Wild scenes as Gelato Messina opens third international store in Singapore
One of Australia’s most popular dessert chains has landed in Singapore, with eager fans lining up for more than an hour.
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One of Australia’s most popular dessert chains has landed in Singapore, with lines of more than an hour long.
Gelato Messina officially opened its doors in Singapore’s Chinatown last month, marking its third international store, with two locations in Hong Kong already.
Video captured and shared to TikTok shows eager ice cream fans waiting more than an hour to get their hands on 40 iconic Aussie flavours — with some Singapore exclusives also on offer.
Among the flavours offered exclusively at the Singapore location are Kaya Toast, with Kaya gelato and dehydrated toast and kaya jam, Teh Tarik, which is milk tea gelato, as well as Singapore, How You Durian, which is coconut gelato with durian jam and durian cake.
Alessandro Palumbo, international operations manager at Gelato Messina, told news.com.au: “When we decided to open in Singapore, we knew we had to do it properly – staying true to our Gelato Messina identity while also honouring Singapore’s status as a nation of serious food lovers.
“That meant creating flavours that genuinely resonate here.”
TikTok user @cathfully took to the video sharing platform to tell other Messina lovers to “run, don’t walk because the queue can be up to an hour or more on weekends”.
“The service was good — service crew were friendly and gave out gelato samples to the people in queue. They allowed you to taste test before ordering too. I ordered two scoops — one Panna cotta with fig jam and amoretti biscuits and the other was Dulce De Leche,” she said.
“There are Singapore-exclusive flavours too. Though they close at 10pm, the queue was still going strong past 9pm.”
Meanwhile another TikTok content creator, @shishi_diary, said they were excited that Australia’s “famous” gelato business had finally arrived in Singapore.
“The crowd is so crazy,” the content creator said.
Other social media users weighed in on the popular chain arriving in Singapore.
“Will wait six months let the hype die down,” one said in an effort to avoid the long lines.
Another said their “Aussie ice cream cravings” were finally satisfied with Messina’s opening.
“TAKE ME THERE WITH U, LOW-KEY LOOKS GOOD,” one added.
One social media user said: “Brilliant! Love love love Messina.”
“So damn expensive. A lot of people don’t know how to value of money nowadays,” another commented.
In response, one wrote: “It’s freaking worth it. I’ve had it countless times in Australia.”
“One of my fav ice cream storesss,” another added.
Gelato Messina opened in 2002 after Nick Palumbo moved from Adelaide to open the chain in Sydney. Today, there are 16 stores in NSW, four in Victoria, three in Queensland and two in the ACT.
The gelato giant features 40 unique flavours, with five specials that rotate weekly, as well as bespoke gelato cakes that are also wildly popular.
Originally published as Wild scenes as Gelato Messina opens third international store in Singapore
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