Easy come easy go seems to be the unfortunate catchphrase of many F&B businesses these days, as the famous Nian Nian You Yu at Maxwell closed mere months after opening. However, Fish Village spawned right in as its direct replacement, also specialising in steamed fish and miscellaneous seafood. On the evening I visited, they were slammed with an odyssey of orders, so they won’t be worrying about a lack of business for now.⠀
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Besides steamed fish, they offer this BBQ Fish at eleven dollars flat. I thought it was a sambal stingray at first due to its presentation, but it’s a sea bass fillet that’s been smeared with sambal chili. The sea bass was flawlessly fresh with a firm texture on the flesh, but taste-wise, the sambal did all the heavy lifting. It was swimmingly spicy, supremely savoury and sufficiently smoky. With such fabulous flavours for just eleven bucks, you can’t lose.⠀
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Fish and seafood are exorbitantly expensive these days, so to find such fresh produce at such a bargain is truly a blessing.

@honbo.burger has stepped up to the ring that is Singapore’s burger business, and is going head to head with the Shack as a direct competitor as both burger joints pride themselves upon their smash-burgers. However, while the Shack will only stack to two, Honbo goes to four. That’s right, they’ve got a quad patty burger.⠀
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However, that’s a bit much even for me, so I stuck with the more moderate Honbo 1.5, which stars three crispy beef patties, two slices of cheese, pickles, onion & housemade sauce. I added on bacon for an extra $4.90 on top of the base price of twenty three dollars, bringing the damage to a hefty $27.90 before adding GST. Right off the bat, Honbo’s burger is certainly bigger, although less messy than the Shack.⠀
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The crust on the smashed beef patties are gloriously charred, even more so than the Shack, but this does mean that the patties are less juicy. I found it to be a worthwhile trade, as the extra flavours from the intense grilling are palpable. The patties are a 70/30 chuck and brisket blend with a nice, not too tightly packed texture, and full of beefy deliciousness thanks to the cuts of beef used.⠀
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Overall, I found Honbo’s burger to be more well balanced, as there are onions and pickles to rein in the richness of the patties, and the potato milk buns are airy, light & fluffy without being buttered up excessively. Sure, I do wish that they could’ve added in a couple of extra pickles to have the richness of the burger fully under control, but this behemoth burger is remarkably close to burger perfection.

@twystpasta is a build-your-own-pasta joint that puts their own twist on everyone’s beloved Italian staple. They’ve never been on my radar until they recently began operating in Singpost Center, right under my gym. Well that’s quite the pleasant surprise, I guess that’s my post workout bulking meals sorted then. If you’re undecided and unsure of what to eat, Twyst has six default pasta options for you to select and they all look plenty pleasant, or you can go wild & build your own pasta.⠀
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I chose to build my own pasta on a sauce base of Miso Butter, one of Twyst’s unique, well, twists. I find myself gravitating towards penne in recent years, and penne was the pasta of choice here. You get to choose a topping (think baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and other assorted vegetables) and a protein, so smoked duck & baby spinach it was for me. Of course, that wasn’t the end of it, and I added more smoked duck for the low price of an additional $2.20, cherry tomatoes for a mere $1.20, and more garlic for free. The grand total was a bargain, as this ponderous pasta plate cost all of fifteen dollars and forty cents flat.⠀
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The miso butter was rich and notably sweet, and while I was wondering why a miso butter would be this sweet, I certainly didn’t mind it. The sweetness matched the saltiness, and both were potent enough to flavour everything without overwhelming your palate. The penne was done slightly past al dente, but it wasn’t egregiously so. I was proudly patting myself on the back for ordering an extra portion of smoked duck, as I got a whole lot of juicy, savoury smoked duck for just an extra couple of bucks. As for the veg, they’re quite well cooked, and they give pleasant pops of colour to the pasta.⠀
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Don’t get it twysted, @twystpasta prices might be a bargain, but their pastas are blockbuster stuff.

Nasi don has undergone a rebrand recently and is now @ricebowl.san. Gone are the days of Japanese fusion nasi lemak, and most regrettably of all, their stellar sambal chili. In all honesty, the spicy, savoury sambal was the best thing in their rice bowls, so I’m pretty bummed to see it lost to the annals of history. Also gone are some of their flashier menu items like the Blackpink Calamari, but at least they retained their Honey Chicken ($6.50 nett).⠀
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The Honey Chicken was sufficiently salty and sweet without being saccharine thanks to the honey marinade. The marinade penetrated deeply into the juicy, moist meat of the chicken thigh and flavoured this otherwise mild tasting chicken. The rice was surprisingly superbly sauced up with lashings of sauce over the fluffy white Japanese rice. ⠀
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To my delight, @ricebowl.san serves a healthy portion of vegetables with most meals, and I can finally eat a good balanced meal while not having to worry about my wallet. What was very odd was that the rice was adequately seasoned, but the vegetables, which needed the same amount or maybe even more love, were un-sauced & unseasoned. However, the one thing that killed the vibe was the additional deep fried enoki mushrooms, which absorbed way too much oil and tasted slightly sickening. Maybe the oil was old, or perhaps their deep fryer wasn’t hot enough, resulting in a surfeiting enoki tempura.⠀
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Despite these minor shortcomings at @ricebowl.san , I can definitely vouch for how tasty & affordable these bowls are.

@jiak_song star attraction is supposed to be their handmade noodles, but as toothsome as those noods are, they simply can’t hold a candle to their tom yum broth. The Tom Yum Mee Hoon Kway ($5.80 nett) is a big bowl with lots of charmingly chewy mee hoon kway (flat hand torn noodles), slices of poached fish & minced pork, but all of that are just witnesses to the glory of the terrific tom yum soup.⠀
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Jiak Song’s tom yum takes the ubiquitous Thai spicy soup and amps every attribute up to eleven. It’s sumptuously salty, satisfyingly sour and most importantly of all, the spice is violent enough to ignite a wildfire on your tongue. This stellar spicy soup flavours every single ingredient in the bowl, and it’ll spice up your day too. For under six bucks, this banging bowl of tom yum noodles offers absolutely unparalleled value.

I’ve never had a @shakeshacksg chicken sandwich before as I kept getting waylaid by the beef burgers, but I finally got around to sampling a chicken sandwich from the Shack with their limited time Chipotle Cheddar Chicken Sandwich. Normally the sandwich alone would cost $11.80, but I managed to snag a deal off the Happy Point app that had a meal deal for twelve bucks flat. Now that’s an absolute bargain.⠀
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The Shack offers you a choice between breasts or thighs, and since I’m a man of culture, I chose to bury my face into some thighs. Boy have I been depriving myself for so long, Shake Shack’s chicken sandwiches are stupendously sublime! The thick fillet was so incredibly juicy that each bite will yield a burst of juice from the meat, and even though the batter encasing the chicken was a little greasy, it was conspicuously crispy.⠀
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However, most of the flavours here were provided by the chipotle fortified ShackSauce and chipotle cheese sauce. The double hit of chipotle gives you an in your face blast of peppery heat before yielding to the salty cheesiness of the cheese sauce, and the flavourful familiarity of the chipotle enhanced ShackSauce. There is a little dollop of pickled onions to try and cancel out the cheesy, deep fried richness, but it needed more to make its impact felt.⠀
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However, the Dragonfruit Pomegranate Lemonade was the ideal drink to wash away the greasy goodness. It’s fantastically fruity thanks to the dragonfruit & pomegranate which takes the sourness of the lemonade and turns it into a refreshing, sweet & sour fruity drink that’ll quench any thirst. Perfect for sipping on and cleansing your palate while you alternate between bites of the stellar Chipotle Cheddar Chicken Sandwich, and the Chipotle Cheddar Fries, which feature the Shack’s fabulous fries covered in a deluge of, you guessed it the same Chipotle Cheddar sauce that’s on the sandwich.⠀
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These Chipotle Cheddar specials & the Dragonfruit Pomegranate Lemonade will only be available until the end of February, so you guys got a week left to get stuck in before it’s gone forever!

I know, desserts are distractions designed by the buffet to divert you from where the money is, the meat & the seafood, but I can’t ignore these seemly sweets. I can’t, I’m not strong enough. Besides, everyone has a magical dessert stomach that manifests only when desserts are ingested.⠀
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Colony’s dessert lineup might just be the most comprehensive one I’ve seen so far in Singapore. The Nyonya sweets like ondeh ondeh, rainbow kueh & ang ku kueh all earned the ultimate Asian accolade of ‘not too sweet’, but were all unremarkable otherwise. The real stars of the dessert were the chocolate bars, the refreshing orange sorbet, and the assorted pastries.⠀
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I reckon that the chocolate bars are created in house, and I’m pleasantly amazed that they can actually compete with the established chocolate confectioners. As charming as the chocolate was, it paled in comparison to the perfection of the pastries. The Green Tea Raspberry was definitely the most aesthetically appealing one, and it was suitably sweet to boot. The sweet green tea filling & the raspberry glaze coexisted in harmony on a buttery, crumbly tart base, and the sweet balances with the sour superbly.⠀
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As a chocoholic, I was smitten by the Chocolate Passionfruit Tart. The passionfruit was the zesty streak that enlivened the rich, mildly bitter dark chocolate tart, creating a decadent dessert that did tasted & felt oh so right. However, my favourite dessert of the night simply has to go to the breathtaking Baked Fruit Tart. The tart shell was beautifully buttery & captivatingly crumbly, and the sweet yet tart berry and assorted fruit filling was perfection. Sticky, sweet without going overboard, with a tinge of tartness from the berries to restrain the sugars, this tart is a tremendous treat to end the buffet.⠀
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My body is so ready to get my stomach colonised by Colony again.⠀

And now we get to the meat of the matter, Colony’s sweeping spread of meaty marvels. The third meat that deserves special mention are the delightful Dukkah Spiced Baby Lamb Ribs. Thanks to the dukkah spice, the tremendously tender lamb ribs are stunningly savoury with a little smidge of sweetness, and the lamb itself bears only the slightest trace of gaminess. While the traditional mint jelly condiment is suitable for the lamb, the herby & subtly spicy chimichurri was a much better accompaniment to the luscious lamb.⠀
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Of course, there are a lot more mouthwatering meats in Colony’s boundless buffet, and I’ve made myself hungry while writing this. And now I want-no, I NEED to go back to Colony soon.

And now we get to the meat of the matter, Colony’s sweeping spread of meaty marvels. My unexpected favourite of the night, however, is the Wok Fried Pork Rib in Aged Black Vinegar with Lychee. Despite the deceptively dry appearance, these juicy pork ribs slid right off the bone like a seasoned stripp-I mean, like butter off hot pancakes. The aged black vinegar, lychee and other seasonings combined to form a glaze that tasted similar to sweet & sour pork, but less sweet, with the sour edge slightly less sharp and more salty. ⠀
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Of course, there are a lot more mouthwatering meats in Colony’s boundless buffet, and I’ve made myself hungry while writing this. And now I want-no, I NEED to go back to Colony soon.

And now we get to the meat of the matter, Colony’s sweeping spread of meaty marvels. Every self respecting buffet makes a cut of beef rib the jewel of their meat lineup, and Colony certainly knows how to show off. ⠀
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Their behemoth bone in grilled ribeyes are showcased splendidly, and the beef does the presentation justice. It’s rather juicy despite spending some time under the heat lamp of death, and flavour wise, that’s where the supplemental sauces shine. The standard whole grain mustard, Pommery mustard & horseradish are there to balance out the rich fattiness of the beef with their heat, and they’re quite a capable condiment. The pinot noir morel sauce was smooth, rich and full of umami morel mushroom bits, but I feel like it could’ve been a touch saltier to make the ribeye truly tremendous. Oddly enough, I found myself gravitating to the strangely satisfying onion marmalade to accompany the beef with its sweet & jammy attributes. ⠀
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Of course, there are a lot more mouthwatering meats in Colony’s boundless buffet, and I’ve made myself hungry while writing this. And now I want-no, I NEED to go back to Colony soon.

The answer is simple: we grab Colony’s stellar Singapore Chili Crab from the Chinese section and marry it to the lobster. The Singapore Chili Crab is already sufficiently sublime by its lonesome, with the succulent, sweet & soft crabmeat inundated with that dreamy deluge of sweet, spicy & savoury chili & egg gravy that breathes life into everything it touches. However, generously scoop the gravy all over the luscious lobster, and you have an indescribably indulgent seafood sensation. The sweet & savoury qualities of the thick gravy amplify the mild flavours of the lobster, and the firm texture of the lobster holds up to the thick eggy gravy superbly.⠀
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An unlimited supply of grilled Boston Lobsters and sumptuous Singapore Chili Crab is more than sufficient to make Colony’s seafood dinner buffet ($112++ per head) worth every last penny, but wait, THERE’S MORE!

It’s exceptionally easy to eat more than your money’s worth at Colony, especially when they offer up swanky seafood like Grilled Boston Lobsters, grilled à la minute. They don’t grill it to order, but they put out a few grilled lobsters, and slap a few more on the grill. I was a little skeptical at first, but after witnessing how extraordinarily quickly all the lobsters got snapped up by ravenous diners, I was convinced. The crustaceans simply don’t stay long enough on the line to lose their freshly grilled appeal!⠀
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The lobsters are grilled to utter perfection, boasting a firm, dense, slightly springy yet tender texture. The flesh was not even remotely mushy, a testament to the freshness of the lobsters served. They were simply seasoned with clarified herb butter, chives & some salt, which was enough for these luscious lobsters to satisfy. However, we’re at Colony, we’re here for hedonism and excess. So how do we make a luxe dish even more opulent?⠀
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