This ice cream uncle won’t chase kids away for eating ‘outside food’ or lingering at his cafe

Tucked amid a bunch of tuition centres at Beauty World Centre is cafe Pompette. It doubles up as both a soft serve ice cream parlour and “childcare centre” for kids after classes. The shop’s cheerful owner, Mark Lim, 49, tells us that up to 40 children fill up his cafe during peak periods on weekdays, and they sometimes stay for hours to study and chat with him. 
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The dad-of-two, who also owns a semiconductor business, tells 8days.sg that he got the idea to sell ice cream thanks to his 13-year-old daughter. “It all started because of my younger daughter. I like to bake and cook at home, and one day my younger daughter joked, ‘whatever you know how to cook, any dad also knows how to do – but do you know how to make ice cream?’” he laughs. 

This conversation prompted the 49-year-old to pick up a new skill – he began attending ice cream-making courses, and spent a total of eight months developing his soft serve recipe. Why soft serve and not say, gelato? “I wanted to start a soft serve culture in Singapore. Soft serve is not really a focused ice cream in Singapore, compared to gelato. Usually you can only find soft serve at places like McDonalds and Burger King, and they use [pre-mixed] powder,” Mark explains. Currently, he believes he’s is the only shop in Singapore offering handcrafted soft serve since cafe Sunday Folks has closed down (more on that later).
Mark gleefully tells us that his cafe is “more like a childcare than ice cream parlour” – he even has a dedicated lost and found corner for all the stationeries and school items kids have left behind at his shop. 
Some kids’ parents are familiar with Mark now, and occasionally ask him to help supervise their children when they visit his ice cream parlour alone after their classes. “Parents have started to call me to thank me for taking care of their kids. Some even ask me to try and keep their kids in my shop rather than let them run around,” he says. 
He jokes that he’s almost like a CCTV for naughty kids’ parents: “I have to secretly text their parents to track their whereabouts and make sure they don’t get into trouble. I’m like a “CCTV” to their parents,” he laughs.
Though most of his customers are primary and secondary schoolers, Mark says teens also visit his cafe. Does he feel stressed given the responsibility to supervise these kids? “I’m more than happy to babysit those students,” he says simply.
“There is this poly nursing student who comes every Tuesday and Thursday to eat ice cream and do her projects. We chatted and I found out she was eyeing a scholarship from school. She was stressed out, and I tried giving her some pointers, like how to divert stress into [tackling] challenges, and shared about my business ups and downs. She scored straight As for her exams, and started telling her schoolmates that Pompette soft serve makes her smarter,” he chuckles. 
He adds: “In terms of academics, I can’t help them much. But I’ll teach them about manners and etiquette. I allow the kids to bring any food into my shop – McDonalds, anything – as long as they ask for permission and clean up after themselves.” Mark notes he doesn’t expect the kids to purchase any of his ice creams to sit at his shop – he simply enjoys their company.
Currently, Mark has 14 soft serve flavours on rotation on his menu, including the Japanese-inspired Original Meiji Milk ($3.70), Matcha ($5), Hojicha ($5), Roasted Barley ($5.50), Black Sesame ($5.50), Blue Pea Flower ($5.50) and Chendol ($5.50). Toppings like gummies, marshmallows, and sprinkles can be added for $1, and more premium toppings like Callebaut dark chocolate and Shine Muscat grapes are also available for $1.50. Currently, the most popular flavour here is his Original Meiji Milk soft serve. 
What’s special about his soft serve? My ice cream is not as sweet as those sold outside, because I reduce the sugar level to the lowest [possible],” he says. Mark makes his ice cream in many small batches daily, each batch taking roughly 40 minutes to prepare. Furthermore, he says he uses Meiji milk, and only fresh ingredients. 
Sunday Folks, Singapore’s first dedicated artisanal soft serve ice cream parlour, shuttered in February this year. Mark boasts: “I had customers who patronised Sunday Folks as well. Between my soft serve and Sunday Folks’, some of them told me that they prefer mine ’cos it’s not as sweet”.
Though he hasn’t fully recouped his $195K investment yet, Mark tells 8days.sg that his monthly sales have been steady and he plans to expand: “I’m working on a franchising model now, and I hope to start a franchise chain by next May”.
Pompette is at #01-11B Beauty World Centre, 144 Upp Bukit Timah Rd, S588177. Open Tue – Sun 11am – 8pm. Closed Mon. Tel: 9877 0270. More info via Instagram. 
Photos: Pompette, Glyn Seah
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