sprigs, purvis street

very, very good food at this small, modern restaurant in bugis – very earnest, and it succeeds both in service and space and food. it’s still relatively uncrowded, which is surprising for its quality, but unsurprising for its relative tucked-awayness. add the fact that prices are more than reasonable – especially with a set offered at dinner time – really, I’m not sure I could like it more.

it’s a little like that comforting corner diner we all want – except that it’s quite a bit away from my actual ‘hood.

and, I’m back!

da shi xi, kallang

supposedly famed cze char restaurant, with its very own celebrity chef, but with rather just-passable food in sims way. I went expecting a corner-of-the-coffeeshop type of cze char store, but it was instead an open-air casual family-style eatery with a small number of tables.

there must be something compelling about this place for some people – perhaps the chef (since I can’t see that it would necessarily be the food) – for they were entertaining a large group of important guests (not to me, but certainly to the restaurant) that rendered the necessity of bringing the dude out the kitchen. I wasn’t likewise impressed though – I could give them the benefit of the doubt: that they had put in so much effort on that table there was none left – but that’s pretty egregious in itself.

safer, and perhaps more tactful, to speculate that the cooking here is pretty average-going – and based on this meal, certainly not good enough to venture a revisit.

isteaks grillhouse, serangoon gardens

surprisingly delicious steak, and well-cooked at that, at this rather casual steakery in myvillage at serangoon gardens. it’s a rather cleaned-up, modernified take on what was previously a coffeeshop western stall (a rather local phenomenon of asian-interpreted fried western foods dished up good and cheap), with service courtesy of rather-friendly aunties and good food couresty of great ingredients and some impressive-cooking.

it’s not nearly in the same league as the rather more renowned, poshy steakhouses – but it does pretty well in its class, rather much more impressive than aston’s, to my thinking.

morganfield’s, buona vista

decent american food in the huge rock that is the star vista mall. if you’re looking for a place this weekend to meet up with the large family and consume a large amount of food, this could very well be it. reasonably priced, large portions and decent cooking, this made for an enjoyable mother’s day dinner – I know, I know, it’s the end of the month now – and its way on our list of family-congregation-venues.

big eater restaurant, changi

fantastic seafood and zi char at this casual chinese restaurant nearish the singapore expo – really, it’s rather out of the way (for us), but it’s now become my family’s go-to place for crabs and the like, and well-worth travelling to. the place has been packed to the rafters even by early evening (we popped here on two consecutive sundays because it was so good) – but the prices are reasonable, the food is absolutely commendably executed, and service is both sincere and quick.

if you’re not from around here – then zi char refers to a rather casual style of dining-out, where you get local home-style chinese cooking spanning nearly anything you could want – meat, seafood and veg – with some stalls so expert as to provide restaurant-quality cooking at more accessible prices.