Singapore was the first place I got to sit down at a fancy restaurant that was designed just for the purpose of serving ice cream, like the Haagen-Dazs restaurants that are so common here in Singapore.
There are, of course, places like this in the US, but they’re mostly in major cities like New York City. I wasn’t aware of them, so I never went to visit one. I thought the ice cream you get in the grocery store was only available in the grocery store.
There were ice cream places I went to like Baskin Robbins, Brewster’s and Marble Slab Creamery, but these places are set up as fast food ice cream parlors. The seats, if there were any at all, are the hard plastic kind that encourage you to enjoy your ice cream, but to do it quickly and make room for the next person.
Since I’ve never been to a Haagen-Dazs restaurant in the US I have no basis for comparison but the experience here was a good one. The seats were cushioned and comfortable, the table we chose was low-set, and the dishes and silverware were good quality. The ice cream was served with presentation in mind too. So, eating Haagen-Dazs ice cream in Singapore can be a very luxury experience.
Unfortunately, it comes with a luxury price tag as well. The two plates shown in this post came up to around 42 SGD (about 29 USD) and I remember being stunned at the bill. In the US you can get a half-gallon of premium ice cream for about 13 or 14 bucks. Or at least you could the last time I was there. I’m finding out that a lot of foods I took for granted as being cheap in the US are a lot more expensive abroad. I think it has a lot to do with how the corn industry is subsidized by the government in the US. Ya, that’s kind of a weird stretch, right? Watch Food Inc. and you’ll understand what I’m talking about.
Anyway, it’s still a nice way to pamper yourself from time to time, if you have the money to spend.
Bradley Farless 
Ya, organic foods are definitely much more pricey.Salt was the preservative used the world over before modern day chemical preservatives were developed. It was used mostly in meat though.I'm not sure why people are so scared of General Mills stuff. Maybe it's something that's come about since I left the US. I've only spent about 3 months of the last 3 years in the US.
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Well, you can always go organic, but you know the kinda prices you'll wind up footing…As for chemicals, everyone's using it worldwide these days, its call conglomerate mass-production. I tried organic stuff in the US before, even ate and and bought some stuff from the Amish farms nearby, but really, that was all just hype, the food didn't taste any better at extra prices, PLUS, their food was always salty, guess they used it as preservatives or something…Btw, I have no idea why, but people seem dead scared of GM foods, like they'll grow an extra leg or exoskeleton or when they eat those…
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90 RM worth the food is a really good sized meal, that's for sure.American produce does taste good, but I worry about the hormones, pesticides and the artificial ripening using methane gas. Can't be healthy…
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Correction, when harvests are lean, they sell at market prices whilst farm subsidies kick in, and its when excess harvest occurs that they're allowed to destroy crops, move it into storage, sell it to the government etc. Sorry for that, was kinda distracted! 😉
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I always found ice cream parlors in the US somewhat decent venues for a date on the cheap. Too bad I was always rejected whenever I suggested that, compared to the usual positive receptions for 5-star restaurant dinner dates. As for paying $42 for ice cream in Singapore, that's close to RM90, and for that, you can imagine all the great food PLUS ice cream for desserts! As for the corn subsidies in the US, soybean growers get the same too. The dept of agriculture is pretty good to farmers stateside, when harvests are lean, they're allowed to sell their surpluses to the government at pre-set prices, or simply move them into storage, and when harvests are bountiful, they're allowed to destroy crops so as to keep prices stable. Still US agri products are some of the very best in the world, makes aussie produce taste like ashes!
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dont forget ben and jerry's at vivocity too! i love haagendasz and ben and jerry's=)
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They have good ice cream too. Their theme is more tuned towards kids though. I went with Haagen-Dazs restaurants to emphasize the extreme difference between ice cream parlors in the US and the “fine dining” ice cream experience in Singapore.
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That's how I grew up. Having ice cream at home I mean. We'd even get whipped cream, sprinkles and chocolate sauce to go with it most of the time. ^_^How are the ice cream parlors in Italy? Are they more similar to Singaporean ice cream places or more like the American ones I described?
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Thats why I tend to buy ice cream in tubs from supermarkets instead when I was in Singapore. Its so much more economical that way and you can share it with your family 😀
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