As I was strolling along the huge Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur, the sign from a brightly lit eatery caught my attention. It screamed, “Best teh tarik in the world!” (or something to that effect). The place is Steven’s Tea Garden, a mamak restaurant chain. As a teh tarik...
Have you noticed that in recent years, people have taken quite a liking to handmade pau (Chinese buns)? Very often I would see long queues forming at hawker stalls selling such handmade pau and eager customers buying them by the dozen. There’s good reason for such brisk business. A pau...
Lately I’ve been discovering a number of gems at Alexandra Village Food Centre. I used to go there only for the awesome grilled stingray. But with new finds like claypot laksa and teochew snacks, there are actually many more reasons to make a trip there. Even more recently, I stumbled...
In the mood for Teochew kueh (Chinese pastry)? Get it all at Kuehs and Snacks, a bakery shop along Bukit Merah Lane near the Alexandra Village food centre. While its English name is descriptive enough, I personally prefer the shop’s endearing Chinese name, which translates to “Aunts’ and Grannies’ Teochew...
Recently, I had the best laksa of my life at Depot Road Zhen Shan Mei, situated at Alexandra Village Food Centre. I swear this is not one of those one-liners written simply to grab everyone’s attention; I honestly think it’s that good! Most of the time the laksa you buy...
Chee cheong fun (steamed rice rolls) is a popular breakfast item in Singapore and Malaysia. This humble dish is made by steaming a mixture of rice flour and water, and turning the resultant rice sheets into rolls. While it may be one of the simplest food items you can find,...
My love for the endearing king penguins drove me to visit the Singapore Jurong Bird Park again, almost exactly a year from the first time I met these adorable arctic birds. (I missed them so much!) this time round, I said hi not only to them, but their newborn chicks...
Pret a Manger is a chain of trendy sandwich bars from Britain that make fresh sandwiches in-house daily. The name is in French, which means “ready to eat”. Some time last year, pret opened its first outlet in Singapore. Strategically based along Robinson Road, Pret is a hot spot for...
Ever since the outlets started popping up all over the island, I find myself visiting Toast Box a lot. This is the sister chain of our favourite bakery, BreadTalk, whose best-selling bread is the pork floss bun. So it is no surprise that Toast Box offers a similar rendition. Pork...
Despite its humble location at a quiet neighbourhood, Zi Yean Restaurant certainly does not have humble beginnings. It is run by Hong Kong-born chef Fok Wing Tin who made his name in the 1990s at Empress Room in Raffles Hotel and later Xin Cuisine Chinese restaurant at the Holiday Inn...
