Awfully Chocolate

* The comments below is purely the preferences of the author, and it is never in any way a way to incite a Dark vs White vs Milk Chocolate war. Eat what you love, and enjoy it. *

Life is short and bitter, but it is the little bits and pieces of sweetness that lights up our life. So, I can never really understand dark chocolate. To quote from one dark choco lover who told me " The darker it is, the bitterer it is, the better it is". I prefer my chocolate sweet and able to make me smile, not cringe at the bitterness.

In any case, this is a shop (sorry, a chain of them) which specialises in chocolate cake. It has now expanded their repertoire to include a range of other cakes and ice cream too. Of course they are all chocolate related according to their namesake.( Though it'll not be a good idea to create stuff according to the first word in their name)

Ordered

Super Stacked Chocolate Cake

This is the evolution of their original product, a dark chocolate fudge cake. I will have to say, this is indeed a cake. No extra cream or whatsoever, dark chocolate cake constitutes about 50% with dark chocolate fudge filling up the layers. It did not live up to my expectations as from the ravings I read/heard.
Score : 3.25/5.0


White Chocolate Butterscotch Block

This is the one thing that caught my eye when I walked past their glass display. It kinda reminds me of the Walls ice cream Vienetta.

A Dark chocolate Swiss roll cake covered with mildly sweet white chocolate cream. In the middle and on top is salty caramel.

The salty caramel, blends in really well with the white chocolate. The cake however, tastes really simple and ordinary, and if I'm not wrong is the same cake in the super stacked chocolate cake. This cake satisfies my sweet tooth pretty well while not leaving you feeling too saturated.

Score: 4.0/5.0

Hei Ice Cream

Awfully chocolate's single flavor, premium dark chocolate ice cream. With the word 黑(Hei) in reference to the word dark. The ice cream is not black, but a velvety dark brown. Never once will you not be reminded that this is a dark chocolate ice cream, but the after taste is way too bitter. It takes the fun out of the initial richness and faces it a really strong and lasting bitter effect. Oh, to use the word premium for ice cream and charging accordingly, naturally I will have my fair share of expectations. My face became a bit 黑黑（Hei Hei= Black)  to find some ice crystals in the ice cream. 

The serving was generous for a single scoop, and I believe those who digs dark chocolate for it's bitterness will love digging into this ice cream.

Score : 3.25/5.0

White Chocolate Cupcake

The same cake you find(?) in the super stacked chocolate cake with a white chocolate flavored cream on top.




Score : 3.25/5.0


Overall

After more than a decade and expansion overseas, Awfully Chocolate definitely have its fair share of fans. Those who wants some chocolate in their life, but yet do not like it too sweet will love it. The price is a bit on the high side though, especially with the system of charging by weight. This means you must have spare cash if they accidentally cut a larger slice, so students on a budget, bring more cash. Dark chocolate fans rejoice for it will always serve as a good source of nourishment for their needs.

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il Gelato di Bruno

"Ring~Ring~" is not a sound you would normally hear in Citylink Mall. Hunting for some sweet ending to my dinner in Raffles City Shopping Centre, I was solicited by a cheerful lady who welcomed me into a shop to sample their Gelato.

There's a load of choices available (23-24 in total), with each flavor decorated by a cartoon holding a sign of the flavor's name. It is interesting to note the cartoon sign holders are mainly ladies.

2 Lucky Cartoon Male Sign Holders in Gelato Land

The staff was extremely pleasant and willing to explain to me what are the best sellers and what are in the individual flavors when all the names just sounds alien to me. They really sold me an experience that other ice cream/gelato shops failed to give me even if they offer samples; there were some places where I'd met a few disgruntled faces upon asking for a sample before my purchase. However, the staff here really offers excellent service, and I hope it'll continue for I'm sold.

Freshly made everyday with 23/24 flavors everyday, they stock up on certain flavors catering to those seeking some indulgence in their diet (sugar-free gelato). I did not try those for I can't imagine ice cream/gelato with no sugar. Sugarless gelato/ice cream is just like vegetarian meat to me.

Anyways, after sampling a few, I decided to have 2 medium cups with...

Ordered

Cookies, Extra Milk, Hazelnut

&

Meckid, Carapino, Hazelnut(again?)

Cookie is a sweet cookie dough flavor while extra milk is extra milky milk chocolate and hazelnut is, like hazelnut cream.

Meckid is a swirl of white and milk chocolate which tastes a tiny bit like coconut, Carapino is caramel and pinenuts which could do with more nuts while hazelnut is so nice that I ordered it again.

What's amazing here is that while many ice cream/gelato shops offer tons of flavors, and I often fall into the trap of ordering a mix only to find myself feeling that I only taste "sweet" and nothing else after a while; il Gelato di Bruno's flavors manage to distinct themselves from each other in this ice cream orgy of flavors. The extremely generous portions made me feel like I couldn't finish it, but I did :D

The hazelnut here is really distinct and captures the essence of hazelnut cream really well. If you have to choose one flavor or do not like to mix, get Hazelnut. (I confirmed, Hazelnut is a mainstay flavor)

Score: 4.25/5.0

Overall

Probably due to the fact that it's made fresh daily, there is a

Yup, for those who are a bit skeptical about the price, feel free to head in for a sample anytime and/or try it out with this promotion. I've no idea how long it'll last, but this place, with it's outstanding service and fun flavors, is now one of my favorite gelato parlors.

Il Gelato di Bruno

1 Raffles Link

B1-26A Citylink Mall, Singapore 039393

Tel: 6238 9917

&

(inside Candylicious) 26 Sentosa Gateway

01-223 Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore 098138

Tel: 6686 2155

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Baskin Robbins

Another premium Ice Cream franchise is hitting Singapore (one more time). Baskin Robbin decides to set up shop in the newly opened mall in the heartlands - Clementi Mall (and Novena Square too). How is it going to differentiate itself from it's (slightly lower) priced competitors?

It is available in 2 scoop sizes, Junior and Value at 2.5 and 4.0 ounce. It is going for $4 and $5 per scoop respectively. Ice cream Cakes are also available, and will require 3 days to bake(?). The Service staff is very friendly and will gladly give you a tiny taste of the flavors with a smile. Thumbs up for the service. 

Ordered 3x 2.5 oz scoops

Flavor : Praline N Cream (top)

Ice cream with caramel and big chunks of candied praline covered pecan and caramel ribbon(what?). The highlight of this flavor is in it's carefully toasted pralined-pecans that have me and my partner hunting for it. The staff is smart enough to tempt me with one piece of it in the tiny sample. The overall sweetness might be too much for those who can't take sweet stuff.

Flavor : Old Fashion Butter Pecan ( Bottom Left)

Fragrant butter pecan ice cream with tiny bits of butter roasted pecans mixed in. Tastes just like what you'd expect. A simple light taste.

Flavor : World Class Chocolate (bottom right)

A tempting mix of both white and dark chocolate ice cream. I can't taste the white chocolate in the ice cream, but the chocolate ice cream is alright.

Praline Pecan - The highlight

Overall

Wait where's the score? Baskin Robbins forgot to add in "with generous amounts of ice crystals" in their ice cream description. All three flavors had bits of ice crystals in every few scoops and felt really "airy". This is nothing short of unacceptable for a "premium" ice cream and the higher price(than its competitors) it commands. Even my paddle pop can do better in the ice crystal department at about 1/10th the price. Overall I think Baskin Robbins really lives up to their name, robbin' me.

I can only but hope it do some serious QC or that it's a one off event as crushing these ice crystals is gonna do the same to their brand name as well.

Score : 2.75/5.0 
(score is inclusive of the great service)


Baskin Robbins Singapore
Velocity@Novena Square     
&
Clementi Mall

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Cold Stone Creamery

Located on the first floor ( #01-10) of Orchard Central, it is one of the few places which is able to boast a queue. The queue for it always deters me from joining, but I am interested in what is so special with something that is already around in Singapore, namely adding in "innings"(opposite of toppings) into ice cream and mixing them on the rock(a cold one) from outlets like Cold Rock Ice Creamery and Ice Cream Chefs. Some Singaporeans who had a taste of it overseas and locally were singing praises about it endlessly, saying that it provides a happy atmosphere when preparing your icy creamy treat. But aren't all ice cream places generally a happy place?

Closer Look

The ice cream mix is available in 3 sizes:
"Like it" $ 5.50, "Love it"$ 7.90 and "Gotta have it" $9.90 which is 4,6 and 8 ounce respectively.


Ordered

Founder's favorite ("Like it" size)

Sweet cream ice cream mixed in with caramel, fudge, pecans and brownie. A simple enough mix that seems fail-safe. It is a full ball of ice cream, so fear not for horrifying "holes" that might be found in the cups of certain ice cream places, cheating u of a half or 1 ounce.

The mix is as predicted, fail-proof with a generous amount of brownies and pecans thrown in. The pecans are, as quoted by my lovely partner : " This pecan ar~ very nicely toasted ar~" which she was busily hunting for more pecans, with me thwarting her efforts as I too am on the hunt for the delicious crunchy bits.

Squeeeeeeeze~~

However, the brownie could do with some moderation as the chewy brownie overwhelmed the taste of the ice cream itself, so much that I couldn't really taste the taste of the ice cream. Think founder likes his brownie a lot.

Score : 3.8/5


Overall
I was expecting a song or some jingle that was reported but all I get was the usual exchange of dollars and cents and return at the counter. But when I was looking back at the mixing counter, I coulda sworn I saw the mixer guy throwing the ball of ice cream in the air, catching whatever dust is on the way up and on the way down to that customer's order. I kid I kid, maybe it's just me being a tiny bit sour not getting a flying ice cream ball.

It is indeed nice, but I find nothing really different from the other ice cream offerings. For those still curious, it is still worth it to head down to try it out from one of their many thought out selections or create your own flavor. I hope that my next visit I might get to see some tricks.


*Go to their web page(link below), sign up for the "Birthday club" and receive a voucher for free ice cream redeemable on your birthday!*


Cold Stone Creamery
181 Orchard Central Road
#01-09/10 (S)238896
Tel: 6634 1015 | Fax – 6238 9420
Operating Hours
(Mon – Sun) 11am – 11pm 

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