The dessert shop is located at Capitol Piazza, just a few steps away from the first Tiger Sugar outlet in Singapore. And it ain’t your typical no-frills, garishly-lit tong shui joint: the space looks more like a sleek, sexy cocktail bar with a marble finish, dim lighting and shades of black and gold. We almost expect James Bond to pop up and order a Vesper martini. Very nice, though you can leave your gown and tuxedo at home for this. “We’ll be opening a larger flagship store with more seats, but we’re still trying to decide on the location,” Tiger Sugar’s local franchise managing director Trevor Fong tells 8days.sg.

Tiger Sugar Dessert’s menu is categorised into six broad themed dessert sections: Mango, Taro, Adzuki Bean, Mung Bean, Purple Rice and Barley. There are both hot and cold desserts available. Some are served in a bowl, while others come in a transparent plastic cup, like the Fresh Mango with Golden Crystal & Creamy Sago Milk.

Come January, you will also be able to get your hands on Tiger Sugar’s viral brown sugar pearl milk ice cream bars, which were released in Taiwan at 7-Eleven outlets on November 24 and were sold out almost immediately. We were fortunate enough to get an exclusive preview taste of the ice cream bar, and here’s what to expect:

The ice cream bars are factory-made in Taiwan and flown to Singapore. They come in a box of four, and is individually wrapped in black packaging emblazoned with Tiger Sugar’s logo (how lit for the ’gram). The bar itself is smaller, though thicker, than the other viral brown sugar pearl milk ice cream bar by Taiwanese ice cream company Xiao Mei.

We got a single precious bar hand-carried from Taiwan for sampling (that's how low the supplies are there). We bit into our (slightly icy) bar, which has very chio marbled swirls of amber-hued brown sugar syrup winding through the milk ice cream. It does look like a cup of Tiger Sugar’s brown sugar boba milk, and it’s almost as yummy; wonderfully creamy and the brown sugar swirls caramelly, though unfortunately icy (perhaps due to handling woes?).

The pearls, however, are just like the real deal. We got a mochi pearl in almost every bite, and its taste is similar to Tiger Sugar’s own big and bouncy brown sugar tapioca pearls. It’s a decent alternative to the brand’s famed boba milk, and we’d stock up on these ice cream bars at home to satisfy our Tiger Sugar craving in a pinch. But is it better than Xiao Mei's ice cream bar? In a nutshell, yes — it has better pearls and tastes like Tiger Sugar's reliably good boba milk, but too bad our bar was so icy. 

The bars are currently sold out in Taiwan, and the supply shortage means Singaporeans will have to wait a bit longer to get this. Tiger Sugar’s local franchise boss Trevor tells us that will be “sometime in January”, and its price will be confirmed once stocks arrive.

The other desserts

This mod mango sago dessert is served in a cup instead of a bowl, though it’s more enjoyable to slurp up the treat with a thick straw. It’s layered with sweet fresh mangoes, mango purée, sago in fresh milk and ‘crystal’ jelly bits, and its mélange of textures with sweet, tart and creamy flavours is delish and moreish. Ironically, it’s much yummier than Filipino mango dessert specialist Maxi Mango’s offerings just a few doors down.

This is one rather pricey bowl of mung bean soup served chilled — though it looks plain and rather boring, it’s laboriously cooked with more and more mung beans several times over to intensify its flavour. The beans are roasted before being boiled, which imparts a delicate smoked-kissed flavour that we could taste with each spoonful. The dessert is also less sweet than the usual mung bean dessert soup, so the smoky, sophisticated fragrance is more pronounced. Folks with a super sweet tooth (like us) may find this too cheng for their liking, though.

Texture-wise, al-dente purple rice and adzuki beans in a sweet soup is a winning combination, especially with soft sago orbs added. You can top up and add Taiwan-imported sesame tang yuans to your bowl. The ones we try pack a nicely gooey, gritty-earthy sesame filling, though they are slightly undercooked and too hard.

The same mousse that goes into Tiger Sugar’s boba milk is used for this drink, which comes with an orh nee-like Taiwanese taro lava paste and chewy taro ‘pearls’ that you hoover up with a straw. It’s luxuriously thick, shiok and very filling, so don’t drink this before a meal.

Other than brown sugar BBT, Tiger Sugar is introducing something new and literally refreshing for its fans — dessert soups. It’s good news for those who don’t fancy brown sugar, or even super sweet stuff but still want in on Tiger Sugar’s hype (after all, Mount Alvernia Hospital has declared brown sugar pearl milk as the unhealthiest BBT pick). The mod Taiwanese desserts here are mostly decent and taste more ‘atas’ than its rivals’, and the shop’s Great Gatsby-esque setting makes it a nice chill-out spot. Its Tiger Sugar-branded brown sugar ice cream bar is also yummy enough, and is sure to fly off the shelves once it's available in Singapore. 

Tiger Sugar Dessert opens on December 6. #B2-23 Capitol Pizza S178905. Open daily 11am-10pm. www.facebook.com/tigersugarSGofficial.

PHOTOS: AIK CHEN