Tong Heng Confectionary

Tong Heng Confectionary

• 285 South Bridge Road
  Tel: 6223 0398
  Opening Hours: 9.30am to 10pm
• #B1-10 Jurong Point Shopping Centre
  Tel: 6794 6292
  Opening Hours: 10am to 10pm

They are famous for their lao po bing (wives’ cakes), custard tarts and other traditional pastries.

Personally, I only go for their custard tarts which come in a diamond shape rather than the usual round ones. I love it for its crispy shell and the smooth custard inside the shell. Needless to say, their custard tarts sell out fast, so it’s advisable to go early before they run out.

Pasta Express

#02-42 Hong Lim Market and Food Centre
Tel: 9666 0417 (Chef Weldon Sim/Sean Sim)
Website: http://www.sbestfood.com/pastaexpress.htm

One of the few pasta stalls in hawker centres, Pasta Express sells a variety of pasta such as Spaghetti Marinara (mixed seafood in tomato sauce spaghetti), Fettuccine Carbonara (streaky bacon in cream and egg sauce fettuccine), Penne Arrabiata (spicy tomato sauce spaghetti), as well as western delights like Fish and Chips and Chicken Cutlet. Check their website for the full menu and prices.

The stall has been featured in local newspaper ‘Lian He Zao Bao’ as well as Channel U’s ‘Belly Belly Good’ programme.

Personally, I love the chicken cutlet (priced at S$4.50) and Spaghetti Pomodoro (priced at only S$3)! Check the website given above for more food items and prices.
I have never seen Chef Weldon Sim without his trademark cap but if you do, take a picture so I can post it here. It’ll be a gem!

Spizza

Delivery hotline: 6377 7773
Website: http://www.spizza.sg/index.asp

They have 6 outlets in Singapore, so check their website for the nearest outlet if you want to dine in. Else, just call the delivery hotline. Minimum order is S$30. Deliveries are subject to delivery fees and GST in some cases (the operator will advise you of this). Delivery hours are from 11am to 2.30pm and from 6pm to 10pm daily.

There are 23 mouth-watering pizzas all named after Italian women, 9 scrumptious desserts named after famous female opera characters and 12 equally tantalizing starters named after the emperors of Rome. All pizzas are wood-baked, so you can get that fragrant woody taste in every bite of your pizza. All pizzas are also thin-crusted.

Medium pizzas ($15) generally serve 2-3, while large pizzas ($18) can satisfy 4 average diners.

I’ve tried their Adriano pizza (smoked salmon with onion rings and capers) and hmmm….. hmmm…. hmm….. I’m a convert now and I will only fall back on Pizza Hut only in case of emergency.

• If you pay using HSBC Credit Card, you get 15% off your bill. Valid till 31 December 2007.
• If you pay using OCBC Credit Card, you get 15% off your total bill with a min. spending of S$50. Valid till 30 September 2007.

Tiong Shian Porridge

265 New Bridge Road, Ann Kway Building
Tel: 6221 1596 / 6222 3911
Opening Hours: 7am to 2.30am, closed on alternate Mondays
Website: http://www.sbestfood.com/tiongshian.htm

In case you don’t know what is Tiong Shian porridge, I’ll mention that it’s the famous Chinatown porridge at the coffeeshop near the main road, and it’s very near the Chinatown food centre. Now do I hear a “orh, that one har?” Hehehe… oh yes, it’s that one lor. Now you know.

They have all kinds of porridge and since I’m not the kind to take frog porridge, I usually go for century egg (S$3.20 a bowl) or chicken porridge (S$2.70 a bowl). I also like their fried hoon chang (S$5 a plate).

My pet peeve about this place is having to find a seat. People and more people are everywhere and not a seat in sight for me. But since they’re open till very late (or very early in the morning), I guess you can wait and wait until someone finished his/her food and you finally get your seat.

Annalakshmi Vegetarian Restaurant

133, New Bridge Road #B1-02
Chinatown Point, Podium A
Tel: 6339 9993
Opening Hours: 11am to 10pm, Tue to Sun; 6pm to 10pm, Monday; closed on Monday mornings
Website: http://www.annalakshmi.com.sg/index.htm

Ok, this is an Indian vegetarian restaurant but before you dismiss it as another Indian restaurant, read again. In this restaurant, their motto is “Eat what you want and give as you feel”. This means that you can eat as much as you want (provided you finish every morsel that you order otherwise you sin?) and you pay whatever amount you feel. For e.g. you finish 10 plates of food and you feel like you should pay only S$1 (shame on you if you do that), you can be sure that you won’t be hounded by the police.

So if you feel like having Indian vegetarian food, why not pop into this restaurant and experience dining in a different way?

They also have an outlet at Amoy Street with slightly different opening hours. Check their website for details.

Niu Che Shui (Chinatown) Glutinous Rice

#01-155 Chinatown Temporary Market & Food Centre
Tel: 9660 3179
Opening Hours: 6.30am to 11.30am, closed on Thursdays

Although too much glutinous rice can cause indigestion to many, it’s worth joining the perpetual queue and get your hands on both varieties – eat the savoury first and have the sweet one as dessert. They sprinkle a spoon of crispy fried shallots which gives the soft dish an extra nice texture and taste.

Cost of each portion is S$1 per plate; you can ask for a mix of both savoury and sweet which will also cost you S$1.

Note: This review was extracted from Makansutra with a bit of my personal comments at the bottom.

Gorkha Grill

21 Smith Street
Tel: 6227 0806
Opening Hours: 11.30am to 3pm (Lunch) & 5.30pm to 11pm (Dinner)

This small gem of a dining room, situated in the busy eating area of Smith Street, is Singapore’s first authentic Nepalese restaurant. Small and friendly, with large murals of mountain scenery, the menu is a superb sample of the spices and flavours of Nepal. Filling without being heavy and greasy, momos (meat or vegetarian steamed or fried dumplings) are an excellent way to start. Recommended dishes include the soup consisting of beans simmered with herbs and green vegetables (also known as dahl); Jheenge papita (prawns marinated with vegetables and herbs) served in a papaya boat, and kukhura so makhani (chicken marinated with butter gravy and herbs). Gorkha Grill is delicious and reasonably priced – made more economical by bringing along your own wine.

To find this place, look out for the row of street hawker centre in Chinatown. It’s located behind one of the stalls. What I love about this place is that the service is excellent and the dishes are served in tiny copper plates like the ones shown in the pictures above.

• If you pay using your DBS Amex Credit Card, you get 25% discount on a-la-food bill weekdays, 15% off food bill on weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday).
• If you pay using your HSBC credit card, you get 1-for-1 main course during lunch or 15% off food bill on ala carte menu. Valid until 31 December 2007.
• If you pay using your OCBC credit card, you get 1-for-1 main course during lunch or 15% off food bill on ala carte menu.
• If you pay using your UOB credit card, you get 25% off food bill on weekdays, 15% off food bill on weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) and if it’s your birthday, you get complimentary 500gm of cake and a S$50 voucher (valid for use during the next visit).

Note: This review was extracted from TravelPuppy with some of my personal comments added in.

Poh Guan Cake House

Blk 531 Upper Cross Street, #01-57
Hong Lim Complex
Tel: 6534 0136
Website: http://www.pohguan.com/

This is the not the modern cake shop. They sell traditional Chinese cakes like tau sar piah, fatt gou (huat kueh), etc. They also sell snacks like tapioca curry chips, etc.

During Chinese New Year, they also churn out cookies and egg rolls, etc. Their Chinese New Year cookies and egg rolls and pineapple tarts sell out fast, so it’s best to place your order early.

They also sell the kueh pie tee cups (from Red Lips).

I don’t know why their address show Blk 531 when they are located at Blk 536, so I’ve linked to Blk 536 instead. Their location is directly opposite the Hong Lim Food Centre.