Nicholas LimAfter winning the open category of Start-Up @ Singapore in 2010 and S$20,000 in prize money , Soyato, local entrepreneurial makers of a frozen soy dessert have finally set up a kiosk.
The good news is each scoop can set you back as little as 90 calories, next to typically 200 for the same serving of ice cream, 170-190 calories for gelato/sorbet, and 120 calories for yogurt.
Like frozen desserts based rice milk, it also doesn’t contain milk or egg products, making it suited to vegans, the lactose intolerant (which is common in Asians to varying extents) and those who want to avoid cholesterol.
But can a dessert this healthy actually taste good?
Most desserts fall into the category of being either sweet but sinful (think ice-cream and rich cakes), or healthier but slightly sour like frozen yogurt. Frozen soy though, falls nicely into the middle ground.
Although frozen soy has been available overseas, Soyato is the first attempt to sell it in Singapore out of a retail outlet, in the same way as yoghurt and gelato/sorbet chains have mushroomed in Singapore.
UrbanWire tried the Yuzu flavoured frozen soy which is one of their exotic flavours, complementing 15 other flavours, some more typical like chocolate. Yuzu is a Japanese citric fruit that tastes like a cross between a lime and an orange. The flavour came across nicely without being too overbearing, which Soyato founder Alan Phua claims is due to the use of only natural flavourings.
Sampling four other fruit-flavoured frozen soy, UrbanWire found that the above characteristics were consistent with the Yuzu favoured frozen soy. The tea flavoured frozen soy, on the other hand, had a strong tea-like smell and taste, and comes as a nice change to tea-flavoured products like tea flavoured biscuits or milk with either too mild or too strong a taste.
However, the flavourings don’t end up dominating the dessert, unlike Mr Bean’s ice cream where the soy bean taste is quite overpowering . Instead, Soyato’s additions complement the frozen soy nicely.
The texture of the frozen soy is creamy and smooth. However, due to it having less chemicals that slow melting like emulsifiers and stabilisers, it does tend to melt a bit quicker than what we’re used to in most brands of ice cream.
Then again it’s a small price to pay for eating something as healthy as yoghurt, but as tasty as ice cream. In fact Verleen Goh and Alan Phua, recent graduates and co-founders of Soyato told UrbanWire of regular customers who eat it a few times daily.
For the calorie counters, the Yuzu, Honey Lemon, and the tea-flavoured ones have the lowest calorie count, at 90 calories. In fact the amount is so low, it is equal to the amount needed for 2 hours of sedentary activity, a fact not lost on weight-watchers.
Prices range from $3.60 for a single scoop to $12.50 for a pint, equivalent to 5 scoops.
However, the convenience of picking up a cup of guiltless pleasure after shopping or dinner is hard to beat. A delightful snack that’s both high in flavour and low in calories, Soyato lets you have your cake and eat it too.
Address: #B1-K5 Food Junction, Bugis Junction
Tel No: –
Opening Hours: Monday to Sunday – 11am to 10.30pm
Rating: ★★★✭✩