decent place to rest in the hipster part of chinatown. I’m no coffee drinker, much less a connoisseur – so the judgment I pass on this place is it’s a good spot of air-conditioning on a sweltering afternoon.
I got a hazelnut latte, settled down to the appetite magazines (gotta love their photos) strewn on the table, and let the afternoon melt away.
I hope you’re having a fine one this blistering weekend!
x
just-about-okay pizza at united square – I had high hopes for this place after reading quite a few rave reviews, but it was probably just a tad better than average. I was lured by the promises of tasty ingredients propped atop a well-cooked crust (which led me think this might actually be a convenient alternative to my current-favourite, mozza) and came here with the family – which took a fair bit of manipulative coercing – with our expectations further soaring with the queue and long wait for a table.
but it was a tepid, anticlimatic sort of meal – the pizzas were acceptable, the portions reasonable; but there was a little sticker shock when our order was rung up, and the wait rather too long to encourage repeat visits.
decent european-american-westernish food in the hipster part of chinatown. I say western in the colloquial way it’s used in singapore to refer to any sort of food belonging to those regions – fusion just doesn’t nearly have the same ring – the menu is rather typical of a modern bistro. I was drawn to this restaurant by their rather lovely graphic logo – and the way the place was done up, all retroesque (obviously) and bistro-like.
it’s pretty decent food, and I’ll give it a lukewarm recommendation if you’re in the area – but given the other offerings there, and the fact that chinatown is a veritable treasure box of food findings, I don’t think I’ll return anytime soon.
great grill-and-salad in biopolis – at the nanos building, which really is respite from what has been a long drought of appetizing food options in the area. the denotation of salad café raises connotations of maniacally sparse eating – but I think it’s more accurate to say that this place does a mean grill, and serves up a great selection of salads on the side (or beneath, to be completely pedantic).
we were spoiled for choice by the many options – and then bowled over by the quality of the food, before leaving literally bursting at the bits. the portion sizes are large, the prices reasonable for what is really good cooking – which showcases the quality of produce used here – and that makes for good eating well worth visiting, especially in a gastronomically-barren area such as this one.
it’s a smallish cafe at the corner of the building, which initially raised apprehensions about the food – surely we are all too familiar with that breed of convenient-but-really-mediocre-cafe that somehow proliferate near workplaces. this place differs from that pre-prepared-cold-cuts sort of place though – the open kitchen shows you the chefs cooking up the meats from fresh, and the salad options are still crisp (I have a fear of wilted and browned salad leaves from being left out too long).
great fusion at the arcade of the hotel grand park city hall – one of the best meals I’ve had since coming back to singapore, both in terms of taste and innovation. it makes me very nostalgic for london, where there were great restaurants like this one popping up everywhere, and flavours were new and exciting. it’s meant to be new-york-inspired, but I think the casual-chill (and hipster in very much the right way) vibe is one that applies to most excitingly vibrant cities, and very welcome in the singapore foodscape. the food comes in tapas-like portions, which means your bill potentially runs high, but most of the flavours are bright and clean, and it makes for a great night out.
I was really hoping that this meal would shine – it is celebration weekend for my partner and I – and it didn’t disappoint. service was cheery and friendly, and this place has so much design quality – I said above that it was hipster in the right way, and you see it in their details: the wooden coasters, the grass in the al fresco area, the fancy-and-dim lighting, and the furniture. I’m a sucker for good design.
but let’s talk food – we started with a marinated hamachi and caviar, which was slices of raw fish in a rather japanese-chinese style dressing. this was unusual – it was reminiscent of fish I would marinate for cooking, without the cooking bit, and the dressing was tasty, but overwhelmed the caviar. the soy yuzu beef that came later was brilliant though – thin slices of ribeye in a tangy dressing alongside a nicely-bitter salad, this was tender and beefy in the best way.
not-so-great over-hyped hipster brunch-type place in tiong bahru. I’m late to this place – which many bloggers have already hyped about – on purpose, primarily because I don’t care for queues and hype, and only came to this place while visiting some friends. it’s not crazy expensive in itself, and the food wasn’t bad, but it certainly isn’t cheap enough to return on that account – nor is the food great enough to return for (though apparently the coffee was pretty good).
not a food post today so much as a conglomeration of photos I couldn’t not take while having a stroll through the majestic hotel. I’ve wanted to visit their namesake chinese restaurant for quite a long time, but an unfortunate combination of inconvenient location and mixed reviews means that I haven’t done it as yet – especially since every time I want dimsum, I essentially mean that I want a salted yolk custard bun. which means I want a damn good one – which brings me to taste paradise.
really a sort of fortunate-but-unfortunate-for-the-majestic cycle.
the lobby of this boutique hotel is filled with a mixture of artsy, new-retro hipster items like coffee books, childhood memorabilia (at a price that seems determined by emotional/nostalgic inflation rather than the national measure), and vintage ware. it makes for one cool display, and rather nice photos.
I foresee that there will come one day when I shall bemoan the demise of all these items, even in hipster shops, and then I guess this post and all the others I have written in opposition to the prevailing singapore-hipsterness will come and bite me on my behind.
decent but hugely expensive – and pretty much unworth – brunch near china square. this is such a hipster place – its speakeasy decor, the too-cool-for-school waiters, the overtly-designed menu and high prices; all elements pretty common in the new cafes opened in singapore that all think they have that cool underground feel by popping up in our old districts. to cut it down: the food is pretty, the locations are pretty, the taste is alright, but all these sure don’t warrant the prices at this place.
andmorefood 