iMANGO

It seems that the revamp of City Square Mall above Farrer Park MRT Station has been a fairly extensive overhaul for a mall in recent times — not only has the mall seen a change of its retail mix, it has also seen the move of the food court from the upper levels to the basement or the mall; equally impressive would be the change in the fittings that goes from the floor to the ceiling of the entire mall which now brings the appearance of the mall from within being pretty up-to-date to the newer malls around town. There has been quite a number of new F&B tenants introduced with the revamp of the mall, and one such establishment is that of iMANGO which is situated in the middle of the shopping aisles at level three of the mall; just a level down from where the outlet of Kok Sen Restaurant is situated. Not much is known about the brand, though there is a bit of likeness between iMANGO and Yang Xiao Xian Mango Milk Ice 杨小贤 in terms of the colour scheme used and the type of items that the specialise in. Situated in the middle of the shopping aisle, iMANGO is decked in a colour scheme featuring both yellow and white elements; the yellow being quite on-point with the stores specialty item — the Mango Milk Cotton Ice. The counter sits in the middle of the entire shop space, while dine-in seating surrounds the counter on the outside; tables are matched with stools, and the tables come in configurations that would work well for both patrons that come along in pairs or in groups of four (4) pax. As mentioned, iMANGO specialises in its Milk Cotton Ice offerings — their signature being the Mango Milk Cotton Ice though there are a few varieties available as well. Other items that iMANGO has to offer will include items classed into the categories of Egglet, Dessert Syrup and Viral New Products. Beverages offered by iMANGO will include that of Light Milk Tea and Premium Milk Tea.

As one would have probably guessed, the signature item of iMANGO would probably be the Mango Milk Cotton Ice; this is the only item that comes with two different size variants — the Mango Milk Cotton Ice being the rendition that would fit a single diner well, while there is also the Super Mango Cotton Ice which is said to come in a portion size that is good enough for five (5) pax to share. Whilst the Mango Milk Cotton Ice isn’t the only individually-portioned Milk Cotton Ice item that iMANGO has to offer, the Super Mango Cotton Ice is the only version that comes with the super-sized variant. The menu at iMANGO does not describe the elements that comes with the Mango Milk Cotton Ice, though it can be observed from our order that the item will consist of Mango ice-cream, Milk Cotton Ice (more on that later), mango cubes and mango sauce on the side. Patrons can actually add-on a whole line-up of toppings at an additional charge if they so wish to, though we kept our order default as-is in the most basic format. The mango cubes were fresh, soft and sweet, while the addition of mango sauce and mango ice-cream helps to further enhance the sweetness of the mangoes further; the ice-cream did bear a bit of a denser consistency than what we would have expected but still not icy nonetheless. The Milk Cotton Ice is essentially shaved milk ice almost similar to that the shaved ice desserts that Mei Heong Yuen Dessert serves up; the milk ice layering upwards within the bowl it is served in. The consistency of the milk ice at iMANGO seems to come a little bit on the denser side, resulting in a rather creamy texture that brings it close to that of milk-based soft-service ice cream rather than milk ice in a fashion similar to that of a Korean Bingsu — something that actually caught us by surprise.

We had also given the Egglet at iMANGO a go during our visit made on a weekend mid-afternoon as well. iMANGO does serve up rendition of their Egglet with fillings but those seem to be unavailable during the soft-launch phase; only the Original is offered on the day that we made our visit. Unlike the typical Hong Kong-style Egglet that we are familiar with, the Egglet comes in the form of an round-shaped waffle that is being served skewered; each skewer comprises of seven (7) round-shaped waffle. These were especially fragrant with a waft of buttermilk fragrance when they were ready for collection; the flavours of the same being very prominent with a slight sweetness as one chews through a piece — the Egglet not being overly dense at the same time and is pretty manageable as a snack even despite its portion size. Overall, iMANGO does present itself as a pretty worthy contender to compete in the same space as Yang Xiao Xian Mango Milk Ice; in fact, iMANGO does serve up a larger variety of offerings than Yang Xiao Xian Mango Milk Ice. Prices of the desserts are also pretty wallet-friendly at iMANGO as well — the individually-portioned Milk Cotton Ice offerings are priced in the range of $5.90 to $6.90, while the Egglet is priced from $1 to $1.20; presenting itself as a pretty wallet-friendly option to go for if one intends to have dessert within City Square Mall itself. Pretty intrigued by its other offerings such as the Peach Gum Tremella Snow Pear that was not offered during their soft launch phase; perhaps something that we will give a try once they have officially opened their doors!