Swensen’s ‘Fried Chicken’ Ice Cream launch two years ago created quite a stir, with folks attempting to trick their pals into eating ‘chook’ but having their hapless buddies biting into crumb-coated ice cream instead. Now, the dessert chain has expanded on the same idea with the all-new ‘Nugget’ Ice Cream. The ingredients used for both the fried chicken and nugget ice cream are similar — save for the chocolate ‘bone’ in the former. Needless to say, neither item contains actual birds.

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

The packaging

The nuggets come neatly packaged in a funky red box, sorta like how McDonald’s chicken nuggets are served. Quite adorable.

The look

But unlike McDonald’s battered nuggets, these munchkins are covered in cereal crumble — they look a bit more like chubbier fish fingers. Can these be used to fool someone? Well, perhaps if you told them these ‘chicken’ nuggets were bought from a Western food hawker stall instead of a fast food joint's.

They come in three different shapes - bone, bell and ball, just like Macca's nuggets. 

Swensen’s ‘Nugget’ Ice Cream taste test (from $8.80 for six pcs)

We chomp past its crumbly brown exterior into a vanilla ice cream filling. The coat has sort of an icy crunch, as opposed to your usual fried nugget’s crispy battered crunch — not bad. The crushed cereal adds a hint of what seems like butterscotch notes to the pleasantly sweet and milky ice cream.

The sauces

The three accompanying sauces appear to be inspired by curry sauce (caramel), ketchup (strawberry sauce) and mayonnaise (cream).

Our favourite is the tangy strawberry one with fruit chunks — they complement the vanilla ice cream well. While the cream sauce is also tasty, its flavour profile is too similar to the nuggets’, and we found the caramel one a little cloying.

The verdict

Quite nice! These nuggets make eating plain old vanilla ice cream more fun. We like the subtle crunch of its cereal coat and the fact that you can pop a whole piece into your gob for a mess-free sweet fix. Our only grouse? They’re a tad pricey at $8.80 for six pieces (six McDonald’s nuggets go for $6.05).

Available at all Swensen’s and Earle Swensen’s outlets, and for delivery via their website, Deliveroo, GrabFood and Foodpanda.

Photos: Cheryl Juan

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg.

8days.sg is now on #tiktok! Follow us on www.tiktok.com/@8dayseat.