Hipster Singaporean food at Sinpopo Brand - Katong / Joo Chiat.

With dozens of restaurants and cafés popping up around Singapore seemingly almost daily, eateries can sometimes tend to feel a little generic - after all, a burger joint is a burger joint is a burger joint, no? It takes quite a bit of differentiation and something special to get stand out of the crowd - which is what Sinpopo Brand is trying to do with its hipster, retro take on Singapore-Malaysian food favorites!


There's a bunch of interesting-sounding drinks - for example, Fake Bird's Nest and Longan Slushie - which we skip in favor of a childhood favorite a little closer to our hearts - the Sng Muay Pop ($5). It's essentially kat chai suen mui Mark-II: lime, bits of sour plum frozen in sour ice balls, plopped into sweetened soda water, and is actually pretty damn good.


The Crab Wantons ($8) were a decent, if less than epiphanic starter. The the house dip was flavourful, and the wantons were nice and crispy, but were just missing a little depth of flavour.


For our main course we went with the house special - Nasi Lemak for Two ($25), with free flow sambal (and presumably rice). The rice itself was a little mushy and underwhelming, which disappointed a little; The accompaniments ranged from utterly delicious (har cheong kai wings), so-so-lah (luncheon meat crisps, sambal fishballs, potatoes in curry) to "meh" (rojak slaw). Overall the set was pretty nice, but we weren't so sure if it's something we'd crave for in the future.


With advancement in age comes a reduction in stomach capacity and a shrinking sweet tooth; so we only tried one dessert - the Gula Melaka Cake ($7). The cake has really simple execution - it's just a sponge cake with a layer of gula melaka glazing, but the balance of flavours and textures is sublime. Definitely a nice, sweet and satisfying end to the meal.


At just over $25 a person, we thought that the food was pretty reasonably priced (this is a restaurant/cafe after all). Food wasn't perfect, but it was good enough at the price point that we'll certainly come back to try some of the other items on the menu - the Sliced Wagyu Horfun sounds particularly interesting!

Sinpopo Brand is at 458 Joo Chiat Rd, S 427671; reservations not accepted. Non-halal.

Kuching Waterfront Food Guide Malaysia!

Kuching, the capital city of the state of Sarawak in Malaysia isn't perhaps on the top of the list on most peoples' tourist destination lists. There are some attractions, though, so you might perhaps be here to visit the Sarawak Cultural Village. Or maybe you're just in town for some other reason - maybe your cousin is getting married, for instance, which happens to be the reason the both of us were here for the weekend!


As we mentioned in a previous post, we stayed at The Ranee Boutique Suites on the Kuching Waterfront. So naturally we walked around the area trying as much food as our stomachs could handle. We ended up only trying three main areas (in the map above), which we'll cover below. So let's get started!

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1. Carpenter Street Food Court (Lao Ya Keng - 老爺間)

Really easy to find - just walk down Carpenter Street until you see a food court opposite a Chinese Temple.


Fish Ball Glass Noodles. Decent springy fishballs, although the portion is a little small. We also thought that the soup was a little too lightly flavoured for our tastes. 2 stars.

Kolok Mee. Outside of Sarawak, you might see these noodles spelt (and pronounced) as "Kolo Mee." But in our observations over three days in the city, it really does seem to be more accurately "Kolok Mee." This bowl was pretty delicious, actually, and fairly generous on the portions. Check out the fats on that slice of pork belly! 4 stars.

Sarawak Laksa. The other famous noodle is Sarawak Laksa. The bowl here is quite nice, with generous portions of chopped chicken (rather than shredded chicken meat). 3½ stars.

Pork Satay. This food court is quite known for its' pork satay but we found it mediocre at best. The meat used is almost all lean so there is none of the fatty, porky, charred goodness. Note also that the satay auntie only starts selling at around 1pm. 2½ stars.

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2. Electra Food Court (also Old Market Kuching).

If you're having trouble finding the exact location, 'Jalan Power' or 'Electra House' in your GPS should bring you close enough (The food court is directly opposite Electra House on Jalan Power).


Ais Kacang. Par for the course. Not particularly worth coming here for, but you wouldn't be disappointed if ordering as a thirst quencher on a hot day. 3 stars.

Ah Mui Beef Noodles (Mee Sapi), stall 32 - Our favorite bowl of noodles for the day by far. Delicious, al dente Kolok Mee with beef brisket, meat and tripe. 4½ stars.

Kolok Mee and Sarawak Laksa, stall 39. This particular stall serves up a lot of different kinds of noodles, and the lack of specialization shows - neither of the bowls we tried were particularly good. 2½ stars.

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3. Bing! Coffee

The Kuching equivalent of Starbucks or Coffee Bean. We tried the Hills Shopping Mall outlet.


Latte, Mocha and Caramel hot drinks are decent at best. We're not big fans of chain-store coffee, we find that the outlets typically overcompensate for poor coffee by overloading on sugar and other flavors. 2½ stars.

Chocolate Truffle Cake and Brownie. The truffle cake was pretty nice, actually. The brownie was disappointing though; came totally drenched in a chocolate gravy that made it taste like a chocolate fudge cake rather than a brownie. 3½ stars (chocolate truffle cake), 2½ stars (chocolate fudge cake Chocolate Brownie).

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So that concludes our one single day of eating ourselves around the Kuching Waterfront! If you're in the area, hopefully this gives you an idea of what's good, and what's not worth wasting your calorie quota on! Let us know in the comments if you agree (or disagree) with our ratings of each item, or if you've got any other recommendations!

Hotel Review: The Ranee Boutique Suites, Kuching.

Greetings from Kuching, over on the Island of Borneo! We were here over the long weekend to celebrate a cousin's wedding, and were advised enthusiastically that The Ranee Boutique Suites was the "best hotel in town." So naturally we had no choice but to book a room!


The Ranee certainly lives up to the 'boutique' portion of its name - the entire hotel is renovated off a couple of shophouses and has just 24 rooms. We use the word 'rooms' intentionally, because these really are just regular hotel rooms despite the hotel's self-declared "suite" naming convention. It's got a terrific location right smack on one end of the Kuching Waterfront, right around the corner of a shopping mall (Plaza Merdeka) and within easy walking distance of a myriad of food, handicraft and other miscellaneous knick-knack shopping options.


Check-in and check-out times are 2pm and 12pm respectively. Check-in was quick and easy, with a mini welcome amenity of iced lemon tea and cold towels. Now we might be nitpicking a bit here perhaps, but it was a cold, rainy day so we would have much preferred hot towels and hot tea instead.


The interior is gorgeous, striking just the right balance between the modern (televisions, fans, air-conditions and sofas) and the traditional (retro bicycles, furniture, fittings and art pieces). There's even a small mini-"garden," complete with a shared seating area for relaxing. It isn't the biggest or most authentic of gardens, of course, but we quite liked it, especially since we could lounge around in air-conditioned comfort.


We were booked into the "Standard Suite," which as you can see in the photos below was really just a standard hotel room. That's fine, though, because the room itself is really nice and clean (we particularly like the feel of the timber flooring). The bed and pillows were very comfortable and just the right firmness - although the linens weren't quite up to 5-star hotel standards - and we were impressed that the drinks and snacks at the mini bar were very reasonably priced. None of that $10 per can of coke nonsense here.


Bathroom was huge, clean, and completely and uncharacteristically modern. Fully stocked, too - shampoo, soap, toothbrush & paste, razors - everything you'd need to freshen up after a long day.


Breakfast is served in the bar/cafe; As this isn't a huge hotel they've wisely opted for cooked breakfast to order rather than try to put out a decent buffet line.


Each breakfast comes with juice, coffee/tea, fruits, and a choice of about a dozen different 'main courses,' ranging from Angmoh big breakfast, to Malaysian staples like roti canai, and Sarawak Laksa (rice noodles served in a curry-like broth). The options we tried were decent enough - I don't think it would qualify as good by any stretch of the imagination. Can't expect a 3-michelin starred chef in the kitchen in a hotel this size, I suppose.


The main negatives of The Ranee, thanks to its' (small) size, centre around the lack of hotel facilities like gymnasium, swimming pool, function rooms, business centre, room service or a proper restaurant. At around MYR 285 or SGD 106 nett, it's also pretty pricey - room rates are even slightly higher than those of the nearby Pullman Hotel (slightly lower than the Hilton).

Having said that, if you're in town and don't need big hotel chain facilities, we'd totally recommend The Ranee, thanks to its' charm, decor, and killer location. Check out their website for reservations (or you can also head to the usual suspects like agoda or expedia). 4 thumbs up.

Trying Out Chatterbox' $27++ Mandarin Chicken Rice!

Hainanese Chicken Rice is undoubtedly one of Singapore's favorite dishes. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of stalls and restaurant chains all around the city that serve this smooth boiled chicken with fragrant rice (cooked in chicken stock) and chili/garlic dish. By far the most iconic of them all is Chatterbox's Mandarin Chicken Rice. It may not be Singapore's best or favorite chicken rice, but it certainly wins the award for most expensive at just under SGD 32.00 nett after taxes and service charge.


Chatterbox's version is also probably the largest-portioned chicken rice in the city. Unlike many other $3 places which are all rice no chicken, Chatterbox uses extra large 2kg birds, and serves up a full quarter chicken with each order. No worries about going hungry, then! As is fairly standard with Hainanese chicken rice nowadays, the chicken is boiled and then dunked in ice water to smoothen and firm up the skin.


We also added on some iceberg lettuce, which at $9++ is a rather steep price to pay.


A closer view of the Chicken - this photo below is from the drumstick & thigh cut. Naturally the drumstick & thigh is smoother and juicier but also a bit oilier than the breast meat.


So ... is the chicken rice really worth $32? Well, we thought that the chicken was cooked very well and not as oily as most other chicken rice shops around town. The skin was also nice and smooth but perhaps a little on the lean side. We also did think the breast meat was perhaps ever so slightly less 'smooth' than other top places. Chili, garlic and soy sauce (laced with some chinese wine!) were sublime, and the rice was fragrant and tasty without being oily.

Our opinion then is that the Mandarin Chicken Rice really does deserve a spot in any "Top X Chicken Rice in Singapore" lists among the other heavyweights like Tian Tian and Boon Tiong Kee. However $32 is something like four or five times more expensive than the others, which honestly doesn't really make it worth the money even considering the Hotel Mark Up. For us, it's definitely worth paying a visit at least once just to cross it off your list of 'famous foods I must eat before I die,' but it would be really tough to justify a return visit.

Chatterbox is located at Mandarin Orchard Hotel / Mandarin Gallery. Open seven days a week, reservations not necessary.

Sin Heng (Herbal style) Claypot Bak Kut Teh

Generally speaking, Bak Kut Teh comes in two main varieties - the "Singapore style," which is relatively clear soup with loads of garlic and white pepper, and the Herbal soup style which (as its' name suggests, is a darker, stronger and thicker soup). Which style you prefer probably heavily depends on which soup you grew up drinking; since the darling and I grew up in Malaysia, we prefer the KL style.

Which is sort of a bummer in Singapore because we haven't really found any good herbal-style places so far. A friend of ours suggested Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh over on Joo Chiat Road, and since it was only about a 10 minute bus ride away, we pay a visit to see if it's any good.


The claypot BKT (without any spare parts) costs SGD12 and comes with a solid amount of meat for two average eaters. It's predominantly pork ribs; which are pretty tender without falling off the bone easily. However, we found that the soup was subpar, tasting of herbs and pepper and nothing else - in our opinion, a good BKT soup should also have a strong porky taste.


The egg fuyong with prawn (SGD7) is decently sized, and is pretty par for the course. Could perhaps use a tad bit more seasoning, though.


Kai Lan is also SGD7 ... normally we don't like ordering vegetables at restaurants because of the huge mark-up on the (extremely cheap) base cost of the greens, but with so much meat we felt compelled to order it.

Sin Heng is on 439, Joo Chiat Road. It's not within walking distance from an MRT station so you'll have to take a bus, or drive. In our opinion it's not good enough to really travel to eat on purpose, but as the restaurant is open til 4am in the mornings, it's available if you live nearby and need to satisfy a BKT craving :) Closed on Mondays. Non-halal.

A Malaysian's Take on the Malaysian Food Street (Resorts World Sentosa)

Ask a Singaporean and a Malaysian which country's Street (Hawker) Food is better, and chances are they will be in huge disagreement. We always see strong opinions on food, particularly when discussing which is better. Or discussing the origins of certain types of food (Bak Kut Teh, anyone?). My take on the matter is that your taste buds grow accustomed to whatever food you grow up eating, so you'd naturally have a preference for your home country's cuisine.

For what it's worth, Reuters just released an article on Top 10 cities for street food, in which Singapore is ranked #2, and Penang #3. Take that how you will :)

Anyways, having spent over two decades in Malaysia, my taste buds remain firmly entrenched in Malaysia-taste land. So I'm not too sure why it took me so long to come to the Malaysian Food Street in Resorts World Sentosa to get my makan on.


Opened half a year ago, the place is set up a little like a food court. Similar to Lot 10's Hutong Food Court, each stall is a branch/outlet of some well-known hawker from various places in Malaysia.


Lim Brothers' Char Koay Teow is first up. I was a bit hesitant while ordering because the ... Chef (for lack of a better word) was cooking something like half a dozen plates at a time - which is normally a pretty big red flag for good CKT. It turns out to be pretty decent, though, and you get a much larger portion that you normally get in Penang. At SGD5 per plate, prices are reasonable, too.


Up next we try Ah Mei Hokkien Prawn Mee - SGD5 per bowl, add $1 for pork ribs. Fragrant and sweet, with quite a nice flavorful prawn broth, slurping up the noodles reminded me of every trip back to Penang to visit the grandma and tour the city eating different hawker food. Looking back over the years I'm not sure whether the former or the latter was my primary motivation for the visits :)


Two years ago the darling and I went to Melaka to eat Chicken Rice Ball and we were very unimpressed. That sentiment hasn't changed much when trying the offering here in Singapore. It's the cheapest dish of the day at SGD4, and the chicken is pretty smooth (if served a little too cold), but the rice ball itself tastes too much like the Nasi Impit you eat with Ketupat.


I'm not sure which shop was 'chosen' to represent Klang Bak Kut Teh, but it does a horrendous job at flying the flag. SGD6.50 gets you a bowl of herbal soup (all herbs, no porky taste) with a few miserable pieces of dry and flavorless pork. A huge shame that RWS couldn't get any of the "real" BKT shops in Klang to come open shop here and had to settle for this pretender instead.


There are quite a few other stalls like Ampang Yong Tao Foo, KL Fried Hokkien Mee, etc, but two stomachs can only eat so much food at one sitting. We did manage to find room for some Penang Cendol (SGD2.50). We thought that it was a little too sweet (too much gula melaka, too little coconut milk), and the ice shavings were too "big" such that we ended up needing to "crunch" ice bits in our mouths. Not fun.


Some hits and misses overall; I think when eating your home food in a foreign country, you have to give some slack (you wouldn't go to the UK and expect perfect nasi lemak, would you?), so in that respect I would say generally speaking the food here doesn't disappoint.

Except for the Bak Kut Teh, which you should avoid at all costs, because it will disappoint.

Malaysian Food Street is located at The Bull Ring - which is that row of shops directly circling the big rotating "Universal" globe at the entrance to Universal Studios. It's easiest to drive or take a cab here, but if you're public transport-ing, take the MRT to Vivocity and then the Sentosa Express monorail to the Watefront Station. Non halal.

Yet another Kopitiam chain - Hainan Tea Kopitiam, Bandar Puteri Puchong

I've wondered for a while now whether the kopitiam movement is just a fad, or whether it's here to stay. I mean, I've been drinking teh 'c' and eating roti bakar with kaya and butter for ages, but it's only been (relatively) recently that the whole 'upscaling' thing came on the scene with shops like Old Town, Pappa Rich, Hailam Kopitiam, and others.

One of the newer franchises that I've come across is called Hainan Tea Kopitiam. Apparently there are already a few branches in the KL area - the darling and I are sampling the one in Bandar Puteri Puchong.


First impressions are actually quite favorable, thanks to the menu that offers quite a few variety of dishes that other kopitiams don't. Normally you just have to have either coffee, tea, or cham, but that day no mood lah. The darling has a Flower Tea (MYR5.90) - it's nice and refreshing, tastes sort of like a tasty, flowery Chinese Tea. I order Carrot Milk (MYR4.90) which was *THE* worst Carrot Juice I've ever tasted. Tastes like just the juice of a single local (i.e. not sweet) carrot, topped up with tons of milk and water. I want to give it more than two thumbs down but I only have two hands :(


I mentioned earlier that this kopitiam franchise has some interesting variety on the menu - here's one of them: Hainan Cheong Fun Special (MYR5.50). It looks a bit disgusting, but it was decently good. Had a mixture of sweet sauce and some other brownish/yellow'ish sauce - couldn't quite make out what it was, but it had a hint of peanut butter.


I try another interesting-looking dish: the Hainan Twister with Tuna ($3.50), can also order with brown bread instead of white. Unfortunately its' taste isn't as unique as its' looks. Tastes exactly what it looks like - tuna on toasted bread.


The Hainan Brown Toast 3 Layer (MYR3.80) is another dish that is decidedly mediocre. The layers in this case are butter and peanut butter - nice combination but just the same as any other kopitiam.


Overall, I didn't find anything special that would justify purposely choosing Hainan Tea over any of the other kopitiams for a spot of yumcha and toast. If anything I'd be inclined to avoid it, on the strength (or rather, weakness) of that terrible, terrible carrot juice. I mean come on guys - 5 bucks buys an entire kilo of carrots at the market, can't you put more than one miserable carrot into your juice?

Hainan Tea is in Bandar Puteri Puchong - the 'side' of town that has the Giant supermarket.

ABC (Air Batu Campur) @ PJ SS2 Medan Selera

This is my very first post on food-blog post to introduce you guys to some places that i have actually went to since dear is at his work trip at Nairobi, Kenya. There are more to come soon from both of us so keep clicking, research here before you set your gathering with friends and check our reviews to have more confidence in where you're heading to. :)

In search for a different version of Air Batu Campur (ABC)?

It's time for you to actually head to SS2 Medan Selera Stall 28 and try this version! Amazingly, my whole family loves it and also my uncle & aunties will pop by frequently if we're in a mood for some after-dinner ABC. It's worth trying it as your dessert if you're there for your meals.

This amazing bowl of Air Batu Campur, without fail the consistency of ice and syrups is just right. It consists of a mountain of snow ice with coconut milk, evaporated milk, gula melaka, along with generous toppings of red bean, cendol, cincau, corn, jellies & peanuts. These treasures lying above the mountain of snow ice blends pretty well together to quench your thirst & solve your semi-sweet tooth.

You're also able to get different fresh fruit juices and soya bean drink from this stall.

Each bowl cost MYR2.50

Half-Day Melaka Look, See, Eat trip!

I've only been to Melaka once in my life - back when I was five. And even then I don't remember anything about it - only that I've got some photographs of me playing around some cannons, or something. Anyway the darling and I, and a visitor from HK, took a half-day trip to look, see, and eat!

We arrive at Jonker street at 10 and promptly head to Jonker 88 cafe. Their specialty food is apparently the laksa, but as none of us are laksa fans we try the Chicken Curry Rendang Noodles (not too sure the exact name) instead. Great taste, but the curry is thick, and combined with the natural starchiness of the yellow noodles, brings on the jelak feeling super quick. The darling and Mr. HK also found it too spicy. Was OK for me though.


Of course we also have to try the Cendol. We go for the EPC (Eight Precious Cendol). It's a Cendol with a bunch of different things inside - peanuts, nutmeg, attap chi, etc, and drizzled with the thickest gula melaka syrup I've ever seen. Personally I feel the regular cendol is better; the addition of all the ingredients makes it too 'campur.' I also think the Penang Road cendol is better :P


We then take a walk around the museum areas. Found an interesting mural of ... well I guess he's Admiral Cheng Ho ... somewhere near Mahkota Parade.


Of course, no first-timers trip to Melaka would be complete without visiting the A Famosa fort. I could've sworn A Famosa was much bigger, but I guess when you're five years old, everything seems bigger in comparison :). Here's the darling posing with one of the cannons, with St Paul's cathedral in the background.


Taking a breather after walking up to St. Paul's - the view of the sea is nice!


Sitting in the ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral.


Melaka's heritage area must have the highest density of museums in the world. There's literally more than 10 small ones all within 10 minutes walking distance. None of us have particular interests in history though, so we skip most of them - except this one: I'll go out on a limb and assume it used to be a real 19th century ship - how not to go in?


Anyway, time for lunch after the tour, and we want to try Melaka's Chicken Rice Ball. Unfortunately, we were starving, and Chung Wah and Hoe Kee had 50 people queue'ing outside, so we settle for A Famosa Chicken Rice Ball, also along Jonker Street.

In a nutshell: we are unimpressed. And a little disappointed, truth be told. Maybe we went to the wrong shop, but the chicken was only average, and the chicken rice balls were bland and dry. Mr HK commented that eating them was "like eating flour."


Needing to rush off for Bon Odori, we leave back to KL after lunch. Was a nice trip, and pretty fun. Will definitely be back another day - if for nothing else other than to eat Chung Wah chicken rice ball.

Buffet High Tea - Essence in Sheraton Imperial KL

Since the darling and I were both a little under the weather, we decide to pamper ourselves a little with a trip to Essence at the Sheraton Imperial KL. After all, the saying does go "Starve a Fever, Feed a Cold." And we did have an unused complimentary dining voucher lying around.

We start off our tour at the Sushi and Smoothie bars. The sushi bar is terribly unappealing; with only the most basic of rolls (not a single slice of fish anywhere), so we skip. The darling has a honeydew smoothe - I go for banana.


The bread corner - decent selection. Perhaps we chose wrongly, but the bread that we did choose was just average.


Onward to the salads and starters then. Nice choice of cold cuts, and mix-it-yourself rojak and caesar salad corners.

* note to self: wow you way overdid the saturation on this picture.


Local food corner. Hits: Hainanese Chicken Rice and Quail Soup. Misses: Chicken Murtabak and Chili Crab.


Roast corner. Today's roast was leg of lamb - which was a big miss for me. Had an exceedingly strong gamey taste and it was dry and rubbery. Had to overload on the mint sauce for it to be edible.


Pasta section - where the "chef" cooks up a choice of either spaghetti or penne, with a choice of tomato, cream, or bolognese sauces. I had the spaghetti bolognese, which sucked. And not sucked in a "compared to 5-star Italian restaurants like Prego" way, it sucked in a "it just sucked." way.


Chinese food corner. Small selection of dim sum like siew mai and pao, of which we didn't bother trying.


Having half-filled our stomachs, we move on to desserts! The cheesecake is bad, but the chocolate mousse, chocolate soup, and chocolate mud cakes are nice.


Other mini-desserts that were pretty nice were the orange jelly (with slice of chocolate on top), apple slices with cream, and some sort of cream custard on a biscuit.


Finally we end the eating session with some papaya with lime (yum) and watermelon.


Overall we come away rather disappointed. The selection isn't great, and the food is decidedly average. I didn't get the exact price of the buffet, but at estimated MYR80-MYR90++ per person, there are too many better places to spend your money.

Don't come here unless you can eat at a heavy discount. Or if you're eating free (like us).