Looks Good Food

Sometimes all you need is a plate of comforting, downright delicious pasta. Enter Ah Bong's Italian, helmed by the affable Chef Chris, which caters to that very need by serving a range of fantastic pastas right out of a humble coffeeshop stall in Tiong Bahru Estate — for just seven bucks a plate. Choose anything that suits your fancy, from the dead-simple Bolognese, to the Birthday Pasta — a magical combination of broccoli, cream and bacon. End off with a unique dessert of the day, which sees delightful creations like Earl Grey Crème Brûlée, and wash it all down with a kopi-o from the uncle next door! There are limited portions available each day, so head down early.

@ccher and I went to @meatliquorsin expecting some damn good burgers, and damn good burgers we got. They're easily among the top 3 burgers I've had.

Both the bacon cheeseburger and the buffalo chicken burger came dripping in sauces so utterly delish that I am unashamed to say I licked them right off my fingers.

The buffalo chicken burger was particularly spectacular with a crispy fillet of breaded meat smothered in piquant buffalo sauce, its spice nicely tempered with hints of blue cheese. Definitely need to go back for more.

Rollie Olie offers gorgeous sushi rolls that are freshly made upon order. You get to choose from an interesting variety of novel Asian fusion types such as Bollywood with curry prawn filling, or the K Pop kimchi-flavoured sushi roll. Prices range from $12.95 to $16.95 per roll. For familiar flavours, go for the Sunkissed Salmon ($16.95), or the Dos Amigos ($14.95) which marries grilled eel and cream cheese, and is topped off with red roe!

Bringing life to the serene area of Chinese Gardens, The Usual Place provides home-style, no-frills Western fare. Go for their Premium Sirloin Steak with Seasoned Fries, which is attractively priced at $16.90 (!!). Don't expect a steak to die for here, but it certainly does hit the spot. Also get the Usual Wings ($6.50) for sharing — the portion serves six. For all you salted egg fans out there, the Salted Egg Prawn Pasta ($12.90) is a must try!

Wafuken prides themselves on serving food that not only tastes good, but is good for your body too. Located at the food court of Asia Square Level 2, the meats here are cooked sous-vide — an method usually employed by restaurants — ensuring a melt-in-your-mouth texture. If you're feeling like an indulgent lunch, go for their Truffle Wagyu Don ($24.90) that comes with healthy Australian brown rice and an onsen egg. For a far cheaper option, go for their Chicken Don ($8.90)!

Opening their doors at the culturally rich Desker Road is CreatureS, a a modern-day café with a gorgeous interior best described as "chillax sexy rainforest chic". Drop by after work for a drink on their balcony at sunset, then adjourn inside for a meal. The menu is full of gentle surprises, with unexpected Asian twists that seem to genuinely come from the heart. Go for their Prawn Ravioli ($22) — prawn filling encased in silky wanton wrappers, and bathed in a heavenly ginger-garlic-thyme butter sauce. Their Seafood Risotto ($30) boasts beautifully fragrant rice that gives you a hug on the inside, and is perfect for sharing between 2. You'll want to save space for a slice of their moist chocolate cake served with salted caramel, creamy coconut ice cream and topped with Himalayan sea salt. Always call in advance to make reservations!

Essentially a pistachio tart with strawberries stuffed on the top, this tart is not a typical tart with the tart base being a Pistachio Dacquoise, achieving a texture somewhat like a heavy and dense cake with grounded pistachio and Pistachio Chantilly which was pretty full of nuttiness too. Perhaps the Strawberry element can be stronger with infusions into a cream or mousse rather than just being topped above, but I would say that it is definitely still decent overall, especially for Pistachio lovers.

I've got my eye on this promising two-month-old cakes and desserts shop, run by a single lady, Yvette. She's an ex-teacher with no professional culinary background, though she did spend four months at Michelin-starred molecular gastronomy outfit, Bo Innovation. What's mindblowing is her creativity paired with the technique to pull off her ideas. She actually took inspiration from the completely unappetizing smell of ignited joss sticks in Macau's temples, and turned it into this one-of-a-kind dessert of whipped milk pudding and fine biscuit crumble trapped with an aromatic puff of smoke from burning wood chips. Can someone say, genius?!

My absolute favourite dish here has pork shoulder cooked in the oven for 10 hours, with home-pickled jalapeños, cheese, coleslaw and chipotle aioli between homemade buns. Can't quit raving about how splendid this is, from its flavour to its bite to the dishy sous chef (Manuel Maldonado) behind the counter. 😏

How to have your chilli crab and eat it without getting your hands dirty: have it neatly stuffed in a crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside pan-seared bun. Major yum!

Little Hiro is so new - it was previously known as Burger Shack - that I can't geotag it. But now you know where to go for a smashing burger that's out of the norm - this one has imported Japanese noodles cooked in a broth of pork, chicken and shio before being shaped with the help of egg yolk. Smooshed between the chewy "buns" are impeccably crispy, breadcrumbed chicken and a generous emollient of homemade egg mayo. It's darn filling, so please share.