Local Faves

Found at the corner of the first floor, surprisingly manned by a bunch of young dudes. Waited about 20min for the food, says alot about their popularity. Food-wise, I liked the sogginess and wokhey of the noodles, and there were substantial squids, pork belly, and eggs as well. Remember to add on the lard! The only thing I was disappointed by was the chilli - was a rather weak punch and I would have preferred more spice and sourness.

The Lu Rou Fan ($3.50) was surprisingly substantial in portion and taste wise it was also pretty good. Lots of meat in a delicious sweet dark sauce, coupled with a sizeable portion of greens make for a satisfying dish. Would return to try their other cuts of meat; the pork cheek one looks especially tantalising!

Not as delicious as years ago. Prices are also slightly high ($5 for bigger portion of the standard chicken rice) for a normal-quality chicken rice.

Stumbled upon this old school-styled cafe which had traditional kopitiam delights at an affordable price in comparison to the other establishments in the Tanjong Pagar area.

Started off with the Peanut Butter French Toast ($4.50) which were slightly-bigger-than-bite-sized squares of eggy bread filled with peanut butter, with drizzles of honey on top. This combination worked surprisingly well, but I wished the peanut butter filling was thicker and creamier.

For mains, we had the Signature Hainanese Chicken Cutlet ($15.90). The chicken cutlet was clearly the star of the show - a huge, thick slab of breaded boneless chicken leg. Bite into it with an audible *crunch*, and you'll be greeted with the juicy and flavour chicken within. Pair this with the rich, buttery gracy, and you have a winner of a chicken cutlet. Loved this from the first bite till the last lick of the plate.

Washed everything down with the Iced Teh C ($4), and we were already making plans to return to try the other dishes on the menu!

Thought this was tomato soup at first; so thick and generous was the gravy that it looks like an egg-drop tomato soup. Nice chunks of both tomato and cherry tomatoes, but ultimately I thought the gravy was too sweet and didn't gel well with the scrambled egg. The rice also got very mushy from the gravy.

Came just like in the many photos plastered across social media - I think there was a period of time this was the trendiest food on Tiktok/IG. I might be late to the game, but still excited to dig in.

On first look, there was a decent amount of luncheon meat chunks (and I mean, CHUNKS) atop gooey scrambled eggs. Luncheon meat was alright, not the best but not the worst either. The scrambled eggs though...I think Dan Lao has got to be one of the experts in scrambled eggs. Soft, still oozing st the centre, and perfectly buttery, if this was served at a breakfast buffet spread I would just have this and nothing else. Amazing...! And after a few marvelous bites you can add in the house made chilli and BAM it gets even better with the spicy kick.

Definitely worth the queue and the wait. Come closer to 6pm for a shorter waiting time.

Chicken was crispy but I thought could be more tender and juicy. However, this was easily solved with the accompanying sambal provided by the staff. The Sambal is sooo good. Indomie was also delicious, firm noodles in the savoury-sweet sauce that we all grew up with.

Slow-cooked pork belly chunks were so tender and flavourful, served in a rich, aromatic, and nicely-spiced gravy. Loved the fattiness of the meat, and slurped up the gravy with the rice. The accompanying achar, omelette strips, and keropok were appreciated too. Delicious!

Reminiscent of chilli crab sauce but spicier, this complemented the lala really well, and the rice was flavourful despite a sort of glutinous rice feel to it.

Soup was the main star of the show here - warm, spicy, aromatic, light and flavourful, with the Chinese Wine giving it an addictive quality. The Lalas were also numerous and plump. The chilli provided has quite a kick though, beware!

Not unlike a firmer Maggi, the beehoon came in a sweet-savoury sauce, and the added spiciness packed just the right amount of heat to every bite. The crispy shallots added much needed crunch and flavour to the dish as well. However, the pieces of braised pork were the highlight of this meal - so tender and flavourful, this is what will draw me back whenever I'm in the area. Don't scoff at the accompanying soup too! I savoured every delicious drop of the rich and peppery broth.

They had a booth at the Singapore Food Festival that just ended which offered bite-sized portions of their famous Ayam Goreng Berempah (Boneless Chicken Thigh Nasi Lemak). Having heard rave reviews of their rendition of Nasi Lemak over the last few months, how could I not try?

Try I did, and absolutely FLOORED I was. The coconut rice was fragrant and delicious (as it should be), and the chicken were so crispy and well-marinated, bursting with flavours. But the highlight of the dish has got to be their sambal - it's not your typical as-sweet-as-it-is-spicy sambal from the neighbourhood mama shop; instead it has a unique spicy, savoury kick to it that paired perfectly with the rest of the dish. Sooooo much oomph! Used to think that their Joo Chiat outlet was too far out of the way to visit, but now I think the distance would be worth travelling.