I am writing this post mostly because I wrote a review of Awfully Chocolate in Mainland China. While in Singapore I had a chance to go with friends to Ninethirty, the flagship restaurant operated by Awfully Chocolate in its home country.
The visit
It was past 10pm on a Saturday and the restaurant was packed. Contrary to classic Awfully Chocolate locations, Ninethirty is a full-fledged restaurant and on Saturdays is open till 1am. There was a very nice young vibe.
Personally I stocked up on Awfully Chocolate milk that is not available in China. It is just chocolate milk, but it has the right density and I enjoyed it.
Somebody in the party had the original all chocolate cake.
The check
The chocolate milk was 8 SGD a pop.
Ninethirty is definetely a good venue where to have a post-dinner dessert with friends.
Where in Singapore: 31 East Coast Road. Website: www.ac9thirty.com (with link to menu and reservation system).
I was lucky enough to get an invitation to join a dinner at a popular Singapore restaurant called Eminent Frog Seafood and Porridge (in their GeylangLor 19 location). This eatery got a Bib Gourmand distinction in the 2018 Singapore Michelin Guide in the category street food.
The visit
On a Saturday night the place was packed, but our host had a reservation (smart guy).
The piece of resistance of the dinner was the frog porridge, a very popular Singaporean traditional dish. The frog and the porridge came in two different pots. You can order the frog legs cooked in different sauces (such as Gong Bao, Chinese Essence, Chinese Herb Soup, Garlic & White Pepper and Special Home-made Chilli). I believe ours went in Gong Bao sauce, that is a starchy soy and peanut sauce.
Here’s the frog meat and the porridge in my personal bowl.
The menu was very extensive, not just frogs. We had their fried chicken that was excellent.
We also had their fried squid.
And some greens.
A friend brought a popular Singaporean brand of crisps as a snack.
Attention: the restaurant is not licensed to sell alcohol, so no beer or wine, not even if you bring your own.
The check
I do not have a check for this one has the dinner was generously offered by our Singaporean host. I would call it a mid-range restaurant, it is not street food level, but prices are affordable.
It was a very nice dinner with friends with the opportunity to taste a quintessential Singaporean dish in an authentic environment.
One day walking on the streets of Singapore, during my July 2019 trip, I noticed this sign:
It attracted my attention and later I came back for a meal. It was the Orchard Road location of Fat Boy’s Burgers, a homegrown Singaporean burger chain. Established in 2009 by two brothers, now it has multiple venues in Singapore and branches in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, and Phom Penh.
The visit
It was a Sunday evening and the location was packed but they were able to squeeze me in one of the last seat available.
I had their YOLO (you only live once I suppose) Burger. It was a massive burger with a beef patty (but I was also offered the choice of lamb or pork patty). On top there was a fried egg, fried spam, fried onion strings, Mozzarella Cheese Sticks with Smoked Chipotle on a sesame seed bun. The most striking feature was certainly the deep fried mozzarella, very cheesy inside.
They have an extensive menu of burgers and you can also make your own burgers (they calculate that over 4400 combinations are possible).
The check
Only the burger cost 21.75 SGD (15.72 USD): one the pricey side, but in line with gourmet burgers in Shanghai or Hong Kong nowadays. This was one of the most expensive burgers, a classic cheeseburger was around 10 USD. Overall recommended.
Where in Singapore: 38 Orchard Rd. For other locations and menu see their website.
Looking for Mod-Sin eateries I stumbled on the name of the Quarters. The eatery is headed by Chef Chung Deming that among other things put his name on a durian creme brulee called Duriancanboleh. It seemed interesting enough.
The visit
I went for lunch on a Saturday. I even booked through their website. The restaurant is located on the ground floor of a shopping arcade called Icon Village. It is a simple venue, but it has style.
I had their signature mocktail called Quarterade with mint, lemon, and dill. Shaken (not stirred). It was quite refreshing.
My main was their satay burger. It had a chunk of spiced chicken inside two rice patties. The patties were a bit too soggy for my taste, otherwise good. It came with a salad peanut sauce.
Not completely satisfied by the burger, I ordered their Fwah! It was an interpretation of the Kaya toast with foie gras and scrambled eggs. And it was very good.
The check
The two dishes and a drink came at 44.75 SGD (service charge and VAT were added to the menu prices). That’s 32.50 USD. It was on the expensive side value-wise.
I really appreciated the creativity of the dishes. Maybe my choice for the burger was not the best. I saw some tasty burgers being prepared, like a Lemak Curry burger and one with salted eggs and chicken. And they also have some interesting lunch bowls. For a better idea about the place I would need another visit.
Where in Singapore: Icon Village, 16 Enggor Street Shop #01-09 Website (for menu and reservations): www.thequarters.sg.
PS: in the same arcade there was a Bagel shop that seemed to be very popular with people queuing happily. They specialize in bagel sandwiches.
When I learnt that in Singapore there was an Italian ice cream maker, I knew I had to check it out (I already have reviews about Italian gelato in Saigon, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Guangzhou)
The visit
Unfortunately at the time of my visit Alfero only operated a shop in a residential area off-the-beaten-path. Took me a while to get there and find the place in the courtyard of a residential complex.
Just across the gelato shop there was an Italian restaurant. I bet they were related.
I just ordered a scoop made from a flavor called “Bacio” (“kiss”). Bacio is an an Italian chocolate cookie with the same name (it is famous because it comes with a slip of paper with cheesy quotations about love and life). I must say that I was not particularly impressed, the flavor of the original cookie was hardly there. But this was just one scoop on a random day, so my comment is not necessarily representative of the whole offering.
The brownies also looked very good.
The check
One scoop was 5 SGD (3.60 USD).
I wound not recommend to make the journey just for the ice cream. But if you happen to be around in the area, check it out.
Where in Singapore: 81 Macpherson Ln, Shop #01-37 (look for the building below facing Macpherson street). Website: www.alferogelato.com.
A food trip to Singapore would be incomplete without paying a visit to at least one Hawker Center. They are typically open-air complexes populated with all sort of food vendors (the “hawkers”). Each stall usually specializes in one single food item or just a few related. They are all over Singapore and very much part of the culture.
The visit
I went to Maxwell Food Center in Chinatown area with two friends from Japan and Taiwan. It was a Friday evening in July 2019. This particular center seemed to cater both to tourist and locals. There was a good mix and it was busy but not packed. This is a relatively large center with over 100 stalls organized in 3 or 4 alleys.
We arrived at 7pm. Despite being open till late, many stalls were winding down at that time, in particular there seemed to be no chicken rice available (like at the celebrated Tian Tian Chicken Rice stall at n. 10 and 11). If you are craving for chicken rice, go earlier.
We collected goodies from different stalls (plus some drinks from a separate one; drinks are usually sold by specialized stalls) and then we found a table for the feast. Tables are not linked to any specific stall, you can sit wherever you find a spot.
First stop was a stall selling oyster fritters called Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake (Stall no. 5). The cakes were deep fried with oyster meat and other ingredients such as minced prawns, pork, peanuts and oyster juice. Each cake is the size of a hand’s palm. We bough half dozen and we were derided by the seller claiming that his customers would eat at least a dozen each. Perhaps just a clumsy attempt to up-sell, or in Singapore there are some massive oyster cake eaters.
Then we went to stall 71 (Fu Shun Shao La Mian Jia) and we had to queue for 10 minutes or so for some Cantonese style roasted goose and pork.
Finally during the waiting I ordered some fish balls from stall 72 (Seafood White Bee Hoon Kitchen).
All the food was very good. The oyster cakes were less juicy than expected, but still very nice. The roast meat was comparable to the best Cantonese roast in Hong Kong. The fish balls had a good amount of batter and were also nice.
The check
Most of the food was bought by a friend so I did not track all the costs. Obviously the big ticket item was the roast meat. The cakes and the fish balls were just a few Singaporean dollars. It was really affordable.
Sinapore continues to sport quality hawker food and a visit to a hawker center is highly recommended.
Where in Singapore: 1 Kadayanallur Street This review was very useful while looking for stalls. Also here you can find the description of several other stalls.
What to say about a pastry chef’s that has her own Wikipedia entry? Janice Wong made a splash in the culinary world with her artistic desserts and culinary happenings. She is a well-known professional in Asia and Singapore is her home. During my Singapore trip in July 2019, it was natural to pay a visit to her 2am: dessert bar in Holland Village.
The visit
The dessert bar was located on the second floor of a building at the end of a cul-de-sac.
I arrived shortly after their opening at 2pm (this is the opening time at Weekends; usually they open at 3pm and keep open till 2am as the name suggests). There was only a couple. I had a reservation made through their website but at that time it was not really necessary. At least on that day.
I was temped to order their dessert degustation, but I resisted and I settled for a single item.
It was their Chocolate H20, one of Janice’s classics. Her imprint was visible from the dish presentation, with splashes of color all around the plate. It was a technically-complex creation. This is how it is described on Janice’s website:
A signature of 2am:dessertbar, this dessert has stayed in the menu since its creation in 2009. Inspired by the beauty of dead corals at the San Sebastian coast, the dessert features an aerated frozen chocolate with water mousse sprayed in grey to give the look of dead corals. It is sat over a heap of chocolate soil. Over the year, this dessert had undergone several changes, and the current version is served with Kochi Yuzu Sorbet to give it a light and refreshing balance to the dessert.
I agree that it was a small masterpiece. But even more important, it was also delicious with all the flavors going along in a perfect way.
The check
I spent 25.89 SGP (18.50 USD) for a single dessert. Expensive certainly, but the price was commensurate with the excellent service and the location. I would certainly go back. She also has a store in Tokyo that I might well visit.
At City Link (an underground mall near City Hall) i captured this picture of a Janice Wong kiosk. There are a few in Singapore.
The paint jar set captured my attention. I think I am in love.
Corner House is a Michelin-starred restaurant located inside Singapore Botanic Garden. It is the apt location of a restaurant promoting a Gastro Botanica style of cuisine, an approach emphasizing refinement and quality, giving equivalent weight on the plate to protein and botanical elements. It is the creation of Chef Jason Tan inspired by curious travel, a French classic culinary ground and a devotion to provenance, terroir and seasonality.
The visit
The Corner House is a colonial style bungalow inside the Botanic Gardens. It is not in a corner… “Corner” was the surname of one of the early assistant director of the institution (1929-1945) and the bungalow is where he lived.
It was easy to book via Chope, but not so easy to reach. You have two options. The first is to get to the Botanic Garden metro station then to walk for around 900 meters. This is how I arrived. It was a pleasant walk (but not really passing next to any botanic landmark) and there were plenty of signs. The second option is to get a taxi Nassim Gate of the Gardens and then walk around 200 meters. That’s how I left and there was some waiting for a taxi to show up.
They only operate with set menus. I was there on a Sunday for brunch and they had the brunch menu available which was fine with me.
The bread was a croissant with five spices, raisins bread, unsalted butter and yuzu flavored butter (yuzu everywhere nowadays).
The first course was a set of appetizers. The spread included (from the left) honeydew (a tropical fruit) with watermelon radish, king fish tartare with seaweed (ichiki), foie gras with orange marmalade (with some tasted bread), mushroom tempura with Parmesan cheese emulsion for dipping (the dish on the back). All delicious, but not a lot of food.
The first main dish was an egg Benedict (one…) with burnt oranges, iberico ham, and topped with tobiko.
Then there was a piece of New Zealand blue cod with fried scale in a chili and butterscotch sauce, with some salmon roe.
Finally the desert was emulsion of durian enclosing coffee ice cream on a scone pastry. The ice cream flavor helped to tame the durian and was overall good.
From start to finish, the brunch took exactly 1 hour.
The check
Brunch and a bottle of water was 127.10 SGD (92 USD). It should be noted that the brunch menu is one of their most affordable menus (dinner set are much more expensive).
I had the impression that the brunch did not help them to display the gastro-botanic style in full. Certainly the dishes were impressively presented and all very good. However, I found the value proposition a bit defective.
One bonus: the restaurant is 200 meters from the famous Orchid Garden (entrance fee required, while the rest of the Gardens is free of charge) that is worth a visit.
Where in Singapore: 1 Cluny Road, E J H Corner House Singapore Botanic Gardens (Nassim Gate Entrance) Website: https://cornerhouse.com.sg.
Labyrinth is the brainchild of Chef-Owner LG Han and it encapsulates his roots and memories growing up in Singapore. It can be classified as an example of Mod-Sin cuisine, the Modern Singapore way to re-create traditional recipes. It has one Michelin star in the current edition of the Michelin Guide at the time of my visit (July 2019).
The visit
I booked with no issues through Chope for a lunch. The restaurant is located inside the Esplanade, Singapore’s main performing arts center. It is no accident that Labyrinth specifically offers a pre-theater menu.
The dining room is quite dark, I could not get a decent pictures. I opted for one of their lunch tasting menus that was perfect to get an introduction to the restaurant without losing my locomotive abilities for the rest of the afternoon.
I was immediately shown a tray with all the main ingredients and I was explained that they all come from farms in Singapore.
On the table there was a map of Singapore with details about the suppliers. I will be honest and naive, I did not expect so many farmers on such a small and heavily urbanized island.
The first dish consisted in three snacks: 1) an oolong tea quail clearly mimicking traditional century eggs; 2) a oyster “takoyaki” (battered), with sambal, egg floss, and containing a oyster from a farm in Pulau Ubin, 3) a mini waffle with local chicken liver pate & goji berry jam. All the snacks were very good, especially the takoyaki. They were supposed to be eaten in a certain order, but a made a mistake and the waiter seemed to be very upset about as I had broken a precious piece of porcelain.
Meantime I was offered an Indian-style bread with a chili dipping.
The next dish was silver perch fillet (from Nippon Koi farm) grilled with spices wrapped in banana leaves in Otah style (a type Singapore preparation usually reserved for mackerel). The fish was meant to be transferred in the aromatic soup. The two married very well together. But the soup as a stand alone was too sour for my palate.
Finally, there was space for some chicken from another local farm. It was accompanied by charred mee sua and chinese red lees sauce.
Time for a palate cleanser in the form of a “Clam leaf snow”, a shaved ice dessert inspired by the Singaporean favorite Ice Kachang with local herbs, peach gum & textures of grapes. More than your average palate cleanser.
The dessert was a reimagined Kaya Butter Toast with Kaya ice cream ]and topped by Cristal de Chine Caviar.
The very list bite was two petit four, one chocolate and one durian flavor (Durian was the big absent up to this point for a Singapore inspired menu).
111.80 SGP (81 USD) was the final check. More than ok for such a nice and interesting tasting menu.
I really liked the philosophy of the restaurant, its link to local farmers and its passion for reinventing traditional recipes. It was also easy to book, so I highly recommend it, especially for lunch. After lunch, you can catch one of the exhibits that are usually ongoing in the Esplanade spaces.
