Tom’s Palette II + Food For Thought

Every day is passes by like a whirlwind and before I know it, it’s the weekend!

I love weekends because it’s the perfect opportunity to catch-up with friends, old and new. We all know good food and good company more often than not makes a wonderful meal. Add a good cause into the equation and trust me you’ll feel even happier even if the food is not all that praiseworthy.

Basil Pesto Chicken with cream requested ($13.90)

The friend wanted something creamy for the meal. No comments but he finished everything up. He eats to live which is so unlike me xD

Shiitake Mushrooms ($13.90)

Alas, spaghetti oglio olio style does take some good technique and sadly food for thought did not manage to do it. Dry strands of spaghetti unevenly coated with oil and an unappetizing oil slick left below. But plus points go for the crunchy shiitake mushrooms- browning them in butter added some nuttiness to my favourite food, yum! And gosh, the smell of browning butter was heavenly (did it once at home while baking madeleines and the kitchen smelt amazing), I knew exactly when my dish was cooked. The grilled tomatoes with their sourish punch went well with my mushrooms too . Pity about the pasta because I really loved the combination of everything else.

And after Jerlin sent me note from ice about two flavours out this week, I knew I had to go down to get an ice cream fix from Tom’s. Had my favourite flavour banana($2.80) the day before in island creamery to see how it’ll match up with Tom’s.

It was a difficult decision with such a mind-boggling array of flavours in front of us. The ice cream chef obviously knew our difficulties and gamely let us try all the flavours we were interested in before we actually chose them. The friend had difficult expectations, it took a few tries but eventually it boiled down to melt and sizzle and blackswirl (above). I wanted buttered pecan which was one of the two flavours available this week but they didn’t have it 😦 Tiramisu was redolent of mascarpone cheese, definitely a must-try for all tiramisu lovers but you know me, I’m never a fan of cheese.

But Tom’s has a flavour for EVERYONE no matter how picky you are and the ice cream chef will be  determined to find the perfect flavour for you when you are there! Finally, I settled on Black Swirl and Rum Raisin (below).

Melt and sizzle got the friend laughing away as the popping candy sizzled in his mouth.

‘There’s a party in my mouth!’ he said.

‘Aaaaah, mayhem in mine’ I said.

Suddenly, we didn’t feel like uni undergrads, we felt like little kids again.

Seeing how much we enjoyed it, the ice cream chef passed us some of the magical chocolate embedded inside that ice cream. Everything sizzled away in our mouth after the initial moments of melting bitter chocolate- what an apt name!

Black Swirl is now the top of my chart for ice cream at Tom’s because of the creamy coconut flavour and the generous amount of black glutinous rice inside. They go so well together, seriously!

Rum Raisin is potent stuff, rum bursting from the plump raisins as well as rum infused into the ice cream itself. Definitely better than udder’s rendition.

And what do I have to say about the comparison between island creamery and Tom’s?Island Creamery does not manage to achieve that smooth texture for every flavour, banana is actually one of the few that manages to get a consistency almost similar to Tom’s. Tom’s on the other hand makes this seem effortless because no matter what you have, alcoholic, fruity, chocolatey, they will always boast that velvety smooth texture we all know we love.

Flavour wise, Tom’s caters to all tastebuds so no worries about finding your perfect flavour there! Island has a wide range too but they don’t cater to every tastebud. I noticed that Tom’s covered more ground, they have salty flavours (salty yuzu), adventurous flavours(melt and sizzle!), chocolate for the serious chocolate lovers (dark chocolate sorbet), light flavours (lychee rose and logan red date), alcohol (chocolate stout and rum raisin) and the list goes on….

But at the end of the day, both really have their own charms. Ice cream wise, I prefer Tom’s overall but Island Creamery’s premises are huge, perfect for group outings. Below is a short list (in random order)of my favourite ice cream flavours by far!

1. Rose petal ice cream from Canele

2. Tom’s Logan Red date or Black Swirl

3. Cedele’s Earl Grey and Figue

4. Island Creamery’s Banana and Very Berry