Eating in Singapore

Ah Hoi’s Kitchen

Situated by the pool of Hotel Jen Tanglin above the Tanglin Mall, this hidden gem is more than underrated. The outdoor seating surrounded by lanterns and colourful shells is a wonderful place to spend an evening. This is predominantly a seafood restaurant but the staff were more than happy to go off menu to cater to my dietary needs. There is nothing fancy about this authentic Singaporean restaurant, but the food is well worth visiting for. The Singaporean Strait cuisine can get quite spicy at times, if like me you are used to the tame spices of British food. There is a hint of street food eating as everything is brought in a bowl to share. I love this idea so I can try more than one dish during a meal (greedy dinosaur alert!).

I am a vegan dinosaur which is often problematic whilst travelling, but I am always open to try new things as I do travel with carnivores. The claypot beancurd with mixed vegetables is to this day the best thing I have ever eaten! (mainly for the fresh ginger in it). The staff even made me a noodle dish which was not on the menu but equally as delicious. I cannot fault this restaurant in any way, due to the free water, 60 pence bowls of rice and free appetizers with some amazing spicy dipping sauce (sadly I have no idea what it was, but it was great with carrots!). The carnivores just loved the honey glazed ginger chicken too!

Perfect for: sharing a cheap evening meal with friends!

Wild Honey

A place which serves seriously great breakfast foods all day. I liked it so much I went to both restaurants (Mandarin Gallery and Scott Square) since they have different menus. The Asian twists on English breakfast classics is just delightful! It is the first time I have eaten scrambled tofu. I enjoyed it, the sriracha gave it a better flavour because I’ll be totally honest and say tofu can be boring.

I also shared the Baby spinach, roasted pumpkin and sweet potato salad with my photographer. Salads often leave me wanting more but the combination of potato, chickpeas and beetroot crisps made it very filling. The presentation of the food was lovely and if I had not eaten as much I would have definitely have eaten an acai bowl because they looked beautiful.

The best part is the vast majority of the menu is vegetarian friendly and can easily be made into vegan friendly food. The humans I was with didn’t miss adding meat to the dishes they were eating, which is a great sign in any restaurant. My only grumble is the restaurant in Mandarin Gallery is cashless, which can be annoying when dining with friends.

Perfect for: Eating breakfast at any time of day!

The Halia

The Halia (ginger in Malay) was more of the top end of my eating budget, but I do love ginger and it was my photographer’s birthday so I decided to splash out. Ginger themed restaurant is hidden in the ginger garden of Singapore Botanic Gardens. Picking a drink was the hardest decision I had to make during my time in Singapore, they all sounded and looked so good. But, in the end the mint berry mocktail won me over along with the tomato salad.

The food portions were quite small, and food choice limited for non-meat eaters but the location and drinks were more than enough to keep me happy. It was an expensive place to eat so maybe next time I will just go and try a few more drinks from the menu!

Perfect for: a chilled mojito amidst the humid tropical gardens.

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf

My favourite cafe to people watch, especially on Orchard Road and Sentosa Island. I know this is a popular brand in Singapore but the mint lime iced tea was perfectly refreshing in the humidity of South East Asia. The cake selection was wonderful and the slices huge.

It was such a relaxing place to sit, I chose this over going to a bar each evening. Watching the world go by in the cool air, with billboards singing in the background was way better than sitting watching television on a night when I am not travelling.

Perfect for: chilling with a cool drink and watching the world go by.

Beanstro

I initially went in this restaurant to rest my achy feet from all the walking around Marina Bay Sands and wait for the Garden Rhapsody show to begin. The food looked so good I just had to try something from the menu. Garden veggies and pasta was the winning combination. Much to my photographers amusement, we had traveled half way around the world for me to eat pasta.

I don’t normally enjoy sitting and eating in the centre of a shopping mall, but I made an exception this time. I got to sit next to an indoor canal, with boats riding around! Half way through my meal I started to here water, only to look up and see a huge water feature had appeared in front of my table (how exciting!).

Perfect for: a reasonably priced meal close to Gardens by the Bay and Marina Bay Sands.

J65

I know I mentioned this in my hotel review, but the food was just that good! Most hotels only do a basic continental breakfast, but J65 was truely an international buffet. There was the usual English fried breakfast, egg station, pastries and cereals. Alongside, a Nasi Lemak counter with lots of condiments, noodles and fried rice, made-to-order Laksa, curries, roti prata, dim sum and various types oatmeal. The fruit counter had everything I could ever want … and more. AS did the coffee station and pancake bar. My favourite thing was definitely the lotus paste dim sum.

Perfect for: Breakfast, seriously the best breakfast buffet I have ever laid eyes on.

Jen On-The-Go

Another cafe in the hotel I stayed in, but they did sell one of the best coffees I had in Singapore. Along with giant fruit pots that were incredibly fresh. Everything was to go (hence the name) and I loved taking mini picnics up to the poolside and Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Perfect for: stocking up on snacks before an adventure.

Hawker Centre@Somerset mall

I was a brave dinosaur and tried matcha ice cream and Bubble tea! This was the only food court I had time to eat in whilst in Singapore, which made me sad because everything looked so good. I love the idea of social dining because everyone can eat what they want but still sit together. I tried two of the many food stalls of the 3rd basement level in 313@Somerset.

The Bubble tea was from KOI which is a Taiwanese brand. I honestly did not like bubble tea, it tasted like gummy bears floating in milk. Maybe it is an acquired taste because some humans seem to love it!

But, I did really enjoy the matcha ice cream, even though it was very filling. This was from a Japanese stall named Hvala. The colour makes it look less delicious than it was, especially with the rice cracker! I think I enjoyed it so much because I’m not the biggest fan of sweet ice cream which is everywhere in Europe.

Perfect for: a sociable meal with friends.

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