The Hungry Bunny

The National Gallery will forever be known to me as the old Supreme Court. As one of the last batches of lawyers freshly minted in its courtrooms, I've fond memories hanging out in the bar-room of old. It was exuberant place of stimulating debate, sagely counsel, and just plain ol' salacious hearsay. The stately building, granted conservation status as an important heritage of Singapore, has been refurbished into an art museum and a popular destination for families with young 'uns. Not my scene, of course, but the slew of dining options at the National Gallery are quite the draw. Like I always say, food is what attracts Singaporeans near and far. You can build a mall in the godforsaken nowhere, but fill it with restaurants galore, and the crowds will come. Sitting next to Aura at the top floor of the National Gallery, Yan Restaurant appears incredibly popular: The restaurant was a full-house even on a typically sluggish Monday night for dinner. It's little wonder, ...

Lucky House Cantonese is a private dining destination that's garnered a fair bit of interest lately, and the recent rave review by the Straits Times food editor may be why. Whereas it used to be a sort of secret supper club exclusively popular through word-of-mouth, its previous 2 months advanced reservations requirement has now burgeoned to a 3-4 month-long waitlist. Again, it was fortuitous that I got to dine at Lucky House . The Type A planner friend who got us reservations at Chef Kang's had heard about Lucky House through a foodie colleague, got the dates first and then gathered whichever available troops for dinner. I would have never bothered with making such advanced reservations otherwise. At $80 per head for 5 dishes, Lucky House  was notably more economical than the prices at Chef Kang's. But, dinner was inordinately draggy. It was a good half hour before we were served the first dish, and lapses between each course was cause for hangry-ness. According to ...

I've wanted to try Chef Kang's even before the furore over its Michelin star. It's just that its teeny tiny 4-table shop space was extremely prohibitive of any last-minute dinner plans. And as one who only decides where I wanna eat at 15 minutes before actually arriving at the restaurant, there was no way jose I could make reservations advanced enough to get dinner at Chef Kang's . Until our awesome, hyper-organized planner-friends secured a reservation (over a month in advance no less!) and invited us to fill out their modest table of six. Dinner was a slow, languid affair, and service at the exclusively private rooms restaurant was attentive and unintrusive. I wouldn't say the food's ultra refined or particularly well-priced (a friend thought it was exceedingly overpriced), and I'm not sure I'd wait a whole month for a repeat dinner here, but it was homey and comforting and the meal equivalent of a warm familial embrace. I'd venture, its mon...

We were dismayed when the local outpost of Kuala Lumpur landmark Restoran Oversea exited our shores. We loved their char siew, and no one else in SG did it with quite as much aplomb as them...How else to get KL-style char siew now? Enter Char . The pre-eminent char siew specialist, which moniker is a decent pun on the subject matter, barbecues pork so outstanding it may actually rival Restoran Oversea's version. I've put off visiting the restaurant for some time now, as reviews of its other offerings were lukewarm at best and I wasn't particularly keen on eating just char siew. But since the installation of a new chef, whose stint in Imperial Treasure is an instant pass in my book, and the roll-out of a slew of Cantonese-styled dishes, I thought it high time to visit the Jalan Besar eatery. An absolute cannot-miss, the Signature Char Siew ($18 for 300gm) was decadent, sinful, and all kinds of delicious. Sticky, luscious, melty, it was redolent of honeyed nuance and ...

Apologies for the extended silence. We've been caught up with life. Also, the laptop went on the fritz (again!), and thankfully, all it took was a hard reboot to kick it back into gear this time. On this note, I'm seriously considering replacing it at the year-end Comex Singapore. *hoping that threat scares lappie into submissive performance* We haven't been to Tung Lok Signatures for some time now, and thought a return was in order. The branch at The Central at Clarke Quay is frequently jam-packed, so we headed over to its outlet at Orchard Parade Hotel for dinner instead. I can understand why the Orchard Parade Hotel outpost was noticeably less populous. The food was a hit and miss. Service was excellent though, warm, efficient, and speedy. I don't usually order Sweet & Sour Pork ($22), but we were with Ernie and he eats like a foreigner. Sweet & sour pork is a default order at any Cantonese restaurant. Tung Lok's version, contrasted with the tang...

Sik Bao Sin (or Desmond's Creation as its named for its chef-owner), is another one of those second generation hawkers. Spawned from Sik Wai Sin several streets away along Geylang Road, Sik Bao Sin is the offshoot of one of two sons of the founder at the former. While Sik Wai Sin is now charged by the elder son Steve, the younger son Desmond decided to make his own way with his own cze char joint. It's a no-frills place serving up a decidedly limited menu dominated by sauteed dishes, which Desmond specialises in. It's not to say that there's some kind of juicy family feud, both brothers are still close, and the whole family has purportedly blessed Desmond's venture. We were lucky to have dined right when they opened for business one early Friday evening, as the small-ish shop space was completely packed by the time we finished our dinner and left. While I found the place charmingly old-school, the Hubs thought the food relatively middling. He makes a fair poi...

During the 80's and 90's, Sin Kee in Margaret Drive was one of the more notable chicken rice hawker legends. Then he passed on, and his sons have now taken on the mantle to carrying on his legacy. There's the one at Holland Drive which was just awarded a Bib Gourmand, and there's the other one at Havelock Road , just down the row of eateries where we used to eat Teochew porridge, post-clubbing . At first blush, the eatery looks a gimmicky simulation of an old-school street hawker. The street murals of an 80's Singapore, the stone tables, the wicker chairs, the tricked out menu extensive with a number of cze char fare, and the near-empty restaurant, don't exactly inspire confidence. But strip away the artifice, and skip over the gloss, and you'll find really awesome chicken rice. Also, we've noticed a steady stream of customers taking away their chicken rice, so the shop actually does a roaring good business despite the appearance of an in-house crowd...

It's such a misconception that eating out at Chinese fine-dining establishments is a costly affair. Sure, the dinner and ala carte menus are pricey, but if you only eat off the dim sum menu, you can be sure that the bill per person will be no more than 50 buckaroos, including tax. So a bunch of us brought our Spanish colleague out to lunch, which had to be "somewhere nice and quiet", wallet-friendly (because, no expense account for us regular worker bees), and "not Thai or Indian or Spanish". So with these perimeters, we ended up at Cassia , the crown jewel of the 6-star Capella Singapore. The rest of the lunch bunch balked at first, when I suggested Cassia for lunch. They thought they'd have to "eat grass" for the rest of the month. But, they came around when the bill arrived, and realised that, despite the gut-busting meal, each person's share was only $35. I like Cassia for business lunches. It's classy in a grown-up way and soph...