout the store. I was happy to see plentiful seating inside. My feet needed a rest! I especially liked the glass panels in the dining area, where customers can leave their own doodles using colorful paint pens.
I also saw a lot of creativity in the ice-cream case. While flavors do rotate, you're not likely to see plain-ol' vanilla
or chocolate at Udders. The most "normal" (by American standards)
flavor I saw was the
Strawberry Fields, studded with dark
red strawberry bits. Most flavors here are unique Asian flavors or
alcoholic concoctions (which are only sold to customers over 18 years old). Sadly, many of the most-appealing flavors
contained gluten and were thus off-limits to me:
Snickers Mars Honeycomb Vanilla - plain vanilla chock-full of candy bits
Horlicks Balls - malted ice cream with crushed Maltesers balls
Cereal Killer - bourbon ice cream with cornflakes and caramel biscuits (I'd love to create a gluten-free version at home!)
How good do those sound?!?
The friendly
people behind the counter recognized my indecision, and they offered to
give me a sample. I requested a taste of the Sexy Me,
Udder's take on black sesame. It has a beautiful jet-black color, and I
fell in love with its nutty, sweet, and earthy richness. It only took
that one nibble for me to deem it the "best sesame ice cream I've ever had!"
And
while I was tempted to order one of the
sinful-sounding sundaes and shakes that Udders advertises, I settled on a double-scoop cup of
Wineberries (port-soaked cranberries in port ice cream) and
D24 Durian (made from the flesh of premium D24 durian).
Now, K had warned me about
durian before. Popular in Southeast Asia, the fruit has a pungent, overpowering smell that most people find unpleasant. But durian supposedly tastes
much better than it smells, and many people adore it in fruity desserts. I figured it was worth a shot! But as soon as the lady behind the counter opened the glass door behind the tub of durian ice cream, I was overcome by a strange, putrid smell that turned my stomach. I couldn't believe how it was possible to love the taste of something that smelled so bad!
I must mention the interesting pricing structure at Udders. The
"Classic" flavors, which do not contain alcohol, cost less than the
boozy "Premium" and "Connoisseur" flavors. While it was confusing at
first, I really like the differentiated pricing structure as those who
order non-alcoholic flavors don't have to subsidize the boozy
flavors. Since the
Wineberries is a "Connoisseur" flavor and the
D24 Durian is a "Classic," my double-scoop came out at $8.30SGD, or $6.64USD. (I did think this was a bit too pricey)
The verdict? This was one of the few cups of ice cream that I really had no desire to finish. While the temperature of the ice cream was good -- not too soft and not frozen solid - neither flavor blew my socks off. Unfortunately, the
D24 Durian tasted no better to me than it smelled. Perhaps it's an acquired taste? K also couldn't stand the taste, and we both agreed that we'd avoid the flavor in the future. Luckily, our taste buds got along better with the
Wineberries ice cream. While the ice cream was not sweet enough, I did enjoy chewing on the bits of port-soaked cranberries and savoring the light taste of alcohol in the port-flavored base. Overall, the quality of Udders' ice cream wasn't incredibly impressive; the creaminess and flavor intensity were no better than regular store-bought ice cream. Needless to say, I'll try a different ice-cream shop next time I'm in Singapore... or just stick to the sesame flavor :)
The Stats:
Udders Ice Cream
Five locations in Singapore (I went to the Novena store)
www.udders.com.sg
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