What Does Serving Singapore’s Best Gelato Really Mean?
Singapore, a vibrant multicultural city-state spanning just over 710 square kilometers, is home to five million people from four major communities. Its food and beverage scene is fiercely competitive—a battleground where F&B entrepreneurs constantly strive to outshine one another.
Ask anyone about the best laksa in Singapore, and you’ll be met with an avalanche of recommendations, each claiming a definitive answer. Looking for Singapore’s best chicken rice? Everyone, including their ah mas, will have their own staunchly defended favorite. And what about Singapore’s best nasi padang? Passionate makciks will eagerly whisk you away to their go-to spots.
But what about gelato? What does it really mean to serve Singapore’s best gelato? Over the past decade, we’ve seen countless gelato and ice cream cafes boldly claim the title of "the best." They’re often celebrated in The Straits Times, Lianhe Zaobao, or trendy listicles. And yes, we’re no strangers to making that claim ourselves—we tell people we serve the best gelato and ice cream in Singapore.
In a perpetual summer nation where temperatures rarely dip below 28°C, gelato and ice cream spots are everywhere. Even Li Hongyi, son of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has created a map charting Singapore’s gelato and ice cream cafes. But amidst all the options, what truly sets apart Singapore’s best gelato? What makes it worthy of the title?
Singapore’s Best Halal-Certified Gelato Cafe
One simply cannot claim to be Singapore’s Best Gelato Café or Singapore’s Best Ice Cream Cafe without offering gelato ice cream that everyone can enjoy. Islam constitutes the third largest religion in Singapore, next to Buddhism and Christianity, with Muslims accounting for approximately 15% of the population. At Momolato, we run a halal-certified gelato ice cream production kitchen, and two halal-certified gelato ice cream cafes. We believe that gelato is to be enjoyed by everyone.
Having Experimented with Over 69 Flavors
Singapore's food and beverage scene is vibrant, filled with flavor enthusiasts eager to explore something new. Offering just twelve to eighteen exceptional gelato flavors isn’t enough—we believe that crafting the best requires experimenting with at least 70 to 90 unique flavors. Going beyond that is essential, drawing inspiration from our customers, seasonal celebrations, trends, and the joy of rotating offerings. This approach keeps things exciting and ensures there’s always a reason for customers to return.
By the end of 2024, we’ve already curated over 390 flavors. We know this feels incredulous but bear with us – we have been at it for ten years, and we make new flavors every two weeks. For our team, creating is more than work – it’s a passion that truly makes our day, night, and any lost time in between.
Innovation, Creativity & Flops
The road to becoming Singapore’s best gelato cafe or Singapore’s best ice cream cafe is paved with a few… delicious disasters along the way. We’ve had our share of big flops. We still laugh (and cringe) at the memory of a colleague’s horrified reaction to our chocolate salted egg wasabi flavor. But for us, seeking, striving, and creating is non-negotiable. Before opening our gelato café at 723 North Bridge Road, we faced a pivotal question: “Do we play it safe or take a risk?”
Risk was our obvious choice. That’s how Singapore’s first-ever hibiscus apple sorbet and mango chili lime sorbet came to life. These creations made us nervous - we had stage fright just offering them to customers. But on our opening week, both flavors flew off the freezer shelves.
Apprehension is part of the process. It’s a rite of passage in becoming Singapore’s best gelato café or Singapore’s best ice cream café. Yet, without bold innovation and creativity, stagnation is a far scarier prospect.
Singapore’s Best Gelato & Asia’s Best Gelato Award
To genuinely claim to be Singapore's or Asia's best gelato, it's not enough to simply say it - it must be backed by recognition from the industry. We are deeply honored to have received such validation, having had our flavors been named Singapore’s best gelato as well as recognized as Asia’s best gelato.
This achievement was made possible through our victory in the Asia Pacific Gelato World Tour, a prestigious event that allowed us to represent the region in Rimini's Gelato World Tour. We were the only gelato ice cream cafe from Singapore and Asia to earn critical acclaim from an esteemed international jury, a recognition that affirms our commitment to quality.
Our founder, Sharon Tay, has been instrumental in shaping the gelato landscape in Singapore. Drawing from her extensive international experience, she not only helped guide our journey to success but also contributed to the broader industry by serving as Chief Judge for Singapore's Best Gelato Competition. Through her leadership, Sharon set the standards and regulations for this competition, ensuring a high level of professionalism and consistency in the craft. These milestones reflect our dedication to creating an exceptional gelato while upholding the values of quality, innovation, and integrity.
Clean & Proper Food Safety
Food safety is paramount – it is the foundation of everything we do. To truly be Singapore’s best gelato ice cream cafe, hygiene and safety must always come first. The Singapore Food Agency has implemented a comprehensive food safety system to ensure that all food is safe for consumption. Any significant lapses in food safety result in demerit points, and we take this responsibility seriously.
We prioritize not only maintaining excellent food safety practices but also ensuring strict ingredient traceability. Each year, our gelato flavors undergo rigorous testing, and we’ve implemented a robust system to trace every ingredient in all our ice cream flavors. This dedication reflects our commitment to delivering quality that our customers can trust.
For us, it’s not just about crafting Singapore’s best gelato or ice cream – it’s about making it the safest as well. Upholding these standards is how we build credibility and offer peace of mind to those who enjoy our products.
Fighting the Fight
We want to take a moment to give a heartfelt shoutout to one of our favorite vocalists, Taylor Swift, whose music has been a constant source of mental resilience for us. Unfortunately, we were too busy churning out gelato at our production kitchen to enjoy her Singapore concert, but we’re hopeful she’ll return soon! Her song “Change” from the 2008 Fearless album has truly resonated with us and continues to inspire us on our journey.
Building our place in Singapore’s food and beverage scene has been a wild ride, with both highs and “meh” moments. Whenever the challenges feel overwhelming, we remember the powerful lyrics: “Tonight we'll stand, get off our knees. Fight for what we've worked for all these years. And the battle was long, it's the fight of our lives. But we'll stand up champions tonight.”
This road has had its twists and turns, but we wouldn’t have chosen any other path. We are deeply grateful for our dedicated Momolato team of fabulous peeps, who have persevered with us through tough times. We also appreciate our suppliers, whose kindness and support have been a lifeline during difficult periods. Most of all, we’re thankful for our Momolato community—our customers, many of whom have become true friends.
We feel proud to be the best because our customers told us so. And for us, their support means everything.