This new American malt shop along Joo Chiat Road looks like it came straight out of a Wes Anderson film
The cafe was founded by Erin Nash, an American who wants to share his heritage with his Singaporean daughter.
PHOTO: Gwen's Frozen
PUBLISHED ONApril 14, 2025 4:54 AMByMelissa Teo If you love Wes Anderson films, you'll probably fall in love with this new cafe along Joo Chiat Road.
Gwen's Frozen will officially open on April 25, though it has soft launched on March 22.
With its white and baby pink pinstripe walls, hand-painted menu boards, old-school pink telephone, and Archie comics, it looks like an American malt shop from the 1950s.
The cafe sells American-style grub and desserts like Philadelphia cheesesteaks, New York cheeseburgers, classic grilled cheese sandwiches, frozen ices — a cross between a sorbet and slushie — and frozen custards.
The New York cheeseburger is modelled after a mashup between two long-standing cheeseburger joints in New York City, and the cheesesteak is modelled after the owner's favorite cheesesteak joint in Philadelphia.
By an American father, for his Singaporean daughter
The cafe's backstory is as sweet as its desserts.
Sharing in a press release, Gwen's Frozen was founded by Erin Nash, an American who wanted to share his heritage with his Singaporean daughter, Gwen.
Growing up in America, Erin's happiest memories were of the summer holidays he spent working as a short-order cook behind the flat-top griddle in diners and restaurants, similar to what Gwen's Frozen is now.
Later on in life, Erin became a Hollywood visual effects supervisor, oversing teams of visual effects artists' work on shows like Game of Thrones, Westworld and The Walking Dead.
He met his wife in Singapore and after getting married, they moved to New York.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, they moved back to Singapore for Erin's wife to be closer to her family, and Erin continued working US timings for the New York visual effects studio.
However, when Gwen was born, Erin realised that working such hours was not sustainable as it would mean sacrificing precious family time, so he left his job.
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