Hong Kong – Via Tokyo: Matcha Goodness

If there is a café that gained popularity primarily through social media, it has to be Via Tokyo in Hong Kong – I got to know about the place after seeing numerous Instagram posts about its amazing matcha soft serve and the cafe repeatedly winning OpenRice’s Best Restaurant Awards (voted by users). I only got to try it after two trips to Hong Kong.

The original store at Causeway Bay is located at the corner of a residential building about 10 minutes walk from Causeway Bay MTR station. Via Tokyo is opened by restaurateur Kosei Kamatani, also the owner of Ramen Jo and even a shisha bar.

The dessert café specialises in Japanese soft serve ice cream and pastries made with Kyoto matcha powder (finely milled green tea) and 3.6 Hokkaido milk (a brand of premium milk from Japan with 3.6% butterfat recognized for its creamy rich texture and hint of vanilla essence).

The cafe offers three main flavours of soft serve (Vanilla, Matcha and Houjicha) in addition to seasonal flavours. Naturally the matcha flavour is the most popular. In order to encourage guests to try other flavours, the cafe doesn’t serve matcha flavour on Wednesdays. A very interesting marketing strategy indeed.

The best times to visit is during odd hours (I visited at 3pm). Otherwise get ready to queue.

What would you have today? :)

Since it was my first time, I went for the 3-flavour waffle cup (Vanilla, Matcha and a seasonal Black Sesame flavour) served with shiratama, red bean paste and a candied chestnut. The taste wasn’t overpowering, and the texture was firm and smooth. I was initially worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish 3 servings all by myself, but obviously my fear was unfounded lol.

The cafe serves tea-based cakes as well. There is a larger cake selection at their Tsim Sha Tsui outlet, which also serves kakigori (shaved ice dessert).

If you are looking for a dessert place in Hong Kong, Via Tokyo would be a good choice for some soft serve ice cream. Another Japanese dessert place that you can also try is Sweets House Cha Cha. Itadakimasu!

Via Tokyo Causeway Bay
Address: Shop nos. 1A-1B, G/F., Leishun Court, 106-126 Leighton Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
銅鑼灣禮頓道106-126號禮信大廈地下1A-1B號舖
Nearest Train Station: Causebay MTR Exit F1, walk down Jardine’s Bazaar towards Pennington St, then Leighton Road. About 10 mins walk
Tel: +852 28951116
Opening Hours: 11:00AM – 10:30PM (Sun-Thurs), 11:00AM – 11:00PM (Fri-Sat)
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/viatokyocafe

Via Tokyo Tsim Sha Tsui
Address: G/F, 29 Cameron Road Kowloon Tsim Sha Tsui
尖沙咀金馬倫道29號A地舖
Nearest Train Station: Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Exit B2. About 4 mins walk
Tel: +852 2385 6388
Opening Hours: 12:00PM – 11:00PM (Sun – Thurs), 12:00PM – 11:30PM (Fri – Sat)

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Milkcow 밀크카우 Organic Soft Serve comes to Singapore

Known for its healthy and organic soft serve ice cream, Milkcow finally opens in Singapore. Being one of the two Korean brands (the other being Softtree) who started the trend where soft serve ice-cream was paired with a piece of honeycomb, I was quite keen to try after having tasted Honey Creme and Sunday Folks.

The store is located on the ground floor of The Cathay. I was SO relieved there wasn’t a crazy queue like at the opening of Honey Creme.

Milkcow’s premium soft serve is made from 100% organic milk sourced from Italy for a deeper and richer taste.

You can choose from various toppings such as natural honeycomb, macaroons, cotton candy and interesting sauces such as red ginseng and cool mint.

Milkcow uses 100% natural honey sourced from honey farms in Sydney and Tasmania.

There are 14 flavours to choose from. What the staff recommended us was M2 Milk Honey, M3 Milky Cube and the very photogenic M5 Snow Drop.

Great to see such happy staff :)

The variety of toppings available. I was drooling at the pool of honeycomb…yumz

Saw these 3 cute kids posing for photos with their soft serve.

The shop space is not big, but loads of props for you to take Insta-worthy photos with.

I opted for M9 Samsam Red Ginseng syrup with Almond Flakes cos’ it was the most interesting and Korean-ish  flavour, and added the signature Honey Cube topping for extra oomph.

Tag your Instagram photos with #milkcowsg and you can get your photos printed by the store staff.

Photos put up by customers

Eat-soft serve-also-must-camwhore Lina LOL

M9 Samsam Red Ginseng Syrup with Almond Flakes and M7 Cool Mint Syrup with Almond Flakes, with Honey Comb topping

Overall, I felt that the soft serve was sweeter than the rest I have tried, a good honey-ish type of sweet. I enjoyed the crunchy almond flakes, although I must say that the staff needs a bit more practice with presentation as neither of our soft serve looked very pretty lol. I like that Milkcow uses natural products, and I definitely appreciate the fact that I didn’t need to wait for an hour to get a lick, so I would pop by to try other flavours the next time I am in the area.

Milkcow Singapore
Address: The Cathay #01-03, 2 Handy Road Singapore 229233
Opening Hours: 11:30AM – 9.50PM (Sun – Thu), 11.30am – 10.50pm (Fri, Sat, and eve of PH)
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MilkCow.Sg
Website: www.milkcow.kr

Sunday Folks – Because the best things in life are sweet

Singapore seems to be in a soft serve fad lately. Before Honey Creme came to town, another soft serve cafe had already been getting lots of good word-of-mouth. Started by the owners of Creamier, Sunday Folks is the first in Singapore to feature a soft-serve dessert concept, offering 6 flavours of soft serve ice cream. What’s even better, you can enjoy your soft serve with the crisp eggy waffles made with Creamier’s super-popular recipe in more spacious and elegant settings.

It is not difficult to spot the café from the row of restaurants along Chip Bee Gardens – just look for the crowd outside waiting for their table.

When you get there, put your name down on the electronic reservation system at the entrance. You can wait at the benches in front of the café, or take a little stroll nearby as they will send you a message when your table is ready. We queued for about 30 minutes.

The wood and copper interior gave an elegant feel to the cafe, making it a great place to hang out, or to impress a first date.

Everyone comes here for waffles
Waffles are a must here. So just pick a flavour from the six available, and decide if you would like any extra toppings to go with. And patiently wait for it to arrive.

Lazy to queue? Get a take-out in a chocolate cone :)
The freshly churned soft serve comes in six flavours – Earl Grey Lavender, Summer Strawberries, Roasted Pistachio, Madagascar Vanilla, Seasalt Gula Melaka and Dark Chocolate.

This must be the prettiest soft serve cone I have ever seen to-date.

The cafe also serves a range of cakes baked in-house such as Japanese Matcha Cake and Tokyo Yuzu Cheesecake, as well as coffee brewed with beans by local roaster Liberty Coffee.

With such a whimsical tap, Sunday Folks makes drinking tap water seem cool.

Eagerly awaiting our waffles…the smell of freshly baked ones were simply intoxicating…faster!! :D

Waffles come with standard toppings of strawberries and blueberries, and you can choose additional toppings from the mind-boggling variety available at the bar counter. Just a word of caution – don’t go overboard, or you may end up with a very impressive-looking $50 dessert LOL.

Enjoying his waffles

We ordered an earl grey lavender soft serve with an additional Matcha Nama Chocolate topping. We enjoyed the distinct lavender flavour and it went very well with the crisp eggy waffles which never seemed to lose its crispy texture.

We ordered an additional scoop of Dark Chocolate as well. I would have tasted all six flavours if my friend didn’t start protesting :p I will be back, Sunday baby.

Sunday Folks
Add: 44 Jalan Merah Saga #01-52, Chip Bee Gardens, Singapore 278116
Tel: 6479 9166
Email:  info@sundayfolks.com
Opening Hours: Tue – Fri: 1:00PM – 10:00PM; Sat – Sun: 12:00PM – 10:00PM; Last Order 9:30PM
Website: http://www.sundayfolks.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sundayfolks.singapore

Getting There
Take Exit A from Holland Village MRT. Walk across the public carpark towards Chip Bee Gardens. Walk out of the small road in the middle of the carpark, turn left and walk up the slope. Sunday Folks is about 3 to 4 shops down.