The Duxton/Tanjong Pagar area is really chock full of new cafes and restaurants. Broadway Cafe is a relatively new kid on the block, which I only got to now because I don't work in that area any more. One week night after a satisfying meal of xiao long baos and other Shanghainese goodies at the nearby famous Qun Zhong Eating House at 21 Neil Road, we went in search of a place to continue with our catching up (the eating house was only conducive for quick eating, not chats).

Hence Broadway Cafe. I quite liked the open concept of the shophouse space - it is very spacious and there are comfortable couches sprinkled all around.




Here's their selection for that night. Still quite a fair bit of alcoholic cakes to choose from. However we decided to go for the Belgium Chocolate (I think) since we are not sure about the rest of the available flavours.




15 Duxton Road, Singapore
+65 62246131
Mon–Thu: 11am – 1am, Fri–Sat: 11am – 3am, Sun: 11am – 7pm

341 River Valley Road, #01-03 Singapore
+65 68365286
Mon–Sat: 12pm–2.30pm, 6pm–10.30pm , Sun: 11.30am–2.30pm, 6pm–10.30pm

Now on to something other than food, I've received my first ever Bella Box a couple of days ago, and decided I'll blog about it!


The concept of the "mystery beauty box" has taken off in Singapore since December last year, with Bella Box, Vanity Trove and other brands. Bella however managed to rise above the rest because their launch was fabulous, and the packaging is the most appealing to me. For $15 a month, they will send you a box filled with samples and trial sized products which sometimes are quite value for money! Its quite a good idea because you can then buy the full-sized products from their website.


For the month of April, the theme is Flawless Beauty.




I had much higher expectations for it. Regretting my subscription now.. or rather, my luck at getting this combination as other people have CG crackle polish and Benefit hello flawless liquid foundation.

Now I am wondering if I should unsubscribe or not. Hmmm.. might just give it 1 more month. Let's see what it will bring!

Today's post about about something that is not really Singaporean, but has its roots in Malaysia. But since we are good neighbours, we like to share our cuisine too, right? Do you know they have their own version of Hokkien Mee/Noodles which is very different from ours? I didn't know at first, but now I do, and you do too! I found that out because of my 2 super foodie friends - Linda and Tim, whom are my ex-colleagues. We have been meeting up regularly to eat and they are Yoda-level at food, so padawan me has loads to learn. And Kong Kee KL Hokkien Noodles at Geylang was mentioned by Linda because it sounds very interesting - it is black, instead of the usual white.

With that I'll also like to introduce a new series on my blog - The ALT Food Tour as explored by Alexis, Linda and Tim. We are ALT, we are alternative and we are gonna eat all the good food in Singapore!








Another side dish that looked really interesting on the menu but turned out really bland was the pumpkin tofu. It was just plain tofu with a gravy that barely tasted of pumpkin. Worst dish of the lot, skip!




The best among the 3 side dishes was in fact the Dong Po meat, which is braised pork with gravy. The gravy was actually slightly tangy, and the meat was soft and succulent. It was a delight.



Lastly, the most expensive item on the menu is their Sang Har Mee. It is crispy fried noodles with giant prawns. It was also very good, less unhealthy. However I feel like I could get a better deal of a well-made crispy noodles at a zichar stall.

Was invited by the kind guys from omy.sg to partake in a food tasting at 112 or i12 Katong Mall's Food Republic on Saturday. The invite actually came up quite suddenly -- my friend Cheryl and writer of ms-skinnyfat blog actually asked me about it and it sounded pretty interesting so sure! It was slated to be from 11am to 2pm and I was telling C beforehand.. why is it 11-2, really 3 hours? Never did I anticipate it to be really.. a 3-hour eating fest. If eating is a sport, then I got invited to a marathon.

The food review is actually to try Food Republic's offerings at the rather new 112 Katong Mall. When the mall opened it was quite a big deal because the East finally had a cinema within reasonable distance! It was peranakan-themed too, which made it quite unique. I like the mall because its small and cosy, though the tenant list could be more interesting.

I never did know there was a food court in there though so am glad to find out, and also to let all my readers know, because it is a super good food court.

Of the food court itself - I really liked the floor tiles, and typically of food republic style it is laid out in quite a "cosy" format. It was comfortably filled on a Saturday early afternoon. The place was also very well-ventilated, clean and the stalls all have glass fittings so you can see the cooks create the food.



Here's 2 of them posing obligingly for me as I interrupted their conversation about DSLR camera lenses.







This was a very interesting one. The chef even came by to explain the concept of the Nasi Kuning, which means Yellow Rice. There were some fried vegetables first.







The pad thai here is great if you prefer the slightly dry version as you can tell from the photo. I prefer the wetter version you get in Thailand, which is also slightly sweeter. This is more of the "Singaporean" pad thai, I think.

The shot that made it to instagram and foodspotting and got super a lot of likes. The presentation is no doubt a visual feast! The korean stall is also apparently quite well-known in the Food Republic. As I am not such a fan of bibimbap however, I cannot claim to judge it accurately, though the mouthful I had to taste was pleasant. It is also a very healthy dish.





13. Pepper Lunch - Pepper Steak






Last but not least we ended with a Singaporean classic - the chendol. By then, you could imagine that most of us are STUFFED, so we only had 1 glass to share between me and C. Oh but it was so good! The gula melaka was so generous, and together with the coconut milk, green jelly and red beans (and 1 attap seed which C. gleefully ate), it created a perfect full stop to the marathon that we had ran.

To end of the review, this is prolly the only chance I'll have to taste so many local food in one sitting. I am happy to report that all of the dishes performed extraordinarily well and rose above the level you get in food courts. If you were to ask me which is my favorite out of the entire bunch - I would have to give my vote to the You Tiao, Dao Xiao Mian and Chendol. But don't just rely on my tastebuds - go verify it yourself! For a quick midday lunch or a fulfilling yet simple dinner, Food Republic at 112 Katong Mall is for sure the place to go.

This was an invited tasting by omy.sg