Food Picks
Savour three kinds of soya sauces in milky gelato from Ethos Gelato Lab
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Ethos Gelato Lab's Hokkaido milk gelato rippled with artisanal shoyu.
PHOTO: ETHOS GELATO LAB
- Ethos Gelato Lab offers unique, salty-sweet Moosushio gelato ($19.80), a collaboration with Christopher Tan featuring Hokkaido milk and artisanal shoyu, until December 2025.
- Other notable flavours include Mint Mosaic ($24.80), made with fresh mint and layered chocolate, and Chrysanthemum ($24.80), a balanced and floral take on a common flavour.
- Orders can be placed online with a minimum of $39; a $10 delivery fee applies for orders under $90.
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SINGAPORE – If, like me, you gravitate towards salty sweets, Ethos Gelato Lab has just the thing for you.
The home-based food business, which launched in June, is offering Moosushio ($19.80 a pint), a gelato made with milk from Hokkaido, rippled with two kinds of artisanal shoyu or Japanese soya sauces, and a third from Hong Kong. The name comes from usushio, which is Japanese for “lightly salted”, and moo, after the cows.
This flavour, available until the end of December, is a collaboration between Ethos founder Chronos Chan, 50, and cookbook author and cooking teacher Christopher Tan, 52. Mr Chan was co-founder of gelato brand Tom’s Palette in 2005 and sold it three years ago.
In Japan, cafes, shoyu-makers and stores often offer ice cream drizzled with soya sauce. It is much less common here. I think at first it will be overkill, but then the caramel notes hit my tongue. Then the umami notes. Then the smoky notes. I just want to continue digging in. If only it were available year-round.
There are other good flavours to sample. My other favourite is Mint Mosaic ($24.80 a pint). And here is where you see Mr Chan’s attention to detail. The mint leaves in the gelato are a bright green, as he uses the fresh stuff. And the gelato is packed in two layers in the tub, each layer topped with squiggles of chocolate. Chocolate-mint is another of my favourite combinations, and this one totally hits the mark.
On a gentler note, there is Chrysanthemum ($24.80 a pint). It is a common flavour in ice cream and gelato stores here, but few do it right. Some are overpowering, others insipid. Ethos’ version has that beguiling floral vibe without overpowering the palate.
How to order: Go to ethosgelatolab.com @ethosgelatolab
