After our visit to Bangkok, we landed in Singapore in the early evening, and after checking into our hotel room in Tanjong Pagar, it was time to find a late night dinner. Fortunately, one of the first places we passed was Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King. It was about 8.30pm at this stage and there was a small queue of people sitting outside the restaurant, which we joined. Chairs had been lined up against the eatery so customers could sit, wait, and shuffle up.
A sign outside was advertising tonkotsu ramen, black spicy tonkotsu ramen and red spicy ramen. After about a 15 minute wait, we were taken inside the little restaurant. It really was tiny and cosy with just 5 tables and two stools at the counter so it wasn’t surprising that there was a queue.
We were given an order form to fill in to customise our ramen order. Choose the base, topping, strength of soup, oil and noodle texture, and advise of anything not wanted. I chose the signature tonkotsu king ramen with all the toppings, normal taste in soup and chicken oil, and normal (i’m guessing medium) firmness of noodles. I also ticked for a wasabi ginger ale which just tasted like regular ginger ale.
I liked that each table came readily equipped with tissues, Kewpie mayonnaise, pickled bean sprouts, and complimentary hard boiled eggs.
I noticed that the front counter also had soy sauce and bonito powder. We were each given a small pestle and mortar filled with black and white sesame seeds to grind and sprinkle into our ramen.
I love tonkotsu and this one did not disappoint. It wasn’t too thick and had a wonderful depth of flavour and fattiness.
MR FPJ ordered the black spicy tonkotsu ramen which was saltier than mine and had a bit of spice to it but not the level he was expecting.
We decided to explore a few blocks around the hotel and went for a walk, where we came across Tsujiri, the matcha dessert shop. Of course I couldn’t resist a cold matcha parfait with matcha sponge, red bean, and cornflakes.
I read of a good New York style bagel shop, Two Men Bagel House, (a block from our hotel) so we headed there for breakfast one morning.
The menu was quite extensive with various items on the all day menu – savoury and sweet, with a list of schmears. I ordered the Boca ($10) of smashed avo, creamy feta, two eggs and tomatoes on a garlic bagel. This one bagel was so filling with all the ingredients! It was delicious and indulgent. Awesome comfort food and easy to share between two.
Mr FPJ ordered the blueberry bagel ($2.50) with a nutella cream cheese and nut schmear ($6) which came toasted. Not too sweet and moreish (unfortunately no photo). We were both happy to go back another morning for breakfast to share another blueberry bagel. Unfortunately, blueberry was a special the previous week and no longer available. So I picked a seeded bagel ($2.50) instead with the maple pecan schmear ($5). Delicious.
We wandered to Suntec City as I wanted to try The Dark Gallery, a chocolate shop specialising in dark chocolate. Located in the middle of the shopping centre, The Dark Gallery sells an assortment of chocolate ice creams, desserts, pastries and drinks. Mr FPJ lets me do the ordering so I picked the Single Origin hot chocolate shots ($8), and the Single Origin dark chocolate ice cream ($12). There were three different dark chocolate ice creams on the platter varying in the amount of dark chocolate and where the cacao was from. That day, we got to try the 64% from Madagascar, 72% from Venezuela, and 76% from Tanzania. You could really taste the differences in bitterness/sweetness/creaminess of each ice cream. I liked how the notes in each chocolate item were identified on the sheet in front of us. There was a rating of acidity, fruitness, bitterness and intensity underneath each one. Our favourite was the one from Venezuela which seemed creamier but with a decent hit (intensity) of chocolate. Although there was just a 4% difference, the Tanzania had the highest bitterness level and was just a bit too bitter for me.
The hot chocolate reflected the same chocolates and cacao percentages as the ice creams – from Madagascar, Venezuela and Tanzania. Funnily, drinking hot chocolate changed things and I prefered the Madagascar which was sweeter and less bitter.
I had researched some bars to visit while in Singapore (though I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t mind going to a few bars). A bar I really wanted to visit was Atlas purely because it looks absolutely amazing and I thought it would be a nice way to spend an afternoon. The art deco inspired building and lobby are just stunning. It has also been ranked the 8th Best Bar in the World according to the 2018 World’s 50 Best Bars list.
Atlas holds over 1,200 gins (the world’s largest collection) as well as other bottles of champagne, rare whiskies, spirits and more. The bar and it’s large gin tower are backlit making everything shine with leather stools at the counter. There are staircases on either side of the tower (couldn’t fit it all on my phone camera) for the bartender to obtain the more rare liqueurs on the top shelf. The lobby houses plush velvet arm chairs in various dark colour and leather banquettes, thick burgundy carpet, timber paneling and bronze details.
We didn’t make a reservation but figured as it opened at 3pm, we would just get there on time and try our luck. It paid off as there were only a handful of people inside. Getting there right on 3pm was a good decision and we had what we thought was the best seat in the house right in front of the bar, in the middle of the lobby. I was really pleased to see a mocktail menu and ordered the Summer in Paris ($12) of chardonnay grape juice, lavender cordial, lemon, and lemon berry soda. Mr FPJ ordered the Atlas G&T ($19) with elevated London dry gin, Atlas burma tonic, and fresh citrus.
The drinks menu was extensive and Mr FPJ noticed a lot of champagnes. We left our table to sit at the bar for a little bit and got to chat with the bartender. He mentioned the trend now is going towards champagnes and Atlas have a great collection of champagnes from across the globe. We couldn’t help but notice one champagne bottle displayed prominently on a spinning pedestal underneath a spotlight, behind a locked glass door behind the bar. That bottle was one of two purchased by the owner that was recovered from a shipwreck in the early 1900’s. A 1907 Heidsieck & Co. Monopole champagne and was valued at around S$190,000. We asked how they knew the champagne’s value; how much to sell it for? Basically, the owner popped one of the two bottles to see if it was drinkable, and rated and valued it based on that! Fair enough.
Moving onto round two of drinks, I ordered the White Lady ($12) with botanical cordial, gentian syrup, orange blossom water and lemon. It was basically a Parisian sour minus the gin. Lovely. We don’t remember what Mr FPJ ordered but it may have been a coconut and white rum based cocktail served in a tall glass.
We stayed at Atlas a lot longer than intended, around 2 hours, simply because we didn’t want to leave. It had such an elegant yet laidback ambiance and we were enjoying ourselves. The bartender also told us what look like tiny balconies coming out above the windows, are actually covers for the air conditioning which I thought was a really smart interior decorating move. Atlas is such a wonderful spot for a drink. I would have ordered some snacks from the grazing menu but after all of that chocolate from The Dark Gallery, we weren’t hungry at all.
Our hotel was right next to the Tanjong Pagar subway station, which we discovered was filled with eateries (similar to Japan’s train stations). One of them was Seattle Pike, selling seafood chowder. We hadn’t eaten a good chowder since San Francisco in 2013 so were both keen to have it for dinner one night. Seattle Pike claims to be the USA’s number one clam chowder. Big call.
We both ordered the New England clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl set ($16.90) which came with a drink (iced tea or long black) and a side of our choice – either salad (smothered in mayo) or fruit salad. We both chose the fruit salad. If a little salty, the seafood chowder was delicious and creamy mixed in with secret herbs and spices.
We liked it so much, that we asked for a second serve of chowder on its own. The staff were really confused when we asked for this (this option wasn’t on the menu) and we hoped we got through to them. A bowl came out with the clam chowder and we weren’t charged any extra for it even though we tried to give them money. How nice. The other choices of chowder were smoked salmon chowder, Louisiana chowder, and a seafood bisque all in a bread bowl. There was also a lobster roll that I wanted to try, but the chowder won.
Tanjong Pagar station also houses a Henri Charpentier patisserie outlet.
There were plenty of strawberry shortcakes on display, a signature dessert, but sadly I didn’t have the stomach space to try one.
I bought a box of financiers to take home instead, and was happy with that. These beautiful almond cakes use cultured butter from Japan and came individually wrapped. Moist, soft and indulgent.
Thanks to Instagram, I wanted to try Hana Japanese Restaurant located at Forum The Shopping Mall on Orchard Road, Singapore’s main shopping street. This place was made famous by its flying noodles.
I ordered a strawberry faux daiquiri to begin with (unsure of price).
Of course I ordered the flying noodles – flying chilli crab somen with soft shell crab ($25). The noodles look like they’re magically being held in the air. I won’t spoil the secret. The noodles are served cold and are to be dipped into the chilli sauce which looked very spicy to me. Luckily, it was mild-medium level of spiciness. The soft shell crab was nicely battered with quite a bit of crab meat included.
It wasn’t particularly flavoursome but I guess it’s more popular for the novelty of the dish rather than the taste. There are other flying noodle flavours such as truffle and salted egg.
Mr FPJ opted for a bento box (unsure of price) except this 4 x 3 version was served on a platter instead. There’s a 3x 3 version available too. It was filled with octopus, tempura vegetables, chawanmushi – a steamed savoury egg custard topped with black caviar, grilled salmon, gyoza, edamame, sashimi, karaage chicken, stuffed beancurd, sushi roll, a sweet custard pudding, and pickled vegetables. Lots of variety!
The lux shakes menu looked decadent. I wanted to try the unicorn red velvet cupcake shake, but was just too full (from eating all day) to have anything else.
We really wanted to have Friday drinks at The Raffles, but it was not meant to be as the hotel was shut down for renovations during our time in Singapore.
One afternoon, we headed into Apiary for ice cream. We ordered a triple scoop ($7.80) and chose earl grey tea, black sesame, and a whisky ice cream with toasted pecan. I didn’t like the whisky ice cream, but the first two were delicious. Apiary also make freshly made waffles but we didn’t have the stomach space for carbs 🙂
On New Year’s Eve, we had plans to see the fireworks from Marina Bay Sands. Dinner at Din Tai Fung for xiao long bao and noodles, but by the time we got there at around 7.30pm, there was an 80 minute wait. We put our names down on the list, were given a number, and walked around the shopping mall to kill time. We passed this patisserie which looked very tempting. How cute are the cakes?
By 10pm, it had started to rain. Actually it was pouring. There were so many people packed into Marina Bay Sands waiting for the fireworks. It didn’t let up at all for the rest of the night. Luckily we had plastic rain coats and an umbrella each which helped, but we were still pretty soaked after the fireworks ended and during the walk back to the hotel in Tanjong Pagar. (We avoided the subway due to the number of people flooding into the stations.) At least it will always be a memorable New Year’s Eve!
We check out one of Singapore’s hawker centres in the next post…
Eateries visited:
- Ramen Keisuke Tonkotsu King – 1 Tras Link, Singapore
- Tsujiri – I believe this is now permanently closed
- Two Men Bagel House – 16 Enggor St, #01-12 Icon Village Altez, Singapore
- Chinatown Food Street – Smith St, Singapore
- The Dark Gallery – 9 Raffles Boulevard, #01-K5 Millenia Walk, Singapore
- Atlas Bar – 600 North Bridge Rd, Parkview Square, Singapore
- Seattle Pike Chowder – Tanjong Pagar Centre, #B2-27, Singapore
- Henri Charpentier – Tanjong Pagar Centre
- Hana Japanese Restaurant – 583 Orchard Road, #01-17 Forum The Shopping Mall, Singapore
- Apiary – 84 Neil Rd, Singapore
- Marina Bay Sands – 10 Bayfront Ave, Singapore
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