Malaysian/Indonesian

I’ve always loved the fast casual Tok Tok Soup House concept, especially when they were conveniently located just around the corner at Ann Siang Hill. So when I heard they were opening a more refined, full-fledged restaurant, I was soooo stoked — and for good reason too. Besides the familiar rendang and ayam penyet we so loved, I was super impressed by their menu of meats and seafood. Take this massive Ikan Goreng: it’s definitely not the cheapest around at $33.80, but let me tell y’all it’s well worth the price. For one, it’s massive. Easily feeding 3-4, the fried red snapper was beautifully golden and crisp on the outside, tender, meaty and juicy on the inside. Certainly not greasy, and exceedingly shiok to wolf down alongside a plate of their nasi uduk.

That’s all I gotta say. Well not really, but tl;dr that’s my sentiments towards FANGKO’s Smash Chimken with Rice ($7). I took my first bite, paused, took another, then proceeded to mass text all my indo friends saying “dudes y’all gotta try this it’s some badass shit.” That’s how impressed I was. You can choose your spice level from 0-12 — we got 5, and I’ll tell you it packed a solid kick. Not the my-tongue-is-dead-I’m-tearing sorta spicy, but enough for me to consistently reach for my iced coffee. Now that smashed chicken (basically what I figure to be shredded and re-fried fried chicken): a good ratio of skin to meat so you get crispy charred bits of skin in each bite, and really tender, tasty chicken. It’s simple, nothing ingenious; but it’s very well-executed, super hearty and satisfactory. Suffice to say I went at it after my first bite, not noticing I was nearing my last till it was all gone 🥲

We checked out this quaint little lok lok stall barely weeks into their operations, and was mighty pleased with their food 🥰 I mean you can’t really go wrong with deep fried food, but what I especially love about Yummy Singapore is their wide range of ingredients + UHMAZING homemade sauces. There’s a fucking solid satay sauce, an honestly punchy chilli sauce, and a rather addictive sweet chilli one as well — one for any occasion really 😉 And what more, every ingredient was fried perfectly (read: nothing was burnt) which isn’t something you can always be assured of across the causeway.

I’ve known about Tok Tok for years now. I can’t quite say why it took me so long to visit; but I guess it was the combination of Indonesian friends swearing by them for 10/10 authentic Indonesian grub + the complete inability to visit Bali, that finally got me there. And might I say I was disappointed in myself for not having gone there sooner? This Nasi Campur was everything I remember of Bali: fragrant hot rice, a sweet crunchy kicap manis-ridden tempeh, a rich tender rendang, and tons of other tasty af components — served with a fucking punchy sambal on the side. FYI they make a fucking solid teh susu like yo I couldn’t stop reaching for the damn straw.

Ahhhh, the joy of finding a piece of Bali here in Singapore is fantastic 🥰 yeah there are many beach clubs around Sentosa, but what really stands Rumours apart from the others is the huge variety of Balinese food they offer. This Balinese Mixed Rice ($18++) comes with hearty sides of beef rendang, shredded chicken, beef jerky, grilled sambal beef satay, long beans, marinated egg, tempeh, and a side of fiery sambal. Without going on a never-ending description of each component, I’ll just say that everything was executed perfectly, and tasted pretty much as authentic as it can get. The rendang was tender and had wonderful flavours, the beef jerky had very nicely caramelised and crisp edges, and man they definitely didn’t hold back on the heat with that sambal as well. It’s super tasty, and packs quite a massive punch after your first couple of bites — looooove it.

Man the rice was soft, fluffy, moist without clumping together, and so so soooo fragrant I’m going as far as to call it the best I’ve had of late. And that fried chicken: crispy batter surrounding unimaginably tender meat. It was so good I got another side of fried chicken breast, and oof is it the best hawker fried chicken or the best hawker fried chicken (no I’m not giving you an option).

When I saw it among the other dishes at the display, I wasn’t all that impressed really. It looked small, limp, a little bit sad and dejected, and it’s only cause I love tahu telur did I decided what the heck just give it a go. And I gotta say: best decision. First off, the serving is huge, which really pleased the cheapo in me who balked at the $27 receipt for a nasi padang meal. Upon order they refry it to a perfect golden brown, adding just enough crunch without drying out the insides. I’ve had loads of tahu telurs where they over fry it during the reheating process, causing the soft, fluffy insides to toughen up way too much. Rumah Makan Minang’s though was downright perfect. My only gripe’s that the sauce was too sweet for me. A touch more salt and heat would’ve been 👌🏻🤤

A family-owned nasi padang stall with tons of history, Rumah Makan Minang’s got a massive variety of dishes on display. I gotta admit being a tad overwhelmed by the stacked dishes brimming with curries and meats 😶 But my oh my were they yummy. There wasn’t too much we could down between the 2 of us, so we settled for the usual few of beef rendang, sambal goreng, begedil, etc. All I can say is we were super satisfied. Everything was cooked superbly, flavours so robust and punchy, with an evident yet bearable kick of chilli constantly lingering at the back of our tongues. I only wish we managed to try the Ayam Bakar Veronica raved so much about — we ordered it and got dished up ayam masak merah instead 😅