Ex-restaurant chef opens shop at SMU selling mochi taiyaki with soft serve made in S$50,000 machine

Smoff serves photogenic mochi taiyaki perched atop colourful soft-serve ice cream. Taiyaki are fish-shaped Japanese pancakes (what this shop calls waffles here), but Smoff’s version has an added chewiness from the addition of mochi in its batter. The takeaway shop opened last November at the Singapore Management University (SMU), and is owned by Dylan Low, 34, and Cholin Chong, 28.

Dylan last worked as an executive sous chef cooking Western food at Hotel Zelos in San Francisco (he says he also worked at two-Michelin-starred mod European restaurant Jaan in Singapore but declined to share in what capacity). Meanwhile, Cholin has a bachelor’s degree in Food Science and Technology and used to work as a procurer at a gourmet food distribution company. 

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Co-owner formerly a restaurant chef in hotel

The business partners met three years ago, before Dylan relocated to San Francisco to work as a chef. When Dylan returned to Singapore, they decided to set up Smoff after being inspired by American dessert chain Somi Somi, which Dylan used to frequent when he lived in the States. 

Like Smoff, Somi Somi serves soft serve ice cream in taiyaki waffle ‘cones’. Cholin says they “found the concept interesting and unique, and decided to create a new trend in Singapore”. FYI, there were a couple of short-lived taiyaki ice cream joints in Singapore like Tai-Parfait and Oyoge Taiyaki, both of which are now defunct. 

Smoff’s owners tell 8days.sg that their mochi batter was created after six months of research and development. They make the batter fresh daily, using a mix of tapioca and glutinous rice flour to attain a springy texture. 

Their soft-serve ice creams are made with the pre-mixes, but the owners occasionally add their own touches, like fresh pandan juice. Currently, the two work at the shop daily, taking turns to make the taiyaki. 

$100K invested in biz, half spent on soft-serve machine

Dylan and Cholin invested over $100K in the biz, half of it spent on their pricey soft-serve machine. But despite getting “positive feedback so far”, they say business hasn’t been great, especially in December due to the school holidays and many students at SMU were away from campus. 

They say they chose to set up shop in a university as their “target market is young adults, since our ice cream is Instagrammable”. 

Despite the slow business last month, the young bosses told 8days.sg that they are confident that they can recoup their investment, though “it will take some time”. 

Here are some signature items to try:

Taiyaki with soft serve ice cream

Smoff’s signature menu item is the Smoffle - a $5.90 ice cream and taiyaki concoction that consists of soft serve topped with a sweet mochi taiyaki, its cavity filled with either taro, nutella, red bean, ovaltine, blueberry or spiced banana paste. The soft serve comes in about six rotating flavours like pandan, ube, acai and peach. You can choose as much of the available toppings on offer as you’d like to pile on your ice cream, with six options including coconut flakes, fruity pebbles and crushed Oreos. 

Sweet moffles

If that sounds too heavy, there’s also the option of grabbing just their soft serve ($4.90) or taiyaki on its own.

The recent weather too chilly for ice cream? Try some taiyaki stuffed with sweet ($6 for two pcs) or savoury ($4.50 each) fillings. Popular sweet flavours include the Ichigo Daifuku, with red bean paste and strawberry mochi, while savoury ones feature the K-Chick, which stars fried chicken and scrambled eggs. 

Smoff is located at #01-71 SMU School of Economics, 90 Stamford Rd, S178903. Open Mon - Fri noon - 8pm. Closed Sat & Sun. Tel: 8670 3600. More info via Instagram. 

Photos: Smoff 

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