The Hungry Bunny

Flavours at Zhongshan Park is the in-house restaurant of Ramada Singapore , a newly opened 4* hotel located along Balestier Road. The hotel, linked to a small-ish mall, is a little off the beaten tourist track. So it was truly surprising to hear that this hotel is purportedly doing quite the roaring business. That said, the hotel is a lot nicer than one would expect of a low-frills accommodation.  Flavors at Zhongshan Park serves primarily Peranakan cuisine, with a smattering of western cuisine like fish & chips, to cater to the international tastebuds of hotel guests. I vocalized my wonderment at the restaurant's very "cheena-pok" name, and got a brief history lesson from one of my fellow reviewers and the hotel staff. Apparently, the area where the hotel is standing at is called Zhongshan Park, named after the grandfather of the Chinese revolution, Sun Zhong Shan (or more widely known as Sun Yat Sen, his dialect name), who'd stayed in Singapore briefly while

Da Paolo Ristorante  is one of the longest-standing, and more notable, tenants of Club Street. In today's landscape of yet another Italian joint sprouting up every 2 seconds, this fine-dining restaurant of the prolific family-run mini Italian empire has managed to stay relevant. They do this by re-inventing the classics every so often to keep things fresh and regulars coming back for more. Service here is unintrusive, attentive and professional. We like that, for a fine-dining restaurant where most diners speak in hushed tones, this place manages a relaxed and unstuffy vibe. Its calm tranquil ambience is great for unwinding after an intensely crazy day at work. The Croccantino di Capesante ($24), 3 succulent seared scallops enveloped in a crisp filo tepee, served atop a bed of olive oil-dressed mesclun, with a side of a dollop of creme fraiche and drizzled with aromatic truffle oil, started us off on a high note. The scallops were plump, juicy, and addictive as hell. And so, we

The Asian Kitchen used to be one of my regular haunts back when I was working in the Raffles Place area. Centrally located right in the basement of one of the tallest office blocks in the CBD and linked to many other office buildings through the Raffles Place MRT underground, the resultant heavy foot traffic ensures this casual Chinese eatery is packed come every lunchtime. Don't worry, the queue moves quite quickly, as service is remarkably efficient and speedy. And although I haven't been back since the office moved to Shenton Way, the food's as good as I remembered. The Chinese Salad ($3.30), with its julienned black fungus, carrots, glass vermicelli and beansprouts tossed in a piquant marinade and served chilled makes for a refreshingly crisp and appetite-whetting starter. What is it about luncheon meat that makes everything awesome? The Luncheon Meat Fried Rice ($7.50) at The Asian Kitchen evokes childhood memories of after-school lunchtime sustenance. Save

A friend commented, and I have to ( sort of ) agree, that I seem to be on some kind of roll to rediscover all the food places that I ate at as a child. So while I'm on this roll, I'm going to introduce to you another hidden gem of a hawker stall that my family used to patronize when I was growing up. Great western fare at hawker centres are few and far between, and apart from Happy Chef , this is the only other place I'd return to repeatedly whenever a craving for delicious, slightly bastardised, western fare at wallet-friendly prices starts up. What sets this stall apart is the awesome gravy that they slather over every plate they dish up. It's da bomb, I swear. It's like a cheena-pok version of Mackers' curry sauce, with a tomatoey slant. A little spiced, a little sweet, a little savoury, and, I swear, a little fairy dust. And like that universally flattering blood red lipstick, it goes with everything. From grilled fare to fried foods, and all kinds of meat

Every year when the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan rolls around, we make an annual pilgrimage to the Geylang Serai Hari Raya Bazaar to get our fill of Hari Raya festive goodies. Oddly enough, I don't feel such an impetus to go to Chinatown over CNY. I think it's because I get easy access to CNY holiday grub, and not so much for seasonal Hari Raya chow. A tip, to avoid the hordes of celebratory folks loading up on festive goodies and products, is to hit up the bazaar on a Monday evening, during the early weeks of Ramadan. If you're driving, there's an open-air carpark opposite the Haig Road Hawker Centre with a really high turnover. Another thing, dress coolly, because, trust me, you will sweat. There are about a million food stalls set up at the month-long, seemingly never-ending bazaar, but the foodstuff are quite repetitive, and to be honest, they kind of blend into one another. I tend to stick to the stalls nearest the Haig Road Market, and zoom in on the follo