Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

Singapore, a melting pot of culture, serves up a wide selection of cuisines to satisfy our taste buds. Never go hungry again.
Julius Lim
Julius Lim

From now to 30 April, The Black Hole Group celebrates the efforts and innovativeness of the chefs with the Chef’s Lab series. Over at Tipo Strada at 1KS, Chef Joey has launched a dinner-only 3-course set menu starting with the smoked salmon waldorf salad that has a lemon aioli dressing before the main of Tuscan chicken pasta. I chose the mafaldine, a ribbon-shaped pasta that is able to latch onto the rose sauce well. The dessert is a chocolate panna cotta with a berry compote.

Artichoke will be moving into a new home soon, and the last day of operations in the current Middle Road restaurant will be on 22 March. If you have a reservation from now till then, good on you! If not, shame on you but they will continue slaying with the New Bahru community from May. Till then, peace out and see you on the other side of Singapore!

Opened a few months back, Berlin65 is one of the newest restaurant openings offering German classics, Asian street food and Middle-Eastern dishes. Each of the dishes aim to bring a piece of Berlin to Singapore such as the Bahn Mi in a döner kebab and the iconic Currywurst, pork sausages with German-style curry powder, tomato paste and ketchup. It is finished with mayo and a dusting of cumin and parsley.

Available from now to 24 February, one of my favourite Singapore heritage cuisine restaurants, Rempapa, has a lineup of 5 CNY-exclusive dinner dishes and we ordered 3 of them to try. Being a Teochew kia, the steamed red grouper is my favourite which comes with a tangy broth of salted vegetables cooked with chicken stock, and as the CNY greeting of 年年有鱼, this is a must order. The vegetable dish of stir-fried king is a Cantonese inspired classic of garlic chives, pickled celtuce and jumbo dried shrimp among the other ingredients. This dish is all about the wok hei and flavour. Lastly the mandarin orange steamed kueh comes in cute bite sized pieces for you to huat in the new year.

Chef Back has launched the 5-course omakase dinner experience at $148++ per pax and the meal starts with the Umami Hokkaido Uni, beautifully topped with gold flakes. The New AB Sashimi features delicate slices of kanpachi with a tomato citrus sauce, with the additions of crunch and refreshing pickled radish providing the nice flavour balance. The next Halibut dish comes with a clam ang-sauce and the apple puree is a nice surprise to cut through the richness.

The main is a “Sanchoku” Ribeye that is cooked to a medium rare and if you are still feeling hungry at this stage, you can add on the Lobster Claypot Rice at $65++ per pot. I will highly recommend it as this is such a comforting dish with a bowl of miso soup and a side of banchan to go along with it. Dessert is a matcha tart with hazelnut chantilly and barley ice cream, a nice creamy end to the meal.

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Popular Taiwanese cafe, Abundance, has recently launched 4 new dishes into the menu. The two mains of Golden Chicken Mee Sua and Herbal Braised Pork Rice were clear standouts, difficult to choose a favourite between the two as both were equally yummy. The former contains tender chicken thigh cooked with sesame oil, shaoxing hua diao jiu and ginger while the latter has pork belly simmered in a herbal concoction. The lu rou fan is elevated into another level with the poached egg and pickled cucumber. There are also the Empress Sprouts with Crispy Garlic and Taiwanese Garlic Sausage to round up the new additions. The core menu also has the popular Red Hot Chilli Dumplings that are hand-wrapped daily and the Peanut Ice Cream Roll to round up the meal.

It is only early in the year, but Song Yue Taiwan Cuisine is probably one of the top contenders for best new restaurant opening. The homely flavours and comforting dishes is a topic that you don’t normally talk about when there is a conversation about Taiwanese food as we usually associate it more with the night markets fare. Dishes such as Farm Chicken with Spring Onion is something we don’t commonly see in restaurants and here at Song Yue, they did a wonderful plate of it, with local kampong chicken lightly poached in a superior broth and paired with a fresh spring onion and ginger sauce.

Seemingly simple dishes such as Crispy Eggs with Black Sesame Oil are usually overlooked at, but these are the kind of foods that usually tastes the best. Good food need not be overly complicated and this egg dish brings back so much memories of how fried egg with dark soya sauce should taste like. Give me this dish with rice any day.

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Despite the recent GST hike, Takagi Ramen remains true to their mission and did not increase any of their menu prices. Two unique ramens from their crab series are the Salted Egg Crab Ramen and Chilli Crab Ramen, two modernised comfort food that many people are familiar with the flavours. There is even a Salted Egg Sauce Gyoza for all salted egg lovers.

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With a revamped menu, Monster Curry launches new dishes that are good for sharing or self enjoyment. For the sustainable enthusiasts, the Truffle Meatless Katsu Salad comes in a colourful arrangement of greens and fruits while the “Spam” Fries come with meatless spam and beancurd sticks. Monster Curry’s popular curry rice series added the Rosemary Chicken Thigh Omelette Curry and Saba Shio Omelette Curry into the lineup while diners can also indulge in the White Peach Yuzu Honey Toast that are individually honey buttered and served with Hāagen Dazs vanilla ice cream.

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The Soy Chic has landed in Eggslut, a soy-glazed fried chicken sandwich. Lifting it up feels like a workout already as it is packed with ingredients so eating it is going to get messy as juices and sauces start flowing down your fingers, which is exactly how you want to enjoy a burger/sandwich. The Soy Chic also contains a cheddar slice, over easy egg and housemade coleslaw, all sandwiched between toasted brioche buns. There is a bundle for the sandwich, a can of Freedom Lager and complimentary Truffle Hashbrowns at $21.50 (U.P. $27).

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Roasted chicken shouldn’t be this juicy, but at COOP COOP (formerly Raw Kitchen Bar), they have managed to find that magic formula to achieve a rotisserie chicken so good it puts finger lickin’ good to a new meaning. The menu is pretty straightforward whether you want the Half Chick or Full with a platter add-on which comes with a variety of dips, salad and pita bread. The RKB classics such as the Black Mamba is still in the menu, which is another highly recommended squid ink fried rice dish to order.

Right after the anticipated opening of Cenzo, Chef Drew opens another casual restaurant concept in Chicco Pasta Bar focusing on handcrafted pastas. Not many places do their carbonara the authentic way but here at Chicco, the Rigatoni Carbonara is perhaps one of my favourites in Singapore. The use of guanciale (cured pork cheek), eggs and pepper is the most original way of making carbonara, not heavy cream or milk. The Mushroom & Nduja Fusilli is another pasta that I will recommend while you can order up a couple of sides such as Calamari Fritti and Cauliflower to share. The Pistachio Tiramisu is heavenly with the crushed pistachios providing a nice aroma and nuttiness to balance the richness from the mascarpone.

"The best souvenir from travelling is to bring home a memorable food experience" #aworldtoeat

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