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If you’re a soft-serve fan, you’ll definitely fall in love with Ice No-ie Hokkaido. Ice no-ie Hokkaido is Hokkaido’s number one soft serve and gelato brand, and they’re currently celebrating their first anniversary at Don Don Donki’s City Square Mall outlet!
In celebration of the anniversary, the store will be launching a delicious and aesthetically-appealing soft-serve—Honey Soft Serve (S$6.50).
The honey is fresh from the hive and is collected only from acacia flowers. Honey from the acacia flower is highly preferred by consumers and it’s sometimes classified as the best honey available.
Іt hаѕ аn unоbtruѕіvе tаѕte and even if you take more than a few spoonfuls, you won’t get overwhelmed like with оthеr tуреѕ оf hоnеу.
The acacia honey only blooms for ten days in a year, in Yoichi city of Hokkaido, collected after bees’ capping (they cap the cells with a thin film of beeswax to stop the evaporation process and to keep it sealed from predators) and leaving it unpasteurized (raw honey). This gives the honey with a naturally sweet, clear and elegant taste.
The Honey Soft Serve comes with a DIY (“drip it yourself”) honey dropper as well as lovely edible flowers which reflects Ice no-ie Hokkaido’s sustainable branding.
Alongside the new Honey Soft Serve, I also tried one of the other unique regular flavours on the menu— the “Red Wine” Soft Serve (S$6.50). There is no alcohol in the soft serve so it tasted purely like grape, with a sweet citrusy fragrance to it.
Something very unique at Ice no-ie Hokkaido that I really recommend trying is the Crème Brûlée Soft Serve (S$8). In order to enjoy this sweet treat, customers are told to crack the top sugary layer by hitting it gently with the spoon provided.
Under the crème brûlée layer is the decadent and creamy milk soft serve which complemented the torched sugar top very well.
If you’re more into gelatos, Ice no-ie Hokkaido has a range of gelatos waiting for you to savour them all. Here I’ve got six out of twelve of the flavours on cones—Fresh Milk, Strawberry Milk, Double Cheese, Matcha, Mango Yoghurt and Azuki Red Bean.
Each flavour in a cup is priced at S$5.50 and if you’d like two flavours, it’ll cost S$6.50. You can get them in a cone as well, with additional S$0.50.
I decided to pair gelatos with contrasting colours so that each gelato could have its own spotlight. I tried the verdant Matcha and creamy Double Cheese together.
Both flavours were very decadent and creamy. The Matcha had a lovely sweet and earthy taste that blended very well with the raw milk that Ice no-ie Hokkaido uses for its desserts. The Double Cheese didn’t have that pungent cheese aroma, and was accompanied by a hint of savouriness.
My favourite pairing was probably Fresh Milk and Strawberry Milk. Both gelato flavours had an incredibly smooth texture and were absolutely delicious! The Strawberry Milk also had mini chunks of sweet strawberries folded into the gelato which made me fall in love with this flavour even more.
Trying out both gelato flavours at Ice no-ie Hokkaido made me reminiscence my trip to Japan because they tasted as decadent as those in Hokkaido
The other pairing that I’d really recommend getting is the Mango Yoghurt and Azuki Red Bean.
If you’ve tried and enjoyed mango sago desserts at Chinese banquet weddings, you’d definitely like the Mango Yoghurt. It had such a creamy and rich flavour and came with by sweet pulpy mangoes chunks—it’s probably my favourite flavour after Strawberry Milk.
Azuki Red Bean is a good choice for those who enjoy a more traditional Japanese touch to their gelatos! The red beans added a lovely sweetness and chunkiness to the gelato.
This shop is currently my favourite gelato place and my favourite flavour has to be Fresh Milk. I’d seriously recommend everyone to try it out if you haven’t.
Dates & Times: Now available at City Square Mall
Prices: S$5.50 – S$8 per item
