My Favorite List (food in Singapore) - Part I

Food is definitely an important feature of Singapore. We are all very spoiled with endless choices ranging from cheap hawker fares to expensive fine dining restaurants and from local cuisine all the way to exotic food like Mexican and Spanish.  Throw in the stressful & hectic lifestyle (hustle & bustle of city living, you know?).  Of course, eating out is so common here (I admit I'm generalizing and talking about majority). We love food. But we all have our favorites right? So here is mine:

Buffet

1) Jing Restaurant

Address: #01-02/03, 1 Fullerton Road, Singapore 049213

Nearest MRT: Raffles Place (on the red line & green line)

Price: SGD 48 ++ per adult

Remark: Only available on weekend & public holidays, from 12:00 to 14:30

Why I love it: Whenever we go for buffet, we always always end up eating more than we should, just to make our money worthwhile.  But in the long run, its just bad for us, our waistline will hate us!  I have learnt it the hard way that we should value quality over quantity and this is the place to be if you love Asian food AND buffet. It's slightly on the pricey side BUT Peking Duck, Chilli Crab & Fragrance Rice with Shark Fin will make it worth your money.

http://jing.sg/downloads/JING_WeekendAlaCarteBrunchBuffet.pdf

2) The Line Restaurant @ Shangri-La

Address: 22 Orange Grove Road, Singapore 258350

Nearest MRT: Orchard (on the red line)

Price: Start from SGD 53 ++ per adult

Remark: Lunch and dinner menus (and prices) are different based on the day of the week. Check the link below for more information.

Why I love it: They have such a wide variety of food!  So if you prefer International buffet over just Asian cuisine, this is for you. And you can be assured of the quality of food too. Just remember the golden rule - eat the expensive things (i.e. Sashimi) first!

https://www.shangri-la.com/singapore/shangrila/dining/restaurants/the-line/book-a-table/

Fast Food

1) NeNe Chicken

Address: *Scape, #02-39, 2 Orchard Link, Singapore 237978

Nearest MRT: Somerset (on the red line)

Price: SGD 7.90 and above per set meal

Remark: Other branches are at Star Vista & Bedok Mall

Why I love it: The set includes 2 pcs chicken, fries, soft drink & white radish kimchi.  OMG the fries are amazing! They are crispy, flavorful & taste like wedges.  Swicy Sauce (sweet & spicy) just added a unique touch to the fried chicken.  Despite covered in this swicy sauce, chicken skin remains crispy.  The sauce makes all the difference compared to other chicken.  After eating all these fried stuff, radish kimchi adds a refreshing touch. Its crunchy with a bit of sweet and sour taste. Do give it a try!

Yoo Jae Suk 유재석 of Running Man is the spokesperson for NeNe chicken.

Nature

1) Rider's Cafe

Address: Bukit Timah Saddle Club, 51 Fairways Drive, Singapore 286965

Nearest MRT: None (Driving or taking a cab would be best choice - or the only choice?)

Price: SGD 30 ++

Why I love it:  They may not have the best food, they may not have the best drinks. They may not even have the best service. But this place isn’t about any of these things. This place is about 2 things: peace and tranquility. If you’re looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of our everyday city life, come dine on a ranch with horses grazing on fields and where everything gives off a ‘countryside’ and relaxing feel to it.

Rider’s Cafe is all about nature. Its all about creating that countryside, chillax and nature environment for all of us who’s caught up in tall buildings and a sea of concrete in Singapore. How nice would it be to enjoy an early brunch with open fields and grazing horses in the backdrop? Thats exactly why this is one of the most popular places for brunch in the country.

Peace and tranquility. We all need a dose of that in this city and you’re only gonna find it here.

Chillax Place to read and work

1) The Reading Room

Address: 19 Bukit Pasoh Road, Singapore 089833

Nearest MRT: Outram Park (on the green line & purple line)

Price: SGD 10 ++

Remark: This quaint cozy cafe will change into a bar around 6 pm so make sure to wrap up your book or work by then.

Why I love it: This place is just an awesome place to chill. Comfy sofa seats, nice drinks and free books for rental, its basically a home-style library that serves up great coffee and decent cakes in a really cosy environment. I could basically spend all day here and just immerse myself in the wide selection of free rental books and the comfortable environment and just lose myself in a story.

Coffee served during the day is pretty good and reasonably priced. Coffee beans used are from Illy so you know the quality is there. They don’t have a very wide selection of drinks however and their fruit smoothies aren’t that great in my opinion. Cakes are decent but not top notch quality for that price tag.

Having said that, this place is really more for the ambience. Limited seating also ensures that the cafe stays quiet and patrons can enjoy themselves in this environment. Highly recommended if you want to have a quiet weekend by yourself or a close friend/loved one.

Located conveniently near Outram Park MRT, this establishment functions as a library style cafe by day and a bar by night. I have yet to check out the bar at night but it must be pretty cool to have drinks in a dark library setting!

Thai

1) Bangkok Jam

Address: #03-85, Plaza Singapura (New Wing), Singapore 238839

Nearest MRT: Dhoby Ghaut (on the red line & purple line & circle line)

Price: around SGD 20 ++ per pax

Remark: Other outlets are at Great World City, Wheelock Place, JEM & Marina Square

Why I love it: I love Thai food but I avoid going to chain restaurants like Thai Express or Bali Thai as I feel that the quality and authenticity of food is not worth the price. When I spotted this new restaurant last year, I decided to give it a try and boy, I was glad I did! Fried chicken wings with fish sauce marinade is a must-try. Unlike fried chicken at fast food chains, this is just meat and no fats. Its just spicy enough to bring out the flavors. Another favorite is Tom Yum seafood.  It is spicy and yummy but the portion is quite small - just enough for two to share.  While the food taste great and quite affordable, the waiting time may be long during peak meal times.

http://www.bangkokjam.com.sg/content/BKJ_Menu_Singapore.pdf

2) Diandin Leluk

Address: Golden Mile Complex, #01-67/68/69, 5001 Beach Road, Singapore 199588

Nearest MRT: Lavender (on the green line) and Bugis (on the green line)

Price: around SGD 20 per pax

Remark: Opens 24 hours!

Why I love it: Wow where do I start? Great food, efficient service, modest prices and no 10% service charge! We ordered papaya salad (duh!), seafood tomyam soup, fried pork, beef ball noodle soup, rice with fried chicken basil, a glass of iced lemon tea, a glass of iced coffee, sticky rice with durian and the total bill was less than 50 bucks! While rice with fried chicken basil was nothing special, the rest were great! Tomyum soup had so much seafood.  Soup base of beef ball noodle was really flavorful. And we both love fried pork.  Remember to eat them as soon as you can. Otherwise, it can become hard to chew after awhile. Due to its location at Golden Mile Complex, if you are taking a coach to Malaysia, that's the best place to enjoy your meal before your road trip!

Dim Sum

1) Peach Garden

Address: Thomson Plaza #01-88, 301 Upper Thomson Road, Singapore 574408

Nearest MRT: Marymount (on the yellow circle line)

Price: around SGD 30 per pax

Remark: Other branches are at Chinatown Point, Hotel Miramar, OCBC Centre, Orchid Country Club and The Metropolis

Why I love it: It's a great dim sum place near my office! haha they have a large variety of dim sum choices and the service staff was really attentive. Even during lunch time, we were served pretty fast.  Dessert was served in a coconut bowl and it was really one of the better one I have had at a Chinese restaurant. 

Korean

1) Kim Dae Mun 

Address: Concorde Hotel Food Court, Basement 1, 100 Orchard Road, Singapore 238840

Nearest MRT: Somerset (on the red line)

Price: around SGD 8 per pax

Why I love it: 2 words - POTATO PANCAKE! 

JapChae (fried glass noodle) was so-so, not too bad but not too good either.

The Amazing Potato Pancake 

Not as spicy as I would like it to be but considering the price I paid, I won't complain.

2) 2D1N Soju Bang

Address: #01-01, 44/46 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088465

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (on the green line)

Price: around SGD 25 per pax

Remark: Level 2 is for BBQ Buffet & Level 1 is for A-La-Carte

Why I love it: 2D1N serves the BEST Kimchi Pancake I have had in Singapore. 2D1N pancake does not have a lot of flour like several other eateries do.  It is crispy and definitely taste of kimchi.  At certain places, I could taste only flour and felt like eating plain pancake with occasional kimchi pieces. 

3) Wang Daebak

Address: 98 Amoy Road, Singapore 069918

Nearest MRT: Telok Ayer (on the blue downtown line)

Price: around SGD 25 per pax

Why I love it: While the menu is quite limited, they serve pretty decent charcoal-grilled BBQ. All the meat for BBQ is served with rice cake and enoki mushroom. My favorite though is the charcoal-grilled egg, cooked next to the meat! Such a hotplate BBQ style reminded me of our favorite BBQ in Sinchon (Seoul).  There is free re-fill of this egg dish and you must try it! Since their seats are hollow inside, you can even put your bags inside to keep them from smelling of BBQ (:

Quite a nice surprise to find that they also sell our favorite Korean Melona ice-cream! 

4) Todamgol

Address: 31 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088454

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar (on the green line)

Price: around SGD 25 per pax

Why I love it: They have the best decoration among all the Korean restaurants in Singapore!  And it's really spacious!  We were given a table in a private room. Since there were 2 tables in the room, they even brought it a fold-able partition, without us having to request for it! Great service huh? Their mains like army stew are on the pricey side (SGD 25 - 35)but the portions are huge. Its meant to be shared with 3-4 people, so I guess its okay. They are famous for their huge selection of rice wine and soju.  But what really attracted me was their rice balls! I have been craving for them since I came back from exchange and this is the first time I found rice balls in Singapore. They are seriously yummy.  Another thing I wanted to try was their lunch set for 22 ++ SGD, which includes a whooping 26 dishes! Super value-for-money! Too bad its only available on weekdays. I will definitely give a try when I am on leave :D

5) Han Geun Doo Geun

Address: Chinatown Point, #02-35, 133 New Bridge Road, Singapore 059413

Nearest MRT: Chinatown (on the purple line & blue downtown line)

Price: around SGD 20 per pax

Remark: They serve both BBQ buffet (SGD 34.90 ++ per adult) & A-La-Carte dishes

Why I love it: Phew what a hard-to-remember name! Due to my love of JapChae and lack of restaurant serving a decent version of this noodle dish in Singapore, I decided to try this relatively new place (opened last year) when Mister told me that their JapChae was pretty good. All their side dishes are self-service. Sadly for me, they didn't serve JapChae side dish on the day that we went! grhhhh 

 Mister ordered Ginseng Chicken Soup. Of course, its understandable that we cannot compare it to Seoul's famous Tosokchon's version. But Mister said its one of the best he has had in Singapore. Chicken meat was tender and well-cooked while the soup base was fragrant. While it could do with more ginseng, we understand it's expensive.  

 My god, I had missed this since our Jeju road trip! Bibim Guksu 비빔국수 is a cold & spicy wheat noodle dish from Jeju.  A strong spicy flavor with a slight touch of sesame oil easily made it one of my favorite Korean dishes.  Well, the spiciness was toned down here but it was still great! Plus, Han Geun Doo Geun was the only place which served this dish (as far as I know) so I will be definitely going back there for some cold spicy noodle goodness!

Jeju's Version

Jeju's Version

6) Big MaMa

Address: 2 Kim Tian Road, Singapore 169244

Nearest MRT: Tiong Bahru (on the green line)

Price: around SGD 20 per pax

Remark: Due to the limited space, if you are going there on a weekend with more than 4 people, make a reservation first.

Why I love it: They serve THE BEST LOTUS ROOTS side dish! I'm serious.  I avoid lotus roots like mad in Chinese soups as they taste bland.  In my mind, that dish is solely for Chinese grandparents.  BUT Big MaMa changed my opinion of lotus roots. They are chewy and flavorful.  All our friends agreed its one of the best Korean side dish they have had.  We kept asking for so many refills (*embarrassed now*) haha Although Big MaMa is famous for Dakgalbi (pan-fried seasoned chicken with vegetables), we preferred pan-fried pork belly over Dakgalbi.  Both seafood pancake and kimchi pancake had too much flour.  The saving grace was Suyuk (steamed pork belly slices). "Big MaMa's Suyuk is less oily with unnecessary fats being removed during cooking." Some would find it ironic - why would we eat pork belly without juicy fats right? But its great for the fat-averse person like me.  Although its just boiled, it didn't taste bland.  There were 3 ways to eat it - with pink radish, with cucumber slices dipped in either black bean sauce or spicy sauce, and with seasoned beansprouts. My favorite of course is with refreshing radish slices.

Top right dish is the famous LOTUS ROOTS

pan-fried pork belly

Suyuk 

I know there are many recommendations for Korean restaurants and yet, I only like just 1 or 2 things from each place.  Well, blame it on my 5 months exchange program at the Korea University. I now have quite a high level of expectation on how Korean food should taste like. I have yet to find a single Korean restaurant which serve all dishes with the same high level of authenticity and taste in Singapore.  Do let me know if you know such places! Kamsahamnida ^-^

Part II coming up soon with my favorite places for brunch, lunch, tea, dinner and so on. Stay tuned!

http://musingsofmissn.blogspot.com/2015/03/my-favorite-list-food-in-singapore-part.html

Adios!

xoxo

Miss N