Forty Hands in the hipster neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru has been one of my regular breakfast hangout spots since its opening in Oct 2010. 7 years down, the place seemed to have mellowed down, but its artisanal coffee blends and inventive breakfast plates, including the ever-popular Dongpo pork with steamed mantou buns (called “kong bak pau” in Singapore) are all still there.
Yes, very sad. One of the original trailblazers of Singapore’s brunch scene, but even they were not able to survive the (economic) ravages of COVID.
BTW, one of the hottest brunch places now is Dearborn in New Bahru - a short Grab/taxi ride from Tiong Bahru. Friends/relatives from Singapore visiting me in Penang will never fail to bring bags of their dark chocolate hazelnut and sea salt granola - BEST in Singapore!
Thanks for the Dearborn tip. I’ve searched and read your Tiong Bahru posts on HO. Tiong Bahru Market and Ting Heng seem to be walking distance from the hotel we’ll be staying at.
But there are so many other things for try at the food centre (it is upstairs of the market) - you can go back for days to explore everything. A more recent article on eating out there by Alvin Lim:
@medgirl This place is not in Tiong Bahru, but Singapore is so small and its transportation system is so efficient, nowhere is too far or inconvenient to get to:
The Coconut Club - IMO, best nasi lemak in town.
Let me get back to you with Novena food recs. It’s one of my favorite neighborhoods, but there have been so many changes to the food scene there over the last two years! One of the must-go places there has to be Boon Tong Kee on Balestier Road for its Hainanese chicken rice: an 18 minutes’ walk from Novena MRT station, or a 5-minute Grab ride from Novena Square.
I second the coconut club recommendation. I like the other dishes bette than the nasi lemak. You can order the rice, peanut, anchovies and sambal set (they are excellent) and have them with other dishes (refills of the former unlimited) rather than the nasi lemak plate only. Their satay is excellent ( I’m not as big a fan of satay outside of Indonesia but this is more Javanese style to me), along with the otah, rendang, lamb ribs and sotong dishes.
Novena MRT station runs right under the small but busy Novena Square mall. It’s also connected by an underground pedestrian walkway to United Square mall adjacent to it. I actually prefer the eateries at United Square, for example:
Wee Nam Kee - one of the top 5 Hainanese chicken rice spots in Singapore, IMO.
Soup Restaurant for its Samsui Chicken with minced ginger dip, steamed minced pork pattie with salted duck’s egg yolk, various Cantonese stir-fries and soups.
Ya Kun Kaya Toast - for Hainanese breakfast sets.
Ichiban Boshi - casual Japanese bistro. But Velocity@Novena Square (a new wing of Novena Square has Omote, a very well-regarded Japanese bistro.
328 Katong Laksa - a branch of the famous outlet in Katong.
For Novena Square itself, besides Omote, try:
TungLok Peking Duck
Xin Wang Hong Kong Café
The others are typical mall outlets. I do stop by the Old Chang Kee counter to pick up its curry puffs sometimes.
The London branch is quite pricey, as compared to back home in Singapore, but it’s the only place in the City where I can taste at least 90% authentic Singapore flavors!
