Feeling tired? Stressed? Then The Stressed Stop is the place to go. This quaint kiosk in Hougang Green Shopping Mall has great desserts at affordable prices. Enjoy homemade ice cream, ice cream sandwiches, drinks and more for under $5!
The store is rather small and isn’t able to accommodate many people at a time, so your best bet is to dabao and have it at home or just hobo somewhere.
First up is The Secret Recipe ($3.50), one of the store’s signature drinks that’ll definitely cool you down on a hot day. The pinkish concoction that arrived at our table was intriguing and strangely appealing.
We took a sip and the flavour reminded us of a mix of mangosteen and orange. I guess we’ll never know what’s in it, but the balance of sweetness and acidity mingled well on the palate, resulting in a drink that we happily finished. After all, who cares what’s in it – it just has to taste good.
We were pleasantly surprised to see Creme Brulee ($2.50) on the menu, and at such an affordable price point. Who knew you could get such an atas dessert under $10, let alone under $3! The dessert was freshly torched for us and we could see that the sugar was well caramelised even before digging in.
What we got was rich and decadent custard with the crunchy caramel layer on top. We felt that the custard could have been set a little more, but at such a price, it’s not time to be picky. A little firmer and it would have been perfect for us.
Next, the Waffles with Vanilla Ice Cream ($3.50). Two quarters of golden brown waffles with a dollop of ice cream, yes please! The waffles were fragrant and fluffy, everything that you could ask for in a waffle.
Together with the warm waffle, the ice cream was creamy and perfumed with vanilla, providing great textural contrast. The ice cream here is all homemade, without any additives, causing it to melt a tad quicker than the commercial ones. Anyway, it doesn’t really matter because you’ll finish it before it even has a chance to melt (yeah, it’s that good).
For the signature dessert, the ice cream sandwiches, we got the Pandan Cookies Gula Melaka Ice Cream ($4.50). This might look like a boring dessert, but trust us, a visit to The Stressed Stop without getting an ice cream cookie is incomplete.
Both the cookie and ice cream are homemade, so don’t fret about the food containing any of those nasty preservatives and additives. The cookies were crunchy and crumbly (not the chewy kind) and contained the creamy ice cream well.
Prepare the napkins because it’s gonna get messy. The store also offers other flavours like the Red Velvet Cookies With Cream Cheese Ice Cream, but the pandan – gula melaka one was our favourite.
You probably already know this but stressed spelt backwards is desserts, so you know what to do the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by work!
Expected Damage: $3 – $5 per pax
