SINGAPORE – When Dawn Lim received his diabetes and hypertension diagnosis in 2019, it was a game changer for the chef of 15 years.
“My world came crumbling down because I loved desserts. And the doctors told me no more desserts, and if I did eat them, they have to be desserts with low sugar or sugar replacements,” says the Shatec-trained chef who previously worked for now-defunct Italian restaurants Spageddies and Modesto’s.
But with that diagnosis came a new approach to food for the 36-year-old Singaporean, and a desire to create lower-sugar desserts suitable for those with diabetes, if consumed in moderation.
After learning about his newfound goal of becoming a gelato-maker, his father – also diabetic and in the food business – screamed at him: “You’re crazy, don’t you know you have to taste your own product?”
Still, his quest for the perfect lower-sugar scoop eventually took him to Costigliole d’Asti, Piedmont, in northern Italy in 2019. There, he would study the craft under the mentorship of Massimo Conti, a gelato-maker with more than 38 years of experience.
Striking the right balance between sugar content and deliciousness with gelato was no easy feat. Sugar acts as an antifreeze agent in ice cream and gelato, keeping the frozen dessert soft enough to scoop.
The proudest moment from his five-month stint in Italy was presenting a gelato made as an examination piece to a panel of restaurant owners and Michelin-starred chefs. His lower-sugar gelato, called Italian Dreams, was made of white chocolate, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Alba white truffles.
Using the lessons gleaned from Italy, he opened his eponymous gelateria – Dawn’s – in Sunset Way in Singapore in 2020.
He offered lower-sugar gelato in flavours such as kaya butter and toast, made with fresh eggs and pandan kaya slow-cooked for four hours, topped with Kopitiam bread and croutons, for $6.50 a scoop.
“I’m Hainanese and the kaya is made with an inherited recipe,” he says. It was a hit with health-conscious regulars.
Unfortunately, Dawn’s succumbed to pandemic pressures and low footfall, and closed in December 2023.
Undeterred, Lim is representing Singapore at gelato-making contests in Europe from Feb 29 to March 10. He is competing in the Gran Premio del Helado in Alicante, Spain, and the Grand Prix Gelato Osterreich in Vienna, Austria, against more than 300 contestants in the artisanal gelato-making category.
He spoke to The Straits Times after spending over two days travelling, first by plane to Madrid via Dubai, before driving through the night to Alicante.
The reason for the long car journey? “I maxed out my luggage allowance because of the ingredients I have to carry,” he says of his haul of 40kg, which would have made a domestic flight into Alicante too cost-prohibitive.
In his bags are ingredients such as Milo Gao Kosong, coconut milk and hae bee hiam (dried shrimp sambal).
That is because Lim’s planned contest entries consist of lower-sugar desserts infused with South-east Asian flavours.
For a mango-themed round, he plans to showcase a mango and coconut sorbetto that features hae bee hiam dalgona. “It’s very much like nam pla wan, a rojak-like sauce with sour mango you can find in Thailand or at Golden Mile,” he says.
For a chocolate-themed round, he is making a gelato of Milo dinosaur infused with coffee and nama chocolate (a ganache made from a mix of melted cacao and fresh cream).
“It’s inspired by Neslo (a combination of Nescafe and Milo), which I frequently get at prata shops, and is made with our Singapore-made Milo Gao Kosong,” he says. “Our then-president Halimah Yacob requested from Nestle a version of Milo with zero table sugar.”
Lim uses former president Yacob’s version of Milo because it allows him to better control the sugar content in his gelato while infusing Milo’s distinctive flavour.
“The best compliment for a Singapore dessert is that it’s not too sweet,” says Lim, who hopes to revive his gelataria in a location closer to his Sengkang home later in 2024.
And that is a compliment he has received many a time for his icy treats. Even his initially doubtful father has since come around to his unlikely choice of vocation for someone living with diabetes.
