5 The Moments is the sister café to the (now-defunct?) Churn Creamery that boasts handcrafted gelato, which is supposed to be lower in sugar and richer in taste than most other ice cream joints’. I’m not sure about the former claim (this stuff did taste pretty sweet), but the gelato here is definitely very flavourful (with almost twenty different selections to get your diabetes from).
For whatever reason, the menu at the entrance has no prices listed, which made me think I was going to get a hole burned in my wallet, but the place turned out to be pretty reasonably priced by café standards.
and Valrhona Chocolate Ice Cream ($16.90)
I came here with a colleague, so we ended up getting two scoops of gelato – the Banana Sorbet Honeycomb and Valrhona Chocolate – and splitting the waffle. At first, the Matcha Waffle seemed destined to disappoint. It looked unappetisingly soft and dense, like a half-assed Prima Deli waffle, but turned out to be much lighter and crispier than it appeared. It was also infused with not only matcha but topped with chocolate chips, which were a very pleasant surprise (more places ought to do this, since it’s a 100% scientific fact that waffles topped with chocolate chips are invariably more awesome).
The Valrhona Chocolate gelato was exactly what you’d expect from the flavour – rich and chocolatey and bittersweet, while the Banana Sorbet Honeycomb was much sweeter, but with the benefit of that added crunch for a more interesting texture and satisfying bite.
I actually liked the both the waffle and ice cream so much that I decided to come back for a second visit, and got a Chocolate Waffle with Strawberry Sorbet. The chocolate waffle was just as great as the matcha one (better perhaps, since I asked them to bake it longer), though the the strawberry sorbet was a little too sweet and less tart than I would’ve liked (I like my sorbets to be a lot more sour, however, so I may be in the minority here).
I also got a Cappuccino on my second visit, which was very satisfying. I’m no coffee connoisseur, but this was good enough that I would probably have had another one if I wasn’t already on my third cup of the day.
The café itself has a nice ambience, with cosy and welcoming decor complemented by antique furniture that sort of gave me Shen & Co vibes. Definitely a good place to read or study during off-peak hours. Or to just chill.
Ratings
WAFFLES: 4.5 out of 5
ICE CREAM: 4.5 out of 5
COFFEE: 4 out of 5
Address: 73 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088494
Contact: 6222 5336
