hill street coffee shop, chinatown point

back-to-basics eggs and toast at this small cafe at the basement of chinatown point. it gets surprisingly crowded, considering its rather obscure location and rather basic decor – but there’s nothing like a traditional breakfast.

it’s a deceptively simple meal hinged at two points: the soft, oozy, just-nice doneness of your bouncy, still-slightly-translucent eggs, and the traditionally-styled crustless bread (none of that new-fangled gardenia or sunshine, thank you very much) that’s crisp but not biscuit-like. this place does it decently – my eggs were jiggly, and the two peanut butter sandwiches were crusty without being crumbling (and the PB was generous, too).

we’re losing our traditional kopitiams and breakfast places, and in their place, new, sanitised (some may say clinical) places like this are popping up – and I’m not complaining. eat your two eggs and toast – and go with the tide.

Hill Street Coffee Shop
#B1-52 Chinatown Point
133 New Bridge Road
Singapore 059413
tel +65 6702 0192
$: 4-6 a person

p.s. hope you’re easing all good into the work day after all that new year feasting!

hawker food, or national day 2014

happy 49th, singapore! you know they* say only bananas don’t improve with age – and really, you’re doing great.

(*they, a usefully anonymous group of people you may rely on for validation)

I may complain about this infernal heat, and I may not partake much in hawker culture – the first makes me incredibly, authentically singaporean, and the latter negates that same –

but I love you. your passport is gold, opportunities abound, and food is hearty and in good supply.

here’s to many good years ahead!

xx

p.s. photos taken at the rather institutional changi village food market, which can almost singlehandedly uphold that widely-acknowledged wisdom that the east is where the food’s at.

p.p.s from top to bottom, barbecued satay and chicken wings, tauhu goreng (peanut sauce over fried tofu cubes, and now one of my favorite local things), nasi lemak (coconut rice with sides), chicken noodles, beef balls, and an oyster omelet.

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.

yan palace restaurant, chinatown

such a gruesome shot, and yet, so delicious. just had to put it out there.

really, really surprisingly good chinese food at this dodgy-looking, super old-school restaurant in chinatown. the place definitely seems to have had better days – the exterior is just as worn and outdated as the interior, the servers are cantankerous and grouchy, but the food – the food is good.

and – I meant surprising in the sense that I didn’t actually expect the food to be good, with expectations further tempered when I saw the restaurant, and it all turned out to be decent – with some dishes actually much better than average (objectively, all other things aside).

song fa bak kut teh, clarke quay

another conquest on my pig trotter (holy + oily = hoily?) grail across singapore, this place is touristy, kitschy, crowded, and does a decent pig trotter. it’s better than ng ah sio, probably on the same level as founder’s, and loses to the still-best eng kee (which I’ve yet to photograph) in ang mo kio.

peppery soup, tender braised trotters, moderately pissed-off service.

mouth restaurant, chinatown

a much-lauded chinese restaurant especially known for their molten salted yolk pineapple buns (or liu sha bao, in short), this place is crowded to the rafters on a sunday afternoon – probably at least in part due to the at least average dimsum and pretty decent cooking.

violet oon’s kitchen, bukit timah

peranakan done up all fancy-like. it’s good food here, if you’re hankering for something a little out of the brunchordinary: local classics dished up pretty, as well as nonya interpretations of brunch classics.

I heard quite a lot about the food here before coming, and it’s gratifying that the food didn’t disappoint. especially since it’s rather a bit of pain getting here by public transport (try to cab or drive if you can).

indochilli restaurant, zion road

rather impressive indonesian food, and surprisingly cheap for being in this part of close-to-town. I’m no purist, if you haven’t figured, nor a connoisseur of indonesian food – so I treat it much the way I do thai: I like it spicy and tasty.

ng ah sio bak kut teh, rangoon road

you often find this place listed with the founder bak kut teh on a compendium of bak kut teh restaurants in singapore.

bak kut teh is a traditional dish of pork rib soup either cooked up with lots of pepper or herbs, and these two places do the peppery style. but at both, my point in visiting is the darkly-braised pork trotter – and straight up, founder wins that battle.

imperial treasure shanghai cuisine, orchard

great food, great ambience, great new restaurant from one of my two favorite restaurant groups in singapore (paradise group being the other).

this is a new one, like I’ve said – focusing on shanghai food, duh – and I do rather like how they have these themes/ genres/ regions associated with each one of their restaurants. it makes for such varied eating, especially since many chinese restaurants are mostly a variant on cantonese (nothing wrong in itself, but variety is lovely).

shanghainese food is a little stronger in flavor, sauces are darker, dishes are saltier, garlic makes a significant appearance, and it’s all good.