Entree Kibbles: Play Gelato @ Midpoint Orchard [Singapore]

Monday, March 14, 2022

Play Gelato @ Midpoint Orchard [Singapore]

A filling meal will not be concluded without desserts and given the hot weather; I tried to search for a nice gelato parlor in the area surrounding Somerset MRT station. Strangely, there wasn't any in the major shopping centers but something did pop up on Google Map.

Play Gelato, which was opened in May 2021, and it's at Midpoint Orchard; an old school shopping centre with a layout similar to those built in the 70s and 80s. Interestingly, I couldn't find its completion year online although I found an article dated this year that the mall is 43 year old!

Anyway, Play Gelato is a tiny shop with just four tables! I was a bit hesitant to enter as I am unsure if our group of four would breach safe management measures but the friendly staff was confident we would be safe as the tables were pretty spaced out.

Given the limited capacity, do note the dine-in time limit of 30 minutes! It's not a hard and fast rule as our group managed to stay beyond 30 minutes given that we were the only group of customers then.

Sixteen gelato selections for to choose from; as usual, I hate it when there are so many choices! Rum and raisin perked me up, strawberry marshmallow was interesting, soursop sorbet would appeal to me etc etc etc.

Tea selection from O'Sulloc! Found it familiar? It's a brand from South Korea and I remember visiting its tea museum at Jeju Island; where I had the most delicious green tea latte!

Getting ready for our waffle with two scoops of ice cream. Granted our tummies were on the verge of bursting but how to resist waffle when it is available on the menu, especially when there were four of us to share the calories?!

Tea - jeju samdayeon tangerine tea served in a cyan cup for mom! With a citrussy flavor, it was nice and you can request to top up with hot water. Be polite and patient though as it's a one-lady shop and I can see how busy she was!

Waffle with Two Scoops of Gelato - we were given prior notice that a wait of at least 15 minutes would be required as there were two groups of customers before us.

Each scoop of gelato was topped with pretzel and the waffle was sprinkled with little marshmallows and drenched sparingly with chocolate sauce; 'decorations' were too much in my opinion even though I could have been biased since I am not into pretzels and marshmallows.

Pistachio Gelato (Premium) - nutty with a toasted aftertaste I found so enticing! For someone who likes things with "texture", the only thing to perfect this gelato is to have bits of pistachio nuts hidden inside.

Coconut Sorbet (Premium) - this was like having blended coconut juice with ice in solidified form; creamy and not overladen with sugar; this was so welcoming in the tropics!

Waffle - sadly disappointing, it was dry with not so much of a crisp and featured a bread texture that's neither buttery, nor aromatic. The shop would honestly need to review their batter recipe.

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In summary, we loved both the gelato and sorbet even though general consensus is that serving size was quite small. I agreed to a certain extent but this is Orchard area we are talking about, yet the pricing at Play Gelato was comparable or even cheaper than the gelato shops in Yishun. The major issue I had was with the waffle and I sure hope there will be improvements in the near future.

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