The first thing the shop was known for was black. FatCat Ice Cream Bar served a midnight-dark charcoal waffle with a pot of golden salted egg yolk sauce on the side, and it became one of Singapore’s most photographed desserts of the mid-2010s.
It sat on the ground floor of a residential block at 416 Bedok North Avenue 2. In a 2017 profile, the founder said the bar drew an average of 300 customers a day. He also said that in the early days the charcoal waffles often sold out by 8pm, with queues forming daily.
What it was like to eat there
The bar offered a choice of two waffles, brown butter or charcoal. Diners then added scoops of ice cream and, if they wanted, the salted egg yolk sauce. One food site described the charcoal waffle as perfectly shaped, with a deep grid pattern, crunchy outside and softly chewy within.
The ice cream was the point of the place. A 2015 guide to the newly opened shop counted 18 flavours made from scratch daily, among them passionfruit sorbet and butter beer. Earl Grey lavender, black sesame, hay and honey, and edamame were also on offer.
The kitchen also made plated desserts, including Mojito Spheres and Reverse S’mores. Later menus added brown butter waffles, charcoal cones, butter coffee and a milkshake cold brew.
Two siblings, one heartland shop
The bar was opened by Charles Tan, an alumnus of Temasek Polytechnic’s Culinary & Catering Management programme, and his sister. The 2017 profile described him as a young chef who chose to start his own business at 23 rather than work under Michelin-starred chefs in Paris.
Singaporeans, he said then, liked finding desserts once limited to fine-dining restaurants in a heartland block, without the hefty price tag.
He said the ice cream was always the main focus. The charcoal waffle and salted egg yolk sauce were created to complement it, and he was surprised when they started a trend and became the signature dessert. He also said FatCat was the first to make charcoal waffles in Singapore and that it revived the salted egg yolk craze.
The waffles and sauce dominated the dessert scene in 2015. The business later grew beyond the original shop. It added a full-service restaurant, STRAY by FATCAT, and a private catering arm.
What became of the Bedok shop
A second FatCat outlet in Kovan, a boutique ice cream and coffee store, opened in December 2021. It had a lighter wood-and-white look than the darker Bedok shop, and its counter held 18 flavours.
The original Bedok outlet then closed in December 2022 after almost seven years. No reason was given for the closure. Anyone who wants the charcoal waffle should not head to Bedok North Avenue 2, since the shop is no longer there.
Whether the Kovan outlet, STRAY by FATCAT or the catering arm are trading today could not be confirmed from recent sources, so check the brand’s own channels before making a trip.
The dessert itself is the part that lasted. Eleven-odd years of imitators have not removed the memory of the original: a dark waffle, a scoop of Earl Grey lavender, and a pot of salted egg yolk sauce on the side.