Munchy Monday: Glacier Yogurt and I Want My Noodles

November 16, 2015

For Munchy Monday today, we will be reviewing a foodie paradise for people who love to eat noodles. I Want My Noodle is a Chinese cafe which whips up Chinese noodles with special fusion twists, which is guaranteed to give your taste buds an unfamiliar yet pleasant sensation.

Glacier Frozen Yogurt Café
by Germaine Leow

Easily accessible by all via public transport, such as students in particular, Glacier Frozen Yogurt Cafe stands out amongst the many restaurants located in the basement level of one of the newer shopping centres – Orchard Gateway. A compact shop just a short walking distance away from Somerset MRT Station, the location is ideal for those who may crave for a cup of yogurt as they exit from the MRT.

Food:

Like your typical yogurt bar, yogurt dispensers are mounted on the wall and there are up to six unique flavours offered for the day. For those who may feel that they are in a conundrum and can’t make a decision like me, the hospitable shop assistant provided a commendable service, serving me six spoonfuls of the yogurt flavours.

On the day of my visit, there were:
Glacier Original, Blueberry, Mangosteen, Yuzu, Earl Grey and Chocolate.

Glacier Original: Milky and creamy, this tasted especially ORIGINAL (pun intended). Although this is something simple and is common as a plain selection, it does not taste very much like other frozen yogurt original flavours, where they are slightly sourish and that’s about it. I especially like the finishing taste as it was milky, which is great for fans of all things milky such as me!

Blueberry: As the name suggest, it had a distinctive blueberry taste; a rather typical flavour with not much of a surprise. Good for those who are less adventurous or those who like to keep it a safe choice.

Mangosteen: Sweet, and surprisingly, it does not taste very much like the fruit itself – only better. If you were not told this is mangosteen-flavoured, you would not have a clue. Probably my first time tasting a mangosteen frozen yogurt; a thumbs-up for this unique flavour.

Yuzu: An amazing citrus scent hits you straight, followed by the taste of sweetness that comes with a sour after-taste from the yogurt. Tasting very much like juice of a yuzu fruit, but more velvety, this is a great choice for those who enjoy challenging their taste buds with a sour swirl.

Earl Grey: The taste of tea is not masked up by the yogurt – rather it was further enhanced! With the addition of milk to it, the taste was somewhat like the popular milk tea. A definite must-try in my opinion!

Chocolate: Not as sweet as the other flavours, this tasted like hot chocolate with minimal milk or simply just dark chocolate. Suitable for those who like their desserts with a lower level of sweetness.

A thing to note here at Glacier is that besides the 6 unique yoghurt flavours offered daily, there is an array of toppings that you can choose to go along with your yoghurt should you choose to as well. Ranging from fruits to sweets to nuts, there is surely an option available for everyone!

After trying out the six flavours of the day, I picked out my favourites; the original flavour for my parfait and mangosteen to go with earl grey for my Belgium waffle.

Lo and behold – triple the sweetness with sprinkles of treats!

First, a layer of original yogurt sits at the bottom of the cup, followed by 3 wet toppings of my choice, of which I chose strawberries, kiwi and coloured jelly to go with for my parfait. For my two dry toppings, I picked Oreo cookies and marshmallows, finishing off with white chocolate sauce as the dressing atop. Since the yogurt parfait is entirely customisable, this means that you are entirely free to choose what you like, of which surprisingly, despite the blend of flavours being entirely up to you, everything goes well in harmony with each other! A definite must-have for those who are big on personalisation, I’d say!

Hot Belgium Waffles with Two Scoops of Yogurt ($7.90, exclusive of toppings)

Freshly served, a whiff of the buttery aroma of the waffles was enough to get me craving for the savoury goodness that was to come. Both the mangosteen and earl grey flavours sat elegantly atop a piece of waffles each and these were drizzled with a fair bit of maple syrup. In order for customers to enjoy the taste of the waffles in their original forms, two separate slices are also served as such – plain and simple. The unique thing here is that toppings are served by the side, great for dry toppings which will lose their crunchy textures if left soaking in the yoghurt.

For my choice of yoghurts, I found the earl grey going perfectly well with the waffles, and perhaps chocolate would work too. In contrast, despite the mangosteen flavour being one of my favourites, it would be much better as a parfait as the taste of it fits much better with fruits or sweeter choices instead.

This waffles combination comes with either one scoop of yogurt ($5.90) or two ($7.90), and you get to pick a sauce of your choice to go with the waffles. Toppings come with additional charges: one topping at $0.70, two at $1.20 and three toppings at $1.50. This applies to the customisable yogurt as well, of course.

Ambience:

The brightly lit yogurt bar is surrounded by white-washed walls for its interior, which further accentuates the burst of colours coming from the toppings inside the showcase, as well as the colourful wordings that adorn the walls around the dispensers. Glaciers are printed on their white wallpaper if you look close enough, although the eye-catching pop-coloured mural by the side of the wall would be what draws you in at first glance.

There were round tables right outside the bar with colourful stools to fill in colour for the plain white walls for customers to enjoy their treats on, although aside from the colourful stools, there were high stools at the corner of the yogurt café. Despite the evident space constraint, the cafe had crafted every area to their benefit. Even the corner pillar was made into a unique high stool counter with the Glacier signboard hanging above.

Price:

A simple 100g of frozen yogurt is priced at an affordable $3.30, however, toppings are charged separately. That could be a minus point to those who like to top their frozen yogurt off with extra flavour. On the other hand, the parfait – though more than half the price of a 100g yogurt cup, is reasonably priced for its generous amount of both yogurt and toppings alike. The Belgium waffles are also priced at a reasonable amount, and considering the lovely quality of the Belgium waffles, I would say go for it!

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Glacier Frozen Yogurt Café

277 Orchard Road
orchardgateway
#B2-09, S238858
Tel: 6702 6123
Opening hours: Mon – Thurs – 10am – 10pm
Fri & Sat – 1030am – 1030pm
Sun – 1030am – 10pm

Nearest MRT Station: Somerset (NS23)
Turn left upon exit of MRT gantry and take Exit D.
Take the down-riding escalator to Basement 2.

I Want My Noodle
by Darryl Goh

Talk about Chinese food and your friends would probably suggest eating at a nearby hawker centre, food court or a restaurant. What about a café? Come to think about it, are there any Chinese cafes in Singapore? Derrick, the owner of I Want My Noodle, can thus be considered a pioneer of this relatively new dining concept, as he operates a cosy café at the heart of Orchard Road which sells predominantly Chinese fusion food.

The best part about this café, is the amount of attention they put towards making the quality of the food great. As Derrick says with conviction, “we try to make everything by ourselves”, one can most definitely feel his passion for delivering a delightful and delicious dining experience when they dine at his café.

Food:

It is no surprise that the café’s noodles are handmade, given the conviction that they have to their customers. However, if some old Chinese sifu making the noodles comes to your mind, then the noodle maker here might shock you because it is none other than Derrick himself! Every strand of noodle is singlehandedly prepared by the owner himself, as he wanted his kitchen staff to focus on mastering the art of preparing other food dishes such as the salads, sauces and chicken wings. By learning this egg noodle recipe from his mother-in-law, he took more than 3 years to master the technique by consistently practising with just flour and lots of eggs!

Handmade noodles made by 1 person improves the consistency of the noodles’ taste, which was evident when I sampled noodles from the different noodle dishes. Although their sauces were different, the texture of the noodles still remained very springy and chewy – just the way noodles were supposed to taste like.

Set Menu: Pork Noodle, Small Salad, Radish Soup, Soft Drink ($9.90)

As mentioned earlier, the noodles definitely impressed me for being so full of flavour as despite it being laden with pork slices, I could still taste the rich eggy taste of the noodles apart from the pork stew, and even after the noodles were mixed with the sauce. This noodle quality will definitely be my benchmark for egg noodles from now on – as even restaurants are not able to balance flavours so well!

Aside from the noodles, pork slices, mushrooms and garnishing, a big fritter piece was also included. Biting it made such loud crunch noises, but it did not matter because everyone was crunching on their fritters loudly. For a difference experience, I tried dipping the fritters in the noodle’s sauce – Perfection! A word of advice though: Just be careful not to soak it too long until it becomes soggy!

The small salad complemented the fritters well too, as after biting the fritters which had a crunchy texture, it was time for a softer touch, and the salad was there to satisfy me. This salad had a special dressing of sesame oil and fried shallots, which was inspired by Japanese cuisine in terms of simplicity. There is also a larger portion (selling at $5.90 ala-carte) which could make your day better and healthier.

I finished off the set meal with a refreshing bowl of radish soup and a soft drink, and overall, it was very filling – never before have I seen noodle portions that big in cafes, so if you have a big appetite and want to dine in Orchard Road for less, getting this set meal is highly recommended.

If by any chance you are feeling peckish still, fried chicken wings are also sold at the café! A special homemade sambal sauce is the star of this dish, as Derrick explained how his cooks used Indonesian spices and chilli pickles to create this Indonesian sauce, which is super spicy. It is worth a try even if you are not a lover of spicy foods, but be sure to have some water within your reach, even for those who consider yourselves veterans of spice!

Giant fried wontons: Yes, that was the name given to these wontons which were roughly the size of half my face. Granted, the meat in the wonton was quite normal in portion but for the deep fried skin, it was huge. Served with a sweet and sour sauce, the skin became much more flavourful with the additional taste to it when it had been dipped into it.

This ice lemon tea has got to be the best drink of the café. Usually, I feel that all ice lemon tea taste the same, be it bottled tea or freshly brewed. To up the ante, I Want My Noodle took this drink to a whole new level by putting lemon sorbet on top of the drink. The end feel? It was icy, it was sour… – the zesty taste were so well paired together, it was simply an impeccable taste. My opinion? This is a must-try for everyone visiting the café.

A nicely blended drink with hints of chocolate, the smoothie had variable tastes depending on where I was positioning my straw. Interestingly, it wasn’t any shade of green that you would associate from the colour of avocado, and uniquely, since the chocolate was in small amounts, swirled on the sides of the glass and atop it, this amount was just right as it doesn’t overpower the avocado taste – a good consideration for the café to make the smoothie as such so one doesn’t feel overwhelmed by either flavour.

This sweet potato dessert, consisting of purple sweet potato and the common orange ones, is also more affectionately known as the pebbles here. These were colourful and fun to eat as being bite-sized and saccharine, I found myself popping them into my mouth without much thinking one after another. A interesting tid-bit (pun intended): When Derrick came up with this dish, he found the orange sweet potato to be a good complement to the purple one, as they are sticky and crunchy respectively which gives the dish an interesting experience for the diners when they eat it.

Yes, you are looking at Sago pudding, make no mistake. Most of the time, you would expect the pudding to be displayed in cups or bowls but here, it is served on a small plate. By moulding the sago together, a small hill is formed, and circling the hill are the gula melaka syrup and coconut milk. A fragrant and delectable dessert to end the meal on!

Ambience:

Like many other cafes, this one is industrial themed, with rather dim lighting and retro furniture and knickknacks decorating the outlet. However, what sets this café apart was that Derrick and his team actually created all the furniture from scratch – this includes nearly the tables, chairs and cabinets. Tucked behind the Isetan flagship store of the mall, the place outside the café sees little footfall, giving you a peaceful environment to be in when you enjoy your meal and away from the hustle of the Orchard shopping district.

For dining area options, there are two areas available for choice – diners can choose to sit indoors in the air-conditioned area, or outdoors where they have a actual balcony to enjoy a cool breeze in the late afternoon. Although there is no view since a neighbouring building is blocking the balcony, it shields the harsh sunlight from entering the balcony. This way, the area is made more retro with dim lighting. With many old-school signs and cutlery decorating the café, it is definitely going to bring some people down memory lane.

Price:

With so much hard work put into making the dishes from the team in creating them from scratch, quality is assured and will aim to surpass your expectations on the simple and humble egg noodles. While a major complaint about Orchard Road would be that dining options are expensive and value for money ones are few and rare, I Want My Noodle challenges that notion and provides affordable and huge portions to give you the energy to continue shopping, so stop bleeding your money dining at expensive joints when you are out and about in Orchard and dine here instead!

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