When translated, bibimbap literally means “mixed rice”. A staple and a widely popular dish in every Korean diner and restaurant, bibimbap stands to be a crowd favourite due to its colourful plating and a comfort food to most stemming from the simplicity of fluffy warm rice with condiments. With tens of variations and a stretch to say that this dish can be indefinitely tweaked to one’s satisfaction, one can expect to enjoy bibimbap the way they want to; as comfort food. Paik’s Bibim has been one of my go-to places for a hearty and generous serving of bibimbap, serving up healthy portions of rice with various condiments. Their Teriyaki Chicken Bibimbap ($8.50) is a deliciously light and creamy bowl of goodness topped with teriyaki chicken chunks, crisp salad leaves, shavings of seaweed and crunchy tenkasu (bits of deep-fried flour batter). The bibimbap on its own could get a little jelak (Malay for bored, used to describe a boredom in eating) after a while, but with the little crunchy balls of tenkasu and a sweet and spicy kick from their gochujang sauce (red chilli paste, sweeter than it sounds), it becomes a refreshing and healthy meal to kickstart any day.

After writing up on lesser-known upscaled, “mid-scaled”, midtown, uptown funk gon’ give it to you (???) joints for a while, there was one place that I’ve always wanted to talk about and promote simple because of how accessible and amazingly delicious their dishes still remain to be. The Astons name is of course, no stranger to Singapore’s bustling chain restaurant scene. From its humble beginnings in 2005 as a western hawker stall helmed by the very man himself, Aston Soon, to a global empire with 11 brands and 35 outlets worldwide. Of course, with a business as expansive as that, it comes as no surprise that delicious food and good quality can be expected when dining at any Aston’s outlet. With a vast menu including most recognisable western favourites such as Pork Chops ($12.90) and Surf & Turf ($21.90), the food at Aston’s is affordable and positively consistent. Their Chargrilled Chicken ($10.90) is one simply delicious blueprint for their Grillworks Chicken menu, featuring succulent and juicy chicken with crispy skin. My personal favourite at Aston’s is their Fiery Chicken ($10.90), a spicy take on their Chargrilled Chicken that promises nothing less than a savoury, spicy chicken packed with flavour. Served with two complimentary sides from their menu, the Fiery Chicken stands as my favourite chicken dish in Singapore that I’ve come to have by the dozens.

Settling in to a continuation of our previous ramen review, the innovative world of rich flavourful broths, light springy noodles, golden oozing ajitamas and tender melt-in-the-mouth slices of chashu still remains to be one of the greatest things man has come to achieve in its deepest respects. After all, a life without ramen, is a life without ramen. With every ramen shop crafting their very own recipes from scratch, the wonders of this perennial plethora of noodles remain infinite, limited only by one’s imagination. Despite this being the case, one must never forget the very roots they try to tear themselves away from in an ardent desperation for recognition. Yes I’m talking about places that sell over-zealous products of a failed fusion that end up being a miss more than a hit. Nevertheless, a place that remains true to tradition while still standing out to be one of the best ramens one can get in Singapore’s blistering warmth is Sanpoutei Ramen. Established in 1967, their broth has a unique flavour of dried sardines that give a subtle umami, its aroma exuding from the very moment the bowl is set onto your table. Served with long and tender strips of aburi chashu that simply melt in your mouth, their noodles are made fresh daily in house within a specialised noodle-making room within the restaurant’s confines. Their W Soup Tonkotsu Ramen with flavoured soft-boiled egg ($16++) still remains to be my fourth favourite ramen in Singapore (yes it’s not my favourite-favourite, the competition is abundant).

Every person has their single favourite thing to eat in the world. For me, it just happens to be a hearty bowl of ramen. Deliciously comforting, warm, versatile, flavourful, thick (so on and so forth the usage of colourful adjectives never ceases to exist). Over the years, it has become a personal conquest of sorts to try and seek out the single best bowl of ramen in this country with a year-round summer calendar. The only irony that I found difficult to believe and even more difficult to accept is that it slipped my mind entirely to write up a single article about it in the past 21 posts since the inception of this platform, despite the whole inspiration behind @thintbites stemming from wanting to educate and promote the curious world of ramen specifically. Transitioning back to the core values of trying to actually inform and educate readers about a past dining experience, Kanshoku Ramen Bar is the brainchild of fellow Singaporeans Melvin and Brendon, whose commitment to serving up fresh, healthy and delicious ramen is apparent in every bowl. A litmus test of sorts that I’ve initiated and tried over the years to determine the prowess of a ramen kitchen has been to order the simplest ramen their menu could offer; in definition, the cheapest bowl of ramen on any menu. Luckily, the Kanshoku Signature Ramen ($13.90++) was a hearty and scrumptious bowl of ramen executed perfectly. The tonkotsu broth which has been boiled for 8 hours in filtered water (with no salt nor preservatives) was rather pleasantly sweeter than most tonkotsu broths available. Of course, that familiar richness was still apparent. At the end of the day, less is more. Ironically as I’ve learned from writing extra-lengthy reviews such as this, more is also less.

The Marmalade Pantry, through its brand new outlet opening at the heart of the city in ION Orchard, as well as a collaborative menu with Singapore’s very own Genevieve Lee (runner-up of MasterChef Singapore) has caused quite a stir in the ever-bustling food community. With a second visit to the flagship ION Orchard outlet planned in mind, a prerequisite dinner at one of its original outlets located at the Oasia Hotel Downtown was in order. Chic, elegant and modern, The Marmalade Pantry’s decor combined with the architectural genius of high ceilings of the hotel lobby was more than a pleasant welcome to the establishment. Their Roasted Stuffed Chicken ($28++) showcases a beautifully stuffed French-cut chicken breast with sun-dried tomatoes and portobello mushrooms, served with some simply seared asparagus, heirloom carrots and roasted potatoes before being rounded off with a seductive Dijon Velouté sauce. Simple and well-executed, with the stuffed tomatoes giving the chicken a delectable savouriness when paired with the sauce altogether. Worth a visit for entertaining work associates or even a laid-back weekend dinner.

To start off, there is a critical need to inform readers that Peruvian food is not de facto Spanish food. Rather, Peruvian cuisine takes its influences and roots in cultural fusion, with flavours encompassing Spanish, African and even the Chinese and Japanese. Of course, being a crown jewel representative of a mosaic of cultures that are already present in Singapore, a Peruvian restaurant had to make its mark in this wonderfully apt country. TONO Cevicheria was vibrant and colourful, while still maintaining a rustic charm. With items on their menu showcasing both traditional and new-school takes on ceviches and meat dishes, there was an air of curiosity as to every bite of their dishes. We started with their Ceviche Verde ($28++), a classic variation of a ceviche that resembles and is often referred to as “green ceviche”. Beautifully marinated cubes of their catch of the day (Kinmedai, or Golden Eye Snapper) played harmoniously with the tangy and peppery jalapeño and lime marinate alongside shavings of corn tortilla crisps for that added bite. Their Arroz Mariscos ($34++) is a must-order, a dish that featured TONO’s special seafood-rich rice with meaty chunks of sweet shrimp, squid and rather fresh clams. Decadent and exciting, each bite of the rice was further enhanced by the subtle vibrancy of lime and chilli, a nice touch that displays the discipline of the recipe. Their Sudado ($38++) came next, a Peruvian fisherman stew with half a snapper, some clams and a rich seafood broth with onions, tomatoes, parsley, white wine and oregano.

Glasshouse by DHM (Deliciae Hospitality Management) is a multi-concept two-storey terrace with four restaurants encompassing various cuisines and menus that customers can indulge in at the same time. Nestled comfortably in the side of Robinsons The Heeren, the mainly alfresco dining experience gives customers the option of ordering from the menus of four eponymous restaurants in DHM’s namesake grasp, from handcrafted juicy burgers hailing from &Made to communal tapas and Spanish classics delectably created by Sabio. A weekend lunch over a fortnight ago gave me the opportunity to try a single dish from one of their concepts, the L’Entrecôte Steak & Fries Bistro. Of course, eponymous to their restaurant and being in fact, the only main course served in their menu (the only other exception being a singular XXL upsized version of the same dish) is their Trimmed Entrecôte Steak ($34.90++). Served with their self-proclaimed legendary sauce, a generous portion of straight cut fries and a green walnut salad, the experience was sadly rather lacklustre. Entrecôte (French for “between the ribs”) is essentially just a ribeye steak that is prepared and served off the bone, conclusively being a rather thin boneless ribeye steak. The entrecôte steak served at L’Entrecôte at the Glasshouse was rather tough for my liking, and chewing became a bore by the fourth inconclusive bite. The only redeeming factor of the dish was in fact, the delightful mustard-forward sauce that paired wonderfully with the crisp and simply seasoned straight-cut fries.

Located underneath a vertical transportation unit in the form of a motor-driven moving staircase (aka escalator) at Suntec City, Cio Enzyme Drink sells various enzyme-packed concoctions with abundantly prolific flavours such as Lychee, Winter Melon or Passion Fruit. Whether you’re looking to supplement your ever-diminishing returns on natural enzymes or curiously fall prey to the placebo of the universal weight-loss regime, Cio Enzyme Drink serves up thirst-quenching and refreshing beverages loaded with goodness for people with a vitality fetish. Their Lychee Enzyme Drink ($5.80) was essentially a vinegar-based solution with a fermented lychee flavouring that was rather too vinegary. As it goes with universal and factual knowledge that this Instagram food blog in particular happens to churn out in sufficient bite-sized articles every two days, vinegar has a rather significant role in breaking down carbohydrates, which of course, may contribute to weight loss. As with the drink’s main feature, enzymes (throwback to all of your secondary 3 elective biology notes) are biological molecules that catalyse chemical reactions that take place between cells (lock-and-key hypothesis hurr durr). In essence, a chug of a Cio Enzyme Drink is beneficial to your mortal existence in many ways including improving blood circulation, digestion and metabolism.

I love cocktails. There is nothing quite like a refreshing combination of spirits, liquors, juices and garnishes to create that perfect elixir to imbibe at any time and mood. Be it an invigorating Martini on a cloudy mid-week afternoon, a Negroni catalysing an evening of thoughtful contemplation, or even that addictive zing of the first sip of a Daiquiri on a warm Singaporean afternoon by the balcony. From juicing your own limes to infusing liquors with external components, the art of mixology and hand-crafting cocktails has always been an avid fascination of mine, especially when it came to interesting combinations outside of what we would normally perceive to be the norm. An evening at Jekyll and Hyde was indeed an eye-opener to this ideology of both precise and whimsical mixology, with each exhibiting their own unique characteristics and flavours. Their signature cocktail, Mr Bean ($22) became the talk of the table, and was without a doubt, a spectacle of a concoction in its most humble and essential form. Appearing as nothing more than a harmless bowl of douhua (豆花) with some rose petals, one sip was all it took to entrance us in its sweet, nutty and playfully boozy liquid. Consisting of kaya, soybean curd, Frangelico, butterscotch liqueur and vodka, Mr Bean was indeed worthy of a signature mention, despite our group’s preconception of its genius. Of course, fulfilling my alcoholic alignment with gin, I had to try another one of their signature cocktails, Kyoishii ($22). A tart and robust cocktail with blooming floral notes in the right places, Kyoishii was a delicious combination of gin, lime juice, Kyoho grape liqueur, sloe gin and egg white. I would highly recommend an evening at this dark and secluded abode for some wonderfully apt cocktails.

When it comes to food that is a cumulation of various cultures and ideas that sprouted as a result of meandering from the norm (aka fusion food), there is somehow an inevitable formation of a grey area where the dishes become lacklustre and the fusion fails to even occur. Well thankfully, HĒ Bistro and Bar seems to lying comfortably, albeit just inches short of this uncertain area, serving up fusion dishes combining Western cuisine with Singaporean flavours. Their Har Cheong Kai 鸡-ken Cutlet ($22) arrives at the table looking like a simple chicken cutlet meal one can expect from a Western hawker stall, but a first bite of the crispy, golden-brown cutlet released that ever so familiar flavour of prawn paste chicken together with the thin but juicy deboned chicken drumstick meat. Served with a fresh salad, some fries (although written on the menu as criss-cut fries, I received straight-cut fries) and spicy chinchalok which gave a nice contrast of flavours. Their Chilli Crappy Pasta ($22) was however a fair bit of a let-down. The sauce was undesirably diluted and watery to say the least, and little of the actual chilli crab flavour was present. On the other hand, one of the sauces that managed to subdue my attention was the Kopi sauce used in their Kopi Ribeye Steak ($30), which seems to go surprisingly well with the beef given that coffee and meat is of course, a modern classic flavour combination. Suffice to say as a place serving fusion cuisine, there could definitely be more finesse in the execution of the dishes, despite its creative output.

Merely a stone’s throw and a scenic walk through and from our previous destination at Tipo lies a stark and bright little shophouse within the already stark and bright Haji Lane. Bubbly and cheerful in appearance, LittlePo (小坡) is instantly recognisable by the larger-than-life bubble tea sculpture just outside the shop’s entrance. The picturesque exterior is perfect for taking photos to fuel your personal vanity, or even taking photos of your recently purchased beverage from LittlePo’s craft menu to fuel your personal vanity. Before actually tasting their bubble tea drinks, I was half-certain of the extent to which the drink might disappoint, as it seems to be the case with most newer and novelty bubble tea joints to simply lack that “stand-out” quality that I’m rather akin to. Again, an introspective study in personal vanity. However, a first sip of LittlePo’s Lapsang Souchong Milk Tea ($4.90) proved me otherwise; Lapsang Souchong is known for its smoky and bold character, able to be utilised in tea-smoked dishes and even cocktails with its strong flavour profile. While most bubble teas taste of simple syrup and bottled milk, the Lapsang Souchong Milk Tea at LittlePo shined through with its sensual smokiness coalescing with the silky and creamy milk to give a bubble tea experience that is a first of many. Their Hongkong Milk Tea ($4.90) tasted similar to that of classic Hong Kong-style milk tea, with a faded but subtle black tea note that underpinned the overall beverage. Definitely worth the travel amidst the hustle and bustle of venturing through the city.

Fettucine, linguine, new Lamborghini. Recognising that two of the three given words are pasta types is of course, the first step to understanding and appreciating the beauty of the usage of three syllables in a word. Also it is common sense. A small but homely restaurant nestled within the winding streets of North Bridge Road, Tipo prides itself on making fresh and unique pasta variations in-house everyday. There is something unmistakably comforting in knowing about the identity and the near religious righteousness pasta possesses, but of course, who am I to say? I literally described pasta as “possessing religious righteousness”. Tipo offers full customisability and allows anyone to make their own pasta with their desired noodles to use, sauces and toppings. After a brisk but warm welcome into the establishment, you will be introduced to their daily selection of homemade pasta noodles beautifully presented on a tray. On the day of our visit, my partner and I were allowed to select between some lovely artisanal Lemon & Dill Mafalde, Paprika Fusilli and Sage & Onion Fettuccine. I had their Sage & Onion Fettuccine with Sautéed Prawns and White Button Mushrooms in a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce ($14.90). Spicy, tangy and simple delicious. The sautéed prawns were delectably fresh and sweet, mingling with the aromatic spicy sauce.