Tom's Palette (Kovan)

Singapore Coffee Festival Special Flavour
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50% Colombia and 50% Brazil Espresso Blend by Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee

Putu Mayam is a traditional Southern Indian rice flour noodle dish. It can be either a sweet (with sugar) or savoury (with curries) dish. Growing up, you usually find it served during breakfast with red sugar and freshly grated coconut on the side at some neighbourhood mamak stalls. It was rather uncommon to begin with but seemed to have disappeared nearly completely.

Looking deceptively simple, this dish is actually rather tedious and time consuming to make from scratch. A dough is made from rice flour roasted with pandan and then filled into a hand wooden press with minute holes. The dough is then pressed through the holes to create the signature thin rice flour strands. It is then placed on greased rattan trays and steamed just before serving.

I really like that Tom's Palette has brought this little known heritage dish back in their own unique innovative way. The putu mayam is layered into the cone and then topped with their signature fresh tekka coconut ice cream and finished with a sprinkling of red sugar. I'm personally no fan of coconut but found their tekka ice cream rather enjoyable with a good balance of sweetness, and richness with a good layer of refreshing flavour. It's perfect for the summer dog days. The putu Mayam was soft and fluffy and one of the best I had in a really long time.

The waffles are good but I reckon the putu Mayam cone is better!

P.S.A. After some persuasion, I managed to persuade the good folks there to reveal their putu mayam supplier and it might surprise some!

Tom's Palette is one of the early pioneers of the indie ice cream shops in Singapore when it opened in the sleepy Shaw Tower in Bugis which has since been pulled down.

Best known for their salted egg ice cream, this little scoop shop has shifted to Middle Road and opened a 2nd outlet in Kovan, serving innovative and interesting flavours. It's great to see that they continue to serve the Tom's Palette which featured SIX scoops of ice cream that is great for sharing at $30.

During my visit, I quite enjoyed their freshly baked Belgian waffles. Not as good as Creamier's but close enough. As for ice cream flavours, I would highly recommend the lychee Moroccan rose for its fruity sweet yet bright floral flavours!

Given the amount of time that Tom’s Palette has been in operations, the brand is probably one that most locals would be rather familiar with especially with the young adults that had followed through since their early days at Shaw Towers. Tom’s Palette had certainly stood the test of time; having first started as a humble independently-owned gelato nook located within Shaw Towers, they had moved out to their current location at Middle Road when Shaw Towers was slated for redevelopment. Since then, the brand has introduced a new brand logo and made some renovations to their space, breathing in a much-needed new life to the brand that had been pretty consistent with its image all the while — they also do have a space for the production of their gelato at Bijou in Pasir Panjang that also serves up as a small retail shop that serves up a limited variety of flavours primarily for takeaway as well. These folks had recently expanded their operations yet again; this time opening a new location within the hipster neighbourhood around Kovan MRT Station at Blk 212 Hougang Street 21 — the void deck of the HDB block that Tom’s Palette is situated at includes TAM CHIAK Kopitiam, Hashtag #3 Cafe & Bar, Nakhon Kitchen and Claypot Valley, just to name a few. Taking over the space of the now-defunct Hooloo Cafe (some may also recognise this spot being the now-defunct Hatter Street Bakehouse & Cafe even more way back in time), it does seem that Tom’s Palette did keep some features like the metallic grille that frames the shophouse that had been around since its time as Hatter Street Bakehouse & Cafe; otherwise, the interior decor sees a similar theme as their Middle Road space with its use of white and wooden elements that provides a somewhat Japandi look with the use of geometrical elements and plants for a lively environment. Seatings are available both within the shop space behind the counter and food preparation area, as well as along the aisles outside of the shop. Being a gelato parlour, Tom’s Palette offers quite a wide variety of gelato flavours that are tagged to cultures of other countries around the world; patrons are free to have their gelato in cups, cones or with their Belgian Waffle; the Belgian Waffle being available in half portion or full portion sizes.

Considering the number of flavours that was offered at Tom’s Palette at its Kovan outlet that we had not seen or yet to have tried at their Middle Road location, we decided to go for two scoops of gelato to be paired with a full-sized portion of the Belgian Waffle when we made our visit to Tom’s Palette on a weekend afternoon. Our choice of gelato would be for the Tekka Market Coconut and the Honey Apricot Cardamom. It is interesting to note that Tom’s Palette does serve up their Belgian Waffles at their Kovan outlet in circular form, and that whilst there are no sauces that are drenched on the waffle by default, there is a bottle of maple syrup that is placed at the self-service / collection point that patrons can help themselves to. The Tekka Market Coconut is being described on the description card placed at the display freezer to have been churned with fresh coconut milk that is sourced from Tekka Market in Little India tagged with a Singaporean flag; this particular flavour does come feeling a little sorbet-like in its consistency, though boasts of a really creamy and fragrant hint of coconut fragrance that perfumes the tastebuds lightly.

The Honey Apricot Cardamom on the other hand was described as a gelato flavour featuring honeyed apricot gelato and lightly crushed cardamom pods tagged under the flag of Türkiye; this would be a flavour more suited for those whom prefer desserts that are less sweet with the apricot giving a slightly tangy note that matches that of the cardamom that adds on a spiced flavour to the consistently creamy gelato. The Belgian Waffle itself is rather well-executed as well — light, soft and airy with a light lingering fragrance on its own; the drizzling of the maple syrup helps to elevates those flavours further. All in all, Tom’s Palette had always been noted for their inventive gelato flavours and consistency in the gelato that they serve — despite having expanded their operations quite a fair bit in recent times, Tom’s Palette have maintained the quality of their gelato and is still continuously experimenting with new combination of flavours that set them apart from the saturated gelato / ice-cream parlour scene in Singapore. While their Middle Road location would likely still be the more convenient outlet to head to for most, it is interesting to see the brand having an interest in expanding into the heartlands; definitely a hangout spot that Kovan residents are looking forward to visiting in time to come!