by Lindsay Wong
Naganuma Ice-no-ie opened its second outlet at Don Don Donki in City Square Mall at Farrer Park on January 11th (their first outlet is at Carlton City Hotel in Tanjong Pagar). Originating from Hokkaido, Naganuma specialises in serving high-quality soft serve and gelato with fresh ingredients straight from Hokkaido.
Naganuma is located within the food court of Don Don Donki, which is hard to miss since this is their largest outlet in Singapore so far, and is surrounded by four other food stalls which also offer authentic Japanese cuisine, such as Hokkaido ramen and udon.
Naganuma has established itself as the only authorised dairy company to use raw milk instead of fresh milk, which most dairy companies use, from Hokkaido in its products. Since fresh milk is pasteurised at high temperatures, it affects the taste of the milk, so Naganuma milks their cows in the morning before immediately sending the milk to factories, and pasteurise their milk at low temperatures to preserve the fresh and intense taste.
Their gelato menu offers an extensive range of flavours: huscup yogurt which is a berry unique to Hokkaido, banana, chai (mixture of ginger and cinnamon flavours), double cheese, pistachio, their signature Rich milk, azuki (red bean), strawberry milk, chocolate, mango yogurt, melon and matcha. There are chunky bits of ingredients in the azuki, chocolate, pistachio, and banana flavours.
Other than gelato, Naganuma Ice also sells different flavours of soft serve like matcha, chocolate, and Yubari melon. Their specialty flavours are fresh milk and Aomori apple, which has a fresh taste of fruit. Naganuma uses apples from a region of Aomori that was hit by typhoons last year that destroyed a large portion of their apple supply.
Naganuma’s menu also includes soft serve parfait, choux puffs (in original custard and strawberry flavours) and crème brûlée soft serve. Their crème brûlée soft serve is unique as brown sugar is sprinkled on top and then scorched right in front of your eyes.
Even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, you can still enjoy the desserts at Naganuma since they don’t taste very sweet. If you want an authentic taste of Hokkaido, it’s the perfect place to get your dessert fix with its unique flavours.
