Southeast Asian

Located at the heart Tanjong Pagar, Bara Food offers authentic Indonesian grilled rice in the CBD.

There is a variety of grilled rice sets to choose from. Ayam Goreng Serundeng ($14.50) features Javanese style fried chicken topped with a fried spice and herbs, while Bumbu Kemanji ($14.50) comes with stir-fried shredded chicken with lemon basil leaves. The chicken is tender, moist and flavourful. This is absolutely delicious.

Each set also comes with grilled rice, crispy Melinjo crackers, fried tofu and tempeh, and chilli. The biggest surprise has to be the rice that is wrapped in banana leaves and grilled - it is so savoury and fragrant, which reminds me of chicken rice. Even something simple like the fried tofu and tempeh are done very well (aromatic and crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside) and everything go really well with the fiery chilli. Love it!

The Nasi Goreng Iga Hitam features squid ink fried rice with braised beef ribs and a sunny side up. The fried rice is packed with umami and it is surprisingly spicy - definitely delivered a kick there. The beef ribs are braised thoroughly in a sweet and savoury sauce. No fried rice is complete without a fried egg and the sunny side up brings everything together nicely. Lastly, special shout out to the terasi chilli which is shiok and savoury - goes really well with the crackers！

We ordered Yum Salmon ($24.90), which is a tangy and spicy raw salmon salad. This is my go-to appetiser whenever I am here.

You can’t go wrong with fried instant noodles and the Fried Mama Basil Scrambled Egg with Crispy Pork ($19.90) turned out as tasty as I imagined it to be, though it’s leaning on the salty side. The scrambled egg is super creamy and fluffy - love it! However, the roast pork is a little disappointing as it is quite dry. Still enjoyed this nonetheless!

The Salmon Salad ($15) is features raw salmon cubes and onion tossed a tangy and spicy sauce - this is refreshing and tasty.

The Crab Meat Fried Rice ($9.80) comes with a crab omelette that is very soft and fragrant. There is a generous amount of crab meat and the fried rice is packed with wok hei. Definitely impressed with this!

Signs a Taste of Vietnam Pho is located at the basement of Orchard Gateway (#B2-15) and I’m pleasantly surprised by the authentic and homely pho served there by a Vietnamese couple.

I ordered the Beef Feast Combo ($13) which came with sliced beef ribeye, sliced beef shin and beef balls. The broth is very flavourful, though some might find it a little salty (doesn’t bother me though). The sliced beef is very soft and the beef balls are bouncy but not too hard - they go well with the chilli and hoisin sauce served on the side too. Overall, this is a very comforting bowl of pho, and I’m not even a fan of pho to begin with. Looking forward to trying the other items on the menu next time!

Bami Express is a small eatery at Tanjong Pagar Plaza (#02-02) that specialises in bánh mì, or Vietnamese baguette. I had the Bami Sai Gon ($5.50) which came with pork ham, stewed pork, chicken liver pate and chicken floss. The freshly made baguette is warm, soft and airy on the inside, and crispy and crackly on the outside. I omitted the cucumber and cilantro for personal preference (opps😅) but the pickled carrots and radish is quite refreshing. Yay to a tasty and wallet-friendly lunch!

Had a Peranakan feast at Ivins Peranakan Restaurant at 19/21 Binjai Park and we ordered:
▪️Garam Assam Fish Head ($27 - 3 to 4 pax)
▪️Ayam Buah Keluak ($8.20)
▪️Babi Pongteh ($7.50)
▪️Nyonya Chap Chye ($6.20)
▪️Fried Ngo Hiang ($6)
▪️Sotong Hitam ($7.20)
▪️Egg Fuyong ($5.70)
▪️Terong Goreng Chilli ($5.50)
▪️Chendol ($1.50)

One of my favourite dishes of the night is the Garam Assam Fish Head which is 1/2 fish head served in spicy tamarind gravy. The gravy has just the right balance of spicy, tangy and sweet notes, and it goes s ppl o well with rice.

Ayam Buah Keluak is my all-time-favourite in any Peranakan restaurant and I love digging out and savouring the flavourful flesh of the buah keluak.

The sauce of the Babi Pongteh is a tad sweet for me, but the braised pork belly literally melts in your mouth. The Chap Chye is decent as well.

Two of the dishes were unexpectedly good. Sotong Hitam features stir fried squid with black ink sauce and cut chilli and this is actually full of flavour with a hint of smokiness. The squid is tender as well. The Terong Goreng Chilli looks like a simple eggplant topped with chilli but the chilli is actually very aromatic and it is not too spicy.

Overall, I enjoyed the food and it was pretty satisfying. Do note that each item is quite small, so if the group is large, you might have to order double portions of each item.

Sadly, the Salted Lava Egg Crab Fried Rice ($15.90) was on the disappointing end of the stick. I’m not sure if it was because of how epic this looked, but the taste was rather underwhelming~ It wasn’t as flavourful and aromatic as I imagined it to be, and there wasn’t much wok-hey.

Not to exaggerate, but the Yum Mama Grilled Pork Collar ($19.90) is PHENOMENAL. This warm salad features grilled pork collar on top of a bed of Thai instant noodles tossed in a super spicy and tangy sauce. The thinly sliced pork collar is grilled to perfection and it is one of the most tender pork I have ever eaten. Each piece is moist, fragrant and packed with umami, and the acidity of the sauce helps to balance out the grease. The sauce, however, is too spicy for me (had to order a 2nd cup of Thai milk tea🥵) - wished I opted for the non-spicy option! Nonetheless, that did not deter me from finishing everything on the plate - so good!

Yum Prawn ($24.90) is a Thai salad comprising raw and cooked prawns drizzled in a tangy and aromatic dressing. I was slightly intimidated by the idea of raw prawns initially but they turned out fresh and sweet, and the cooked prawns are big and crunchy as well. This is great for sharing as there is a lot of prawns in this.