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is infused with the famous Chinese spirit, it surprisingly ally recognized in chic restaurants in the upper east side
creates a taste similar to white chocolate. To push your of New York and later took the world by storm. Joane, who
taste bud to another level, Enjoy Gelato has made some is experienced in fine dining, believes that fine-dining
very innovative flavors, such as fried spicy crab, pickled restaurant menus are generally more adventurous and
carrot with cheese, and spicy sugar-coated haws. These always try to be innovative and different from other
flavor ideas emerged in Subraina’s head while having restaurants. “Fine-dining restaurants’ customers are also
dinner with friends and she later started experimenting more adventurous; they are looking for something new
with them. and unique and are not afraid to try all the wacky flavors.
In fact, they are expecting to try wacky flavors of food
Wacky Ice Cream Beginnings: Fine Dining that gives them a ‘wow effect’,” she said. Moreover, most
fine-dining restaurants could afford higher costs due to
One interesting thing to notice is that both Subraina the selling price of the overall menu; therefore, they are
and Joane come from a background in the pastry industry, more willing to risk making unusual flavors. In fact, if we
and they use ice cream as a way to fulfill their own dream. trace back to the history of ice cream, we will find that it
For Joane, she and her business partner Bernard both have was first served to the rich by some adventurous chefs.
a common thought of pursuing high-quality entremets
rather than compromising the quality for quantity. Making
ice cream is a little easier to handle compared to the pa-
tisserie business Bernard had for the last decade and Joane’s
previous work in different restaurants. Joane told us that
K¨ri is now in the process of launching a selection of full-
size ice cream cakes. Through their pastry experience,
Joane thinks it is easier to create entrees in a frozen stage.
Subraina, who also previously worked as a pastry
chef, on the other hand, decided to use gelato to explore
and get a deeper understanding of ingredients from her
home country. She said: “It was in 2017, when I was still
working in the bakery of the Macau Casino Hotel, I sud-
denly realized that I had very little understanding of the
Chinese ingredients and seasons. Therefore, I decided to
go back to mainland China to start a workshop about
For example, a Japanese-inspired new ice cream shop rather than be safe, which applies to our brand or concept. homegrown ingredients. Gelato is a good way to practice.”
in Melbourne, K¨ri Ice Cream is introducing Asian flavors And to make the wacky flavor work, we need to make sure In business or management, we always say the outside
to Australia, including some adventurous ones unfamiliar it tasted good as well.” perspective is crucial as it sparks and stimulates new ideas.
to the locals. As a newcomer in Melbourne, K¨ri Ice Cream On the other side of the hemisphere, an up-rising That applies to the ice cream industry as well. With a
already got into the spotlight thanks to its unique wacky Chinese artisan ice cream brand is also experimenting crossover background, both Joane and Subraina are able
flavor of ice cream. For example, there is the miso soup with wacky ice cream flavors. The brand is called Enjoy to make innovative ice cream flavors that have never been
flavor, a combination of vanilla tofu, nori seaweed, and miso. Gelato (⁻䰗㈂). The owner Subraina Sun established the made before. However, if we zoom out to a bolder per-
The ice cream has a sweet-salty taste almost similar to salt- brand in 2017, aspiring to bring Chinese elements into ice spective, it is not difficult to realize that many wacky or
ed caramel. There is also the Hojicha flavor. Hojicha is cream. Unlike most of the gelatos in the market, Enjoy unique flavors of ice cream first appeared in fine dining
Japanese green tea roasted in a porcelain pot over charcoal. Gelatos always challenges itself with unusual local ingre- instead of ice cream ateliers. Recently, an article from Fi-
It usually has this dark, roasted bitter flavor. However, when dients from all over China, to give consumers a taste ex- nancial Times has dug into the trend of wacky ice cream
served cold, the light tea floral taste becomes perfect. perience they never have before. So far, it has created over in high-end restaurants. In Cambridge, The Garden House
K¨ri Ice Cream is a collaboration between Bernard 200 flavors, most of which are inspired by Chinese region- restaurant spring menu this year, features the Jersey Roy-
Chu, the owner of LuxBite, and Joane Yeoh, Good Food al elements. als potato flavor ice cream. Recently opening Chicago fine
Guide Young Chef of the Year 2022 finalist. Both of the For instance, one of their regular flavors is Indian dining Esmé serves a savory caviar course with sweet
two have a similar taste palate and opinion when it comes Gooseberry with olive. Indian Gooseberry is a fruit that potato, kombu, and bonito ice cream. Even the prestigious
to sweets, and are also very passionate about patisserie is mainly consumed in the southern part of China. Many Michelin restaurant El Celler de Can Roca started to offer
and sweets in Japan. After a casual dinner chat about people are not fans of the bitter puckery flavor when they flavors such as “perfume”, “forest land”, and “old book”.
opening a Japanese-inspired ice cream shop, they made first try it. However, when put into the ice cream, it is Fine dining is always at the front line of innovative
their dream come true. Joane told us the concept behind refreshing and offers a sweet aftertaste. Another Enjoy desserts. The most famous example would be the popu-
their ice cream: “We think that ice cream should be fun Gelato’s signature flavor is Moutai flavor. When the milk larization of the molten chocolate cake. It first got gener-

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