Salt Tapas and Bar

There are a few café and restaurants outside the air-conditioned Raffles City Shopping Centre – Costa Coffee faces St Andrew's Cathedral, Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant and Marché Mövenpick are nearer to Chjimes while Salt Tapas and Bar by Luke Mangan overlooks Raffles Hotel which is currently undergoing renovations. The latter, a slightly more casual extension to Salt Grill and Sky Bar on the 55th floor of Ion Orchard, is a quaint odd-shaped place with red bricks that offers $19 lunch sets (choose from seven main courses and it comes with coffee, tea or soft drinks) and 5 tapas for $50. You can add $3 for sides and $8 for dessert of the day. These are good deals, considering how much the same item costs on the à la carte menu. Visited for lunch on a weekday and sat indoor at one of the 120 seats as the weather was not cooling enough for alfresco dining.

While pork ribs with miso and honey-soy glaze was tender, had to intersperse it with the accompanying pickled cucumber, apple and wasabi slaw. Roasted barramundi – served with mussels, caper berries and fregula in "crazy water", had a crisp skin and was neither mushy nor fishy. Found the Westholme Wagyu brisket sliders with aged cheddar, pickled beetroot and horseradish aioli too gamely for my liking though the fries was good. It was my first time trying lamb kofta with couscous, golden raisins, almonds, yogurt, cucumber, lime and mint. A tad spicy and exotic, not something I would order again. Decided against paying $8 for two scoops of strawberry sorbet and instead went for the churros with dark chocolate sauce, raspberry rose jam and cream. We had better ones before but this was not too bad either.

Tokyo Sundubu

While Sundubu is a Korean tofu stew cooked with vegetables and meat or seafood, I first ate it at a Japanese restaurant that has since closed. The dish supposedly gained popularity after a Korean opened a sundubu restaurant in Los Angeles. There are two branches of Tokyo Sundubu, Japan's largest sundubu restaurant chain, in Singapore – Raffles City Shopping Centre and Suntec City's Eat @ Seven. Though my dining companions and I visited the former on weekdays (once for lunch and once for dinner), waited very long for our orders to arrive if our food was even served. We had Mushroom Sundubu, Kuro-Buta Sundubu, Kuro-Buta Mushroom Sundubu, Seafood Sundubu and Cheese Sundubu. Among us, we also tried different combinations of all its soup bases and levels of spiciness. I liked the salt and ginger soup base at level 1 as its taste was not overwhelmed by the miso and/or spice. Found the portion too small though, and its price a tad high.

The Coffee Academics Revisited

We went Raffles City Shopping Centre over the weekend to have late lunch, and decided on the coffee specialty store from Hong Kong. Saw customers at the table beside me eating Crispy Fish Fillet Tacos, which looked delicious so I ordered that. Crunchy taco shells went well with the fish fillet topped with chipotle mayonnaise that was not too cloying. Taste was accentuated by the fresh mango salsa – both sweet and tart at the same time, and coriander leaves. While I could neither rave about the accompanying seasonal greens nor fault the crispy curly fries, they were perfect when interspersed between mouthfuls (or bites, if you prefer) of tacos. My dining companion, who has not tried The Coffee Academics before, went for the Academics Breakfast. A hard-to-go-wrong dish consisting of pork bockwurst sausage, Pio Tosini Prosciutto di Parma, homemade baked beans, roasted baby potatoes and choice of eggs served with toasted bread and seasonal garden greens.

The Coffee Academics

The Coffee Academics opened a 2nd branch in Singapore after Scotts Square, beside Tiong Bahru Bakery at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre. A dining companion chose this highly-rated coffee specialty store from Hong Kong only because of its lunch sets, consisting a pasta or pizza (choose from 3 options) and coffee/tea. As the Academics Breakfast was priced almost twice that of the lunch set, we settled for the obvious. Three of us shared the Fungi Pizza, Shrimps Arrabiata and Academics Cinnamon Churros. We could neither rave about the thin crust tomato-based pizza with succulent shiitake mushrooms and mozzarella cheese, nor fault the al dente spaghetti with spicy tomato sauce and small frozen shrimps. The four churros, served with a scoop of lovely TCA blend gelato and too-watery chocolate dipping sauce, cost more than a lunch set and was not worth the amount we paid for it. Both the Long Black and Cappuccino did not disappoint – smooth, medium-bodied and not too acidic.

Andong Zzimdak

Read about Andong Zzimdak, located at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre, and have wanted to try the Korean place despite its limited menu. The name plays on the word "jjimdak", a braised chicken dish from Gyeongsangbukdo, Andong. As I have never tried jimdak before and the smallest portion here is good for two to three people, have been apprehensive in suggesting the place to my dining companions in case we did not like it. Until I recently found out about its $12.90 lunch sets, and decided to visit on a weekday. Had the Andong Jjimdak set, which is one of the four main dishes on the à la carte menu (the rest are boneless, seafood and spicy versions) and also one of the four lunch sets available.

Comnam Vietnamese Street Eats

Located at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre beside Nam Nam Noodles Bar is Comnam, another Vietnamese restaurant founded by chef-owner Nam Quoc Nguyen with the Les Amis group. The former which serves phô and báhn mì can also be found at Plaza Singapura, Resorts World™ Sentosa, Suntec City and Wheelock Place. Although this is the only branch of Comnam Vietnamese Street Eats, it is rarely packed. And the focus here is South Vietnamese staple of supposedly lower-grade broken rice, previously meant for poorer people, with less fibre and nutrients. My choice of lunch set was rice bowl of kimchi fried brown rice with tender and flavourful pork simmered in caramelised shrimp paste sauce, pickles and Vietnamese steamed egg with pork and fungus so salty I cringed with every bite. Could neither rave about the Vietnamese black coffee nor fault its soup of the day. Similarly for the crispy vegetable spring rolls and shrimp paste sticks that I also tried.

Tiong Bahru Bakery

An artisan bakery by French baker Gontran Cherrier has been a hit since it first opened in the Tiong Bahru neighbourhood. By Spa Espirit Group which also owns Kiasu Espresso, it now has two more branches at Raffles City Shopping Centre and Tangs Orchard. Serving what some claim to be the best croissant in town, I left the bakery-café without buying anything as it did not look light and flaky. Then one day, someone who was in the area and heard how good the croissant was bought it for me. I was not impressed by its unevenly risen dough and lamented how the croissant (better ones can be found at Maison Kayser and Paris Baguette) could not make it. Was told its squid ink bun, chocolate croissant and kouign aman were good. The latter, also highly recommended by staff, is Breton's cake with salted butter and sugar. So I thought to myself that maybe I should try other items.

Eat at Taipei

Many locals love travelling to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Taiwan to eat and shop. As I am not a fan of tom yum soup, I prefer the special administrative region of the People's Republic of China to Thailand. And Taiwan would lie somewhere in between these two, for its cheap and mostly good street food as well as being a destination where I got to experience both the city and nature. With three branches in Singapore, Eat at Taipei brings to life Taiwanese distinctive and trendy street dining subculture by emulating the many fascinating characteristics of its night markets. Colourful signboards that characterise the contemporary capital combined with traditional back-to-basics dining of wooden tables and chairs to exude the buzz of nocturnal street food culture without the crowd, smell and noise. The first opened along the perimeter of JCube's ice skating rink, followed by the ones at Chinatown Point after its renovations and Raffles City Shopping Centre (not in sequential order).

Menya Musashi

My dining companions and I were looking for a place to lunch at Westgate yesterday when we chanced upon Menya Musashi's lunch sets at $13.90 for a ramen and a side dish. Since Ippudo has yet to open and Paul is better known for its pastries and sweets, we decided to try this Japanese ramen chain located on the 2nd floor. Established since 1996 in Japan, it was named after legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi famous for his double sword style. Other branches in Singapore include Bedok Mall, Ion Orchard, Raffles City Shopping Centre, The Star Vista, Thomson Plaza and VivoCity. There are three versions of soup base for its ramen – white or original, red (spicy) and black with garlic. The tonkotsu broth is supposedly boiled with a substantial amount of pork bones for more than 9 hours with a chef stirring it every half an hour to prevent the bottom from being burned. According to the website, it is creamier than most other places.

Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant

My dining companions and I were deciding between French, German and Japanese cuisine when one of them commented that he had not tried German food before. With that, we decided on Brotzeit – literally translated in German as "bread time", a typical Bavarian expression referring to a cosy meal complemented by fresh beer. According to its website, the German Bier Bar and Restaurant opened in 2006 and offers authentic Bavarian dishes with a wide selection of world-famous German beers all day long. In fact, all its beers are made using pure spring water according to time-honoured German beer-making traditions which respect the Purity Law of 1516. As I have been to both branches at Raffles City Shopping Centre and VivoCity (that leaves The Star Vista as the only I have not been to after this), I suggested visiting the one along Discovery Walk at 313@somerset beside JiBiru Japanese Craft Beer Bar and opposite Oriole Café and Bar at Pan Pacific Serviced Suites.

Nam Nam Noodle Bar

More affordable than Annam Vietnamese Cuisine, also by Les Amis Group, is Nam Nam Noodle Bar. Its 1st branch opened at Raffles City Shopping Centre and the 2nd at B2 of Wheelock Place where Marks & Spencer used to be. Waited to be seated at the latter, indicated what I wanted on the order chit and brought it to the counter for payment. No different from Marukin Ramen, food is served to the table and there is no service charge. There were a few condiments, some with Vietnamese words including fish and hoisin sauce, and a nostalgic metal cup on every table. Red and green lanterns stood out against lots of wood in the bustling place with old pictures of Vietnam and newspaper articles that gave the place an old world charm.

New Kid on the Block – Costa Coffee

At the rate that coffee chains and independent outlets are opening one after another, either Singapore cannot get enough java or the coffee culture here is gaining ground. The more the merrier, I say so that with choices and hence competition, it will no longer be a mean feat to find good coffee. Within walking distance from Japanese's Doutor Coffee at Marina Bay Financial Centre are English's Costa Coffee at Chevron House and Australian's Jamaica Blue at One Raffles Place. And it seemed all three opened within the same week.