Gelato Messina opens third international store in Singapore
Don't miss out on the headlines from Eat. Followed categories will be added to My News.
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.
Popular Aussie ice cream brand Gelato Messina opened in Singapore last month. Picture: TikTok/@cathfully
People have lined up an hour to try the 35 staples and five weekly specials. Picture: TikTok/@cathfully
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.'
People raved about the flavours. Picture: TikTok/@shishi_diary
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.
It's the third international location. Picture: TikTok/@shishi_diary
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
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
SBS Australia
an hour ago
- SBS Australia
Filipina talent sparkles in Legally Blonde: The Musical
Isabelle Pascua is a 2021 Performing Arts graduate with over a decade of dance training and classical background in violin and piano. She was born and raised in Australia, with roots tracing back to Bacolod and Manila through her parents. As the only Filipino in the cast, Isabelle values representation. Growing up without seeing Filipinos on stage, she sees this role as a chance to bring pride and visibility to her community. SBS Filipino 21/06/2025 35:08 📢 Where to Catch SBS Filipino
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Spencer Leniu and Ezra Mam embrace says it all after State of Origin Game 2
The long-running feud between Ezra Mam and Spencer Leniu dating back to a Vegas racism row is all but over after the pair were seen clearing the air before sharing a warm embrace after State of Origin Game 2 on Wednesday night. Vision, which you can watch above, showed Leniu approach Queensland's 18th man after full-time, with the pair engaging in a brief conversation that ended in an embrace. FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every game of every round in the 2025 NRL Telstra Premiership, LIVE with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited-time offer. The touching moment showed they have seemingly finally buried the hatched some 16 months after the Blues enforcer labelled Mam a 'monkey' in the Las Vegas season opener between the Roosters and Broncos in 2024. Leniu copped an eight-match ban for the slur which he insisted was unintentional and was nothing more than 'one brown man saying something to another brown man'. The fallout continued even after he served his suspension with Leniu aggrieved at some of the commentary around the situation from people in the media, namely from Queensland legend Johnathan Thurston, who said the punishment should have been far harsher. Leniu clearly held a grudge against the Maroons great for his remarks and accused Thurston of being 'two-faced' and 'fake' following a sideline spat back in April. Thurston claimed the following day he was 'shocked' by Leniu's hostility, 'which was not of a racial nature, but overly aggressive in tone and unwarranted'. Leniu then posted on his Instagram: 'I never wanted to talk to JT. He kept trying to come to speak to me. 'I said, 'Lad idc (I don't care) if that you hate me for what I did. But don't come up to me asking me questions like we're Algood (sic). 'Don't be two face. Hate me lad I'm eetswa (sweet) with that. But don't be fake. I hate fake people.' Since then Leniu has been on a self-imposed media ban and stayed out of the limelight. In a great show of character, after full-time, he sought out Mam to bury the hatchet and clear the air with the Broncos star. And speaking after the exchange, Mam said it had all been settled. 'It's great that me and Spencer got the chance to see each other face-to-face last night,' Mam told The Sydney Morning Herald.
SBS Australia
2 hours ago
- SBS Australia
How Fiston beat the odds to crack an $8bn Aussie industry and go global
Fiston Baraka in a recording studio in Melbourne working on his new single. Source: SBS / Scott Cardwell At the mic in a small recording studio in Melbourne's north, Fiston Baraka is putting the finishing touches on his new single. "It's called Kumbuka, which means remember," said Baraka, 25. "It is about me looking back at times people told me to stop my music, that I was wasting my time. One line says, 'remember when they said I wouldn't make it'." "Making it" is something the artist is incredibly proud of. The rising hip-hop star from Geelong is among Victoria's hottest music acts. He even performed at the Australian Open tennis tournament earlier this year. "The Australian Open, yeah that was crazy, no way to describe it," he said. "It made me feel seen and at the same time accept that the work I am doing is not going to waste." The recording studio is a world away from the refugee camp where Baraka grew up, but the memories remain vivid and live on in his songs. Known to fans as Baraka the Kid, he sings in English and Swahili, and his rap music is finding an audience worldwide. "My biggest following is Nigeria, South Africa, and the United States," he said. "Australia sits at number four." Baraka is proud to contribute to the expanding Australian music industry, which grew in revenue by 6 per cent year-on-year in 2024, marking six consecutive annual gains, according to industry body ARIA. Overall, the Australian music industry generates revenues of $8.78 billion according to a recent report released by the federal government body Music Australia. It provides the first comprehensive measure of the economic contribution of Australia's music industry, and includes data from industry, government, and over 1,000 individuals and businesses working across the music industry. It found that streaming dominates the market, accounting for more than 70 per cent of all revenue. Industry growth provides opportunities for young artists, but music producer Ariel Blum said the playing field is far from level. "There are a lot of challenges for people that don't grow up with either the economic means or the social networks to access the decision makers," Blum said. "I have met many clients coming into the studio with a particular profile. They would typically come from privilege, economic privilege mainly, getting bills paid by mum and dad." It's one reason Blum co-founded a music mentoring project called GRID Series in 2013, to give artists from disadvantaged backgrounds a helping hand. "GRID is actually an acronym and stands for Grassroots in Development," he said. "Our main mission is to bring resources, access, and opportunities to artists from low socioeconomic backgrounds. "And in Australia, typically that means living in the outer suburbs or regional areas." Fiston Baraka is among the project's rising stars. Since being accepted into the project, he has received mentoring from Joel Ma, known as Joelistics, an Australian producer, multi-instrumentalist, and former member of the Melbourne-based Australian hip hop group TZU. "When Fiston and I first met, he was really open to exploring his refugee story," said Ma. "A lot of our conversation was about his family's story, coming from overseas and arriving in suburban Geelong, and how much of a cultural shock that was for Fiston and his family." Baraka arrived in Australia in 2010 and was born in 2000 in Lubumbashi, the second-largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He later grew up in a refugee camp in Zambia. Zambia is home to more than 100,000 refugees, asylum seekers, and other displaced people. Many are exiles from the DRC. While Baraka has happy childhood memories of making friends there, he faced many hardships too. Food was short and illness rife. His life changed dramatically when his parents bought a small parcel of land and started growing crops. "Myself and my older brother were taken out of school and we started working on the farm alongside our cousins," he said. "My parents decided the farm was more of a focus because that's what was actually bringing income," he said. It set back his education, and when the family was finally accepted into Australia on humanitarian visas, Baraka had received limited schooling and spoke little English. "The reading part was hard because I couldn't write and I couldn't read the words either," he said. "So, the way I learned English was by watching cartoons on television." Drawing on the resilience many refugees are respected for, Baraka went on to finish high school and tertiary qualifications, spent six years working in construction then started his own music business. He now explores his refugee journey through song. "It was not hard to kind of convince him to sing in Swahili," Ma said. "We talked about whether that would alienate an Australian listening public. Our conversation got to a point of: 'well, the world is bigger than Geelong, bigger than Melbourne, bigger than Australia'. "You can have an audience that extends to parts of Africa, America, Canada, and the UK because this story, although unique to you, is universal in so many ways." It was a strategy that's paid off for both artist and mentor. "I get a huge rush of pride when I see someone like Fiston making their way in the world and having an impact and finding his audience. It is amazing," Ma said. "I am very happy to be where I am and very proud to have [come] so far," said Baraka. "I didn't think of music as being anything more than a hobby when I first started, but now it is a passion and something I can actually make a career out of, as well." Baraka is among 70 participants to develop their style and their business acumen through the GRID Series. The free six-month GRID series is supported by Creative Victoria, includes studio time with a producer, live performances, and sessions on business basics. "Things like setting up an ABN, registering your business name, claiming all of your profiles on different platforms, and registering for APRA AMCOS. Often they will come and do an information session, too," said Blum. However, Blum said Baraka's motivation is also key to his success. "Fiston is like a meteorite, a fireball of incredible energy. He is incredibly personable, incredibly talented, and insanely charismatic. "And when you are around Fiston, you feel excited," he said. GRID Series currently runs in three states and aims to bring more diversity into Australia's music scene. "I come from a part of the Australian music industry that is about telling stories and representing an Australia, which is diverse," Ma said. "And GRID is a hotbed of stories about an Australia that I recognise. "In the past, the Australian music industry felt very white, very male-dominated, very rock-oriented. "Because GRID is open-minded, it supports diverse artists and genres. Their music tells stories of people coming from other countries, particularly from war-torn countries and places where life is a struggle," Ma said. For Baraka, who quit a full-time job in construction to chase his music dream, recent success is sweet, but his goal is to touch people through his songs. "Joel Ma told me that being Congolese and speaking Swahili makes my music unique," he said. "So, each song has a story. It is either something that I experienced or that someone close to me has experienced. "I put that into the music and people relate, they say 'oh wait, I've been through that too'. And so they connect. "They also send me messages which might be little in text, but they are big in heart. "And it makes me feel good that so many people are able to open up by hearing my words," he said. Watch now Follow Small Business Secrets Share this with family and friends
