THERE are many ice cream parlours that have been sprouting all around Singapore. Our sunny little island is known for its extreme temperatures. Here in this tiny red dot, it’s either scorching hot or cold and wet.

Whatever it is, I’ve never seen anyone complain about the lack of ice cream here. My friends eat ice cream even when the weather is cold. The same goes for me. I love ice cream and I believe that any time is ice cream time.

That explains why I’m ever so eager to try out new ice cream parlours whenever I get tip-offs from my friends and the newspapers.

I had some Thai Basil Rice for dinner the other day and was really looking for something to douse the fire in my mouth. Another opportunity to eat ice cream, I thought.

So where was I going to get my ice cream? I was yearning for soemthing freshly made, nothing pre-packaged. Then I remembered Tom’s Palette, a locally owned ice cream parlour that serves unique flavours like black sesame and chrysanthemum.

Thankfully, it was located not too far away, along Beach Road so I made my way down in the cool evening and was pleasantly greeted by a nice young chap who started offering me samples of whichever flavour I wanted to try. The place was bright and cheery and there was a customer memo board where patrons post up flavours they wish Tom’s Palette would sell.

What a youthful place I thought. Okay, so the place looks nice – how about the ice cream? Let me tell you, the ice cream rocked! My favourites were the Rum & Raisin, Vanilla, and Lavender.

The Vanilla ice cream blew me away because it had vanilla beans in it. You read right – pure vanilla beans. Black specks peppered throughout the white creamy dream. Delicious and pure vanilla; that’s something I dig.

My ice cream craving was getting stronger with each taste of their many different flavours so I decided to get two scoops. I matched the vanilla with their mind blowing lavender ice cream.

Sure, lavender might not be as exciting as, say, chocolate, but that’s what makes it so special. It’s light and subtle and very calming. Those of you who’ve tried lavender tea would know what I mean. Tom’s Palette serves really good lavender ice cream and all their stuff are made with less sugar. They believe that the ingredients should be allowed to come through, instead of being overpowered by the sugar.

The health-conscious need not worry about the fat content as well because they use less cream than other places, which brings the butterfat content down.

Tom’s Palette is one ice cream heaven. They take their customers seriously and are always looking for new innovative flavours to tickle their customers’ taste buds. I heard that they once served chilli chocolate flavour. They come up with new flavours every month and usually update customers via their mailing list.

This is one unforgettable ice cream place. Now, can someone get me another scoop?

Tom’s Palette
#01-25, Shaw Leisure Gallery
100 Beach Road
Tel: 6296-5239
Operating hours