Swensen’s first hit Singapore shores in 1979 and has since become a household name famed for their ice cream cakes, Banana Splits and Earthquake ice cream.
Growing up, my parents would always bring us to our favourite Swensen’s outlet located at Changi Airport Terminal 1 during special occasions because we simply adore the cozy ambience there with comfortable booth seats, tiffany lamps, as well as hearty American food and our favourite Sticky Chewy Chocolate and Rocky Road ice cream.
Today, the family friendly
restaurant chain has since expanded to over 20 full-service restaurants and
continues to connect people with casual-dining and shared childhood
memories.
Having been around for more than
30 years, Swensen’s constantly reinvent itself to come out with new themes and menu,
and this year, they had just launched the Around The World In More Than 80 Days Gastronomic World
Tour, featuring food and cuisines from around the
world, from 1 Jan till 31 Dec 2016.
An exclusive dish will be introduced every month that is inspired by the country’s distinct culinary heritage and in this post, I’ll be sharing my reviews for the new February and March dishes.
But first, let me have a delicious Strawberry Yoghurt to cool down in this hot weather.
Swensen’s signature
Ciabatta Tea Set |$5
This tea set comes with freshly baked and crispy honey buttercream Ciabatta Rolls, paired with their newly launched free-flow Custom Roasted Coffee, tea or soft drinks, only available on weekdays from 2.30 pm to 5 pm.
The Custom Roasted Coffee consists of 4 types of coffee beans hailing from Sumatra Mandheling, Tanzania, El Salvador and Brazilian Robusta, to produce a coffee blend that is robust, full-bodied with a good acidity, strong aroma and hints of earthy notes.
Only for the Month of
February – Thai-Inspired Pineapple Fried Rice Paradise | $15.90
This dish consists of sweet pineapple chunks, savoury cashew pineapple fried rice and generous servings of the Wahoo fish fillet coated with the Swensen’s sweet Thai sauce, and topped with prawn crackers for that extra crunch.
My first thought was that it was not spicy at all and wondered why it was called “Thai-inspired”.
However, after some discussion with my fellow diners, I realised that many of us had misconstrued Thai cuisine to be spicy but in actual fact, only the curries, Tom Yum soup and Mango Salads were spicy and often not, Thai dishes were a harmonious play of aromatic components coming together perfectly.
As the Wahoo fish in this dish are wild ocean catches, they tend to have a firmer bite and excellent flavour as compared to fresh water fishes that are soft and crumbly.
Only for the Month of March – Japan-Inspired Essentially Hambagu | $15.90
The Hambagu or Hamburger steak is usually made from a blend of minced beef and other ingredients.
At Swensen’s, the freshly grounded beef is filled with chunky sautéed shiitake mushrooms, then grilled to golden brown and served with a specially concocted Japanese BBQ sauce.
Chinese New Year
Special Dessert – Pineapple Upside Down Sundae | $10.80
This lunar new year, do try the new deconstructed Swensen’s dessert creation that consist of juicy pineapple rings, large dollop of vanilla ice cream, strawberry toppings and crunchy biscuit crumbs, available from 1 February till 22 February.
The reason why this is called the upside down sundae is because all the toppings are below and the ice cream and whipped cream are right at the top.
For Chinese New Year, I felt that a mandarin orange flavoured ice cream would be more appropriate compared to plain vanilla ice cream and the amount of whipped cream on top could be reduced.
Exclusively at the ION Orchard branch only, diners can indulge in an exciting spread of ice cream and dessert buffet at $17.90 (Kids) / $22.90 (Adults).
I had my favourite rocky road, sticky chewy chocolate ice cream with lots of malt balls, chocolate shavings and nuts. Just hand the ice cream to the staff at the Chop Shop who will mash up the ingredients with the ice cream for you on a cold slab.
I then topped my ice cream with atap chees, lychees, longans and strawberries.
Exclusive for HSBC Cardholders: Enjoy 15% off an order of Around the World dish or 10% off the entire bill.
Thank you Swensen’s for reliving my beautiful childhood memories and for bringing me to ice cream heaven!
ION Orchard
2 Orchard Turn, #B1-31, ION Orchard
Opening hours:
Weekdays, 10.30 am-10.30 pm
Weekends & PH, 10.30 am-10.30 pm
Tel: 6884 5967
No monetary compensation was received for this review and all opinions expressed were my own.
