[Singapore] 7 Best Stalls in Tiong Bahru Market

Hi Everyone! I know it's been too long since my last post. So glad that I finally could write again!

So you might know or might not know, earlier this year, I got an opportunity to work on an interior project in Singapore. It was such an exciting and valueable opportunity for me, to be able to experience living and working in another country. But now my project is done, and I'm back here at Jakarta. I would love to share about the project later here in this blog, but for now, I want to share about Singaporean food I miss the most.

During my 7 months working period, I work in an interior and graphic design company located at the most hipster area in Singapore, Tiong Bahru. I'm so lucky, right? It's one of the food heaven in Singapore. There are famous Cafes, Coffee Shops, and Dessert Places at every corner of the street. You can never get bored!  But nope, it's not the food in the cafe and dessert places that I miss the most now. I'm currently missing the hawker food from Tiong Bahru Market.

Tiong Bahru Market is one of the most famous Hawker Centre in Singapore. It has more than 80 stalls of  local and international food serving you everyday. It's where I went for lunch everyday during my stay in Singapore. And I must say, most of the food there are really good! I didn,t get the chance to try all 83 stalls there, but here are my favourite dishes so far (not in particular order).

TIONG BAHRU BAK CHOR MEE #02-77

Bak Chor Mee (pork noodle) might be a common dish that you can find in Singapore. But what made this one special is the MEATBALLS. Their meatball is not just any ordinary meatballs. Inside that plain-looking meatball are minced pork meat with super delicious pork broth that will burst in your mouth when you take a bite. Total Meatball-gasm! The noodle itself is not bad, but it's the meatballs that make me a regular customer of this stall.

TIONG BAHRU HAINANESE CURRY RICE #02-78

I love any kind of curry, and this one is no exception. The hainanese curry rice is something similar with mixed veg rice, but with curry sauce on top. You can choose your own toppings here. My favourite would be the pork chop, pork belly, and the green beans. The pork chop is very crunchy and tasty, and the fragrant curry sauce just compliments it best. Must try! And do anticipate for the long queue if you come at lunch hour.

YEAP SENG HANDMADE PAU TIM #02-71

I honestly never buy this myself, as the stall only open in the morning, and run out of everything by lunch hour. My colleague had always help me buy their dimsum for breakfast. They might not as famous as other hawker dimsum (like Tiong Bahru Pau or Hoo Kee Pau), but for me their dimsum is amazing! Even better than the dimsum chain you ate in the mall! Their prawn dumpling is definitely the best I've tried in my entire life, and I'm not being hyperbolic. And I love their charsiu pau too.

HONG HENG FRIED SOTONG PRAWN MEE #02-01

This one is my comfort food. It's called hokkien mee, and I think we dont have this kind of noodle in Jakarta. My first time trying this dish is right here at this store, and I fell in love immediately. The noodle is like a combination of fried noodle and soup noodle, topped with fishballs, prawns, and squids. It's soggy, but so fragrant and tasty. I love this noodle so much that the entire office knows that "Nat loves Hokkien Mee". My boss also said that I should learn how to make hokkien mee and open my own hokkien mee stall in Jakarta since  love it so much, lol. Hmm, should I? :p

BLANCO COURT FRIED FISH SOUP #02-61

Singaporeans have things with soup. At first I didn't understand the logic of having soup for lunch in such a hot day, and you are eating at the non-aircon hawker centre. But this fried fish soup got me hooked, and I don't mind eating this dish for my lunch, even thou I might be sweating like pig afterwards. It is basically fried fish fillet, fried eggs, and veggie inside light but rich fish soup. So good, but even better if you eat it in rainy days. Yum!

MIN NAN PORK RIBS PRAWN NOODLE #02-31

One of the most famous stall in the entire market, the line is always long! There's the soup noodle and dry noodle version, and I prefer the dry one. The noodle and the soup are so fragrant because of the combination of pork and prawn broth, and the topping is generous! Expect something like the picture above, two big chunks of pork ribs and two large prawns. Satisfaction guaranteed!

ALI CORNER #02-17

Last but not least, something that always reminded me of home. It's ayam penyet! Even thou the owner of this stall is Malaysian, but I must admit she cooks even better than some of the ayam penyet I tried in Indonesia. I especially love the sambal!

So yeah, that's the list of my favourite dishes in Tiong Bahru Market, Singapore. If you plan to come to Tiong Bahru Market, maybe you can try visiting this link http://tiongbahru.market/ beforehand. I find it very useful! Let me know what you think, and have a pleasant meal! 

TIONG BAHRU MARKET
30 Seng Poh Road
Singapore 168898

[Puncak] Cimory Riverside

 

Some weeks ago on the weekend when I visit Nicole's Kitchen and Lounge, I also got the chance to visit Cimory Riverside for the first time. Yeah I've never been to Puncak for that long that the last time I went to Puncak, there's still only one Cimory Restaurant.

Cimory Riverside is one of the must-visited restaurant when you're going to Puncak. It's located on the right side of the road if you're heading there from Jakarta. The place is a spacious semi outdoor restaurant divided into some different levels. Below the restaurant area is the Ciliwung river, which visitors could see closer and have a riverside walk when the skies are bright. Too bad it was raining hard when we arrived there that we could only see the river from up above.

From left to right: Strawberry Milk, Chocolate Milk, and Mocca Milk (IDR 7.500 each)

Well one does not simply went to Cimory and not buying their milk, so here are ours. My favorite would always be their plain and mocca milk. It's too bad they're only serving their milk in cold temperature, because I'd love to have a cup of warm milk in such a cold day.

Zuppa Soup (IDR 26.500)

Since we failed to get a glass of warm milk, we decided to order this warm soup instead. As expected of zuppa soup, it comes with crunchy layers of pastry and creamy warm soup. The soup also came with generous fillings.

Nachos

Nachos is our comfort food, we almost always order nachos wherever we go. Cimory Riverside's nachos comes with generous tomato salsa and mozzarella cheese toppings. Love the tomato salsa, it was sour yet refreshing.

Assorted Sausages (IDR 44.900)

Five mini sausages served with potato wedges, mini salad, and BBQ sauce. I read somewhere on the internet that one of the sausages was supposed to be a cheese sausages, but this portion has no cheese sausages. I don't know if the sausages is different in every plate or we just got the wrong sausages in our plate. Anyway the sausages tasted good, but I enjoyed the potato wedges more. It got the crispy outer skin and seasoned just right. Perfect combination with the BBQ sauce.

Cimory Riverside also got a chocolate shop called Chocomory. The place is cute, the chocolate here are freshly made from their own chocolate factory. A nice place to buy souvenirs for your loved ones :D

Cimory Riverside

Jl. Raya Puncak KM 77

Puncak-Bogor

Ph. (0251) 8257 888

[Singapore] Song Fa Bak Kut Teh

My encounter with Song Fa Bakut Teh wasn't planned at all. Actually, I've never had any interest towards Bakut Teh. Although I've never seen it before, I always thought that Bakut Teh is some kind of herbal soup that taste like some sort of medicine. Well Song Fa proved me that I was wrong, and I shouldn't be judging food foolishly just by it's name.

That day we were walking down the road looking for our hostel, when we passed by a crowded restaurant at the corner of the street. And yes, that was Song Fa. It was fully occupied and there were a bunch of hungry customers lining up even though it wasn't a proper meal time. Drawn by curiosity, we were up early the next day to give it a try.

Song Fa at 8 AM in the morning was a lot different than the day before. The place was not overcrowded, there's only a plenty customers enjoying their breakfast calmly and having friendly conversations. I'm glad we came early.

The menu were quite various, but most of them are organs. Since I'm not eating organs, I ordered the safest yet the best seller menu, the Pork Ribs Soup (Regular size, S$ 8) and also a plate of Xiao Ba Cai in Oyster Sauce (S$ 3.5) and rice. The soup was far from what I thought as herbal and medicinal, it was rich and garlicky and peppery and so heavenly, while the pork ribs was tender and seasoned well. And the best part is, the soup is refillable! The Xiao Ba Cai was another great dish to accompany the soup. The vegetable was fresh and it has strong flavor of oyster sauce.

Later I found out that Song Fa is one of the most popular Bakut Teh place in Singapore. It's been around for more than thirty years, and people still keep coming. Well that explains. If only I had another day in Singapore, I wouldn't think twice to get my breakfast there.

Song Fa Bakut Teh
11 New Bridge Road #01-01
Singapore 059383
Bussiness Hours : 
07.00 AM - 9.30 PM
(Closed on Monday)
Ph. +65 65336128

Also Available at:
UE BizHub East
6 Changi Bussiness Park
Ave 1 #01-38 S486017
Ph. +65 66948098


By the way while we're on this area, the hostel I stayed near Song Fa is called Bunc@Radius at Clarke Quay. For the price of S$ 35 a night, you'll get a clean shared room and bathrooms and they're air conditioned well. The service was also flawless, breakfast is provided, and there are free water, milk, and oranges all day. And it's less than 5 minutes walk to Song Fa. That could be a great choice if you're traveling to Singapore on budget. It was my first hostel experience, and I am really a satisfied customer.