Kheng Fatt Hainanese Beef Noodles

I dragged M here a couple of weeks back to purchase some hiking boots for my upcoming trip overseas. I’m not very good at bargaining but I convinced M that with an “auntie” presence, the lady boss might be more inclined to give me a discount on the shoes.

After a successful purchase, we walked downstairs and decided to have a quick lunch at the market before heading back. Not many stalls were open and there only interesting one was the Hainanese beef noodles at the corner. Nevertheless, we did walk one round around the market, before we decided to have beef noodles for lunch. 

Pizzeria Mozza

We happened to make Pizzeria Mozza our lunch stop last Sunday after spending quite a bit of time at the ongoing travel revolution fair at the MBS Exhibition Hall.

It’s all about the Pizzzas here. Honestly, if you’re looking for other Italian fare such as pasta, then one should head to its sister restaurant, Osteria Mozza instead.

Thankfully, despite it being a Sunday, we were able to get a table immediately. Yoo Hoo! Service was a bit slow at first as it was quite difficult to flag down a wait staff. However, once they took our order, service was pretty good from there. 

Novena Peranakan Cuisine

We had a friend visiting from Hong Kong a couple of weeks back and E decided to bring them to Novena Peranakan Cuisine for a taste of some local dishes. We were both early, and the moment I stepped into the restaurant, I had a sense of deja vu.

Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow

This is the third stall we tried during our hawker trail. The first stall that we tried was Chuan Kee Satay and the second stall was Toa Payoh Rojak.

This stall wasn’t originally on our hawker trail list. However, while walking around the food centre, I couldn’t help but notice this long queue snaking around the corner the stall. No matter how many times I walked up and down the strip of stalls, the queue never seemed to abate. Indeed, it only seemed to get longer at times.

Toa Payoh Rojak

This is the second stall we tried during our hawker trail. The first stall that we tried was Chuan Kee Satay.

We were forewarned of the long wait if we wanted to order a plate of rojak from this stall. Reason is because the owner does each plate individually (no mass production here!) coupled with the sheer number of customers who want a plate of rojak rated by the Makansutra team as one of the “must try” eats. The wait gets so long that the stall actually has a numbering system which calls your number when your plate is done. 

Chuan Kee Satay

B and I had been mulling over a hawker trail for a while. A trail around Singapore to try good hawker dishes. Finally, one weekend, I sat down to it and tried to draw up a road map for this “grandiose” plan of ours. It was so difficult… too many stalls to choose from and it was tough itself trying to coordinate a trail that did not result in us spending too much time travelling around Singapore. Given that B had regular working hours now, the trail, now had to be somewhere in a location where several different stalls could be found. Finally, I narrowed it down to Old Airport Road Food Centre, which had a pretty decent number of popular food stalls. 

Ban Heng Restaurant

A traditional teochew lunch to celebrate my grandfather’s birthday. Yay!

Instead of reverting to our usual teochew haunts, M decided to try Ban Heng, another popular teochew restaurant. As usual, it’s another no frills restaurant, though the air conditioning and the efficient staff is an added bonus.

Jelly Hearts

Many years ago, when my ex-colleague resigned, she had her mom baked a few cakes so that she could hand them out to the entire department on her last day.  One of them was a cheesecake layered with strawberries and jelly. The cake was delicious and I’ve always remembered it.

Hai Di Lao Hot Pot

When I first stepped onto the location on the 4th floor of Somerset 313 where Hai Di Lao, it was like stepping into a war zone. There were dozens of people sitting around on stools, people running up and down to this women dressed in a chinese waitress uniform. Heck, the restaurant did not even have a reception table. It was just this lone Chinese lady “bouncer” with a clipboard. 

Chicken Up

Honestly speaking, Korean fried chicken places have been popping up all around Singapore for a while. It’s definitely hard to stand out and most Korean fried chicken places aren’t too bad. The differences are often very slight. Chicken Up can be said to be one of the early pioneers of Korean fried chicken in Singapore. It also gets a lot of publicity for having been picked in a Straits Times blind tasting as the best Korean fried chicken.