Three’s A Crowd Cafe Review: Horlicks Waffles At A HDB Ice Cream Cafe In Tampines

Neighborhood ice cream cafes are on the rise, popping up to provide a convenient, cold treat under HDB blocks. Three’s A Crowd Cafe isn’t one to join the recent frenzy though; the humble and halal-certified ice cream cafe has been serving desserts in Tampines since 2017.

Food at Three’s A Crowd Cafe Bringing me to an ice cream cafe can be equated to putting a kid in a candy store. Unfortunately, my job was made harder with the cafe’s whopping 18 flavours of ice cream, as well as dessert options such as waffles, brownies, and even affogato. Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan of Horlicks, but my interest peaked when I spotted the Horlicks Waffle on the cafe’s menu as it was a rather unconventional taste to incorporate into waffles.

Each plate of this uniquely flavoured churros waffle will set you back $9.80 , and it is served with a scoop of classic vanilla bean ice cream, almonds, cornflakes, and a drizzle of caramel sauce. Even so, we decided to indulge all the way by switching out the vanilla ice cream with a scoop of Speculoos ice cream at an extra cost of $1 . According to We in addition, another scoop of their Leegacy ($4) dark chocolate ice cream.

Taste-wise, the actual Horlicks taste was very subtle in the waffles, with most of the maltiness coming from the generous dusting of Horlicks powder instead. They nailed the caramel notes with this ice cream, but it was missing the hit of cinnamon which is characteristic of the Lotus biscuit.

Per to the cafe owners, their chocolatey Leegacy ice cream is dedicated to the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Next on the list of sweet treats was the S’mores Brownie ($8) which we topped with a scoop of rainbow-coloured Unicorn Pop .

When it arrived at our table, the large scoop of ice cream was balanced precariously on top of melted marshmallows and a slab of brownie. I got a taste of the ice cream by itself and immediately noted how much it reminded me of Paddle Pop.

I would leave this sugary savour to the kids, as after a few spoonfuls, the ice cream got a bit cloying. Besides ice cream treats, the cafe also offers a selection of small pastries made daily by an in-house pastry chef.

The dainty Tiramisu ($6.90) comprised layers of cream and coffee-soaked sponge, and a layer of bitter cocoa powder dusted on top. The layers of cream were exceptionally light and airy, dissolving close to immediately in my mouth. The sponge part of the cake was doused with aromatic coffee, giving it a strong hit of caffeine while keeping it moist.

The cake is constructed with even layers of dense cream, cake, and large chunks of juicy strawberries, which added tartness to the sweet sponge cake. From the mere fraction of their treats I got to taste during this visit, I’m certainly dropping by again to tick more off the list if I’m ever in the area.