Mi BiBimBap

This place here is fast becoming one of my favorite go-to places for 2026. 

What's surprising is that I had not, never, expected it to be.

See, persons like me are generally neutral, okay okay, when it comes to Mainland Chinese food. Now, that doesn't mean that I don't like the food. It just means that I tend not to have any particular craving for it unless I have a craving for it. 

Which, to date, I gotta say, doesn't happen very often. 

Why that is, I don't especially know. 

Maybe because I haven't fully explored the presence of Mainland food yet.

And maybe I already have a couple of favorites and I kinda like going back to them again and again.

One thing about Mainland Chinese food is how large the portions are.

They really do mean it when they say that a meal is not meant to be just necessity, or sustenance, but a reward, something to anticipate, something to plan, something to look forward to. 

It is very difficult to feel shortchanged when it comes to having a meal at them Mainland Chinese places, no less too, when you eat at a place like Mi Bibimbap where the menu is Mainland Chinese, but also not quite Mainland Chinese at the same time. 

They have a lot of dishes to choose from. 

I've seen groups and diners order their favorites, whether it be the Bibimbap with the varieties of chicken, beef or pork, whether it be the stir-fried of Braised Deep Sea Cod, the Classic Sanbei Chicken, or the Braised Chicken with Potatoes. 

One thing about the menu here is that it has been planned for solo diners. 

And solo diners there are, plenty, too. 

What makes this place most charming, let me just say, is the unlimited service of rice, kimchi, and seaweed soup. 

Some people will love the unlimited servings of seaweed soup. 

Some people will love the unlimited servings of rice. 

And then some people, like me, love the unlimited kimchi. 

On some days the unlimited kimchi might not mean a lot, but more often than not, it does.

I have come to appreciate the kimchi on days when I want more bang for my buck.

I also have come to appreciate the kimchi on (caregiving) days when I need an amount of spicy kick in my meal but I don't know just how much. 

The unlimited portion thus comes in very helpful. 

One of the earliest times where I had this meal was at Bugis+. I hadn't quite come to appreciate the food there yet at that time. 

So, no pictures.

But now, whether it is at NEX or at Bugis+, yes, this place has become a pleasant choice of mine. 

One thing though, the pictures don't always look aesthetic. 

Like this first one here that looks more like a mushed up bowl of rice rather than a dish and a meal but that's because I had on that day decided not to eat my rice, kimchi and meat separately but to have them together on the spoon, so, yes, onions, angus beef slices, tang hoon, kimchi all, went into the rice bowl and I scooped them up spoon by spoon. 

Thankfully, the other two pictures look prettier, especially the pot of angus beef slices, which, by the way, has become my favorite order here at Mi Bibimbap.

The Angus Beef Bulgogi pot here is visually arresting (big), the beef slices are tender, there is smooth silky tang hoon right at the bottom, and can I say, the sauce is so fantastic that I sometimes want to just tapao it home. 

So good is t that I have not bothered at any other dish, whether it be the Mapo Tofu, the Steamed Egg or the Fish with Pickled Cabbage (which in all honesty I actually do like and want to try). 

But these be times where my money needs to stay safe, and so it is that I just go for that dish that I like. 

Maybe one day I'll go for the Fish, or the Braised Chicken with Potatoes (that sound a little like what my late grandma used to make), but as of now, when my stomach is hungry and my brain doesn't want to think, it just be the Angus Beef Bulgogi I go for. 

I'm happy that way. 

Around The Roxy

One thing I have come to understand about life is that whilst you think you might know a place, sometimes- as you dive deep- you find yourself not quite knowing as much as you thought you did, at all. 

That's how it was for me with this side of East Coast Road.

I thought I knew this place. 

East Coast Road is, after all, not new to me, having come by here many times before where I used to cycle along Ceylon Road to this stretch, or take the pedestrian pathway from Dunman Road to the back of Katong Shopping Center close to Haig Road. 

Yet, today, a slower, more scenic walk peeled back everything I thought I remembered, and I found myself seeing things in a light which I had previously not seen before. 

Could it be that I was coming from this side of the road? 

That, instead of the east-bound side where all the shop houses are, I was on the opposite side where Roxy Square is, where The Flow is, where the taller buildings stand. 

How is it that everything looks the same, yet looks so different? 

How is it that you can be standing at a spot that you used to walk past, and yet, feel something completely different from what you used to feel before? 

I thought I would feel a bit of nostalgia. 

But, I didn't. 

I didn't know what I was looking at.

I also didn't know what I was looking for. 

Yet, here I was, standing at the junction of Brooke Road and East Coast Road, looking across to the row of shop houses across the traffic barrier of green, with no plan, no idea where I wanted to go, no idea even where I was going to begin.

See, you must know that East Coast Road is a long road. 

It is also an old road, beginning from the junction where Amber Road and Haig Road meet, all the way, until you get to Siglap Road- after which it becomes Upper East Coast Road. 

How the whole road used to be- last time- I don't know- but it begins from where the landmark of Katong Shopping Center is today. 

I didn't take a picture of the shopping center this afternoon. 

What I did take, however, is of the building right beside it- Odeon Katong.

To be honest I don't know if her official name is Odeon Katong. 

What I do know is that she's not the newest building on the block, and she's called such because she used to be the Odeon cinema, and the place where the theater used to be is (likely) now Cornerstone Community Church, whose sign you will see on the exterior when standing on East Coast Road. 

By the way, I wasn't standing anywhere near Odeon Katong when I took the picture.

On the contrary, I was opposite, on the other side, at the car park outside the building called Katong V, that today has a hotel on the upper floors, eateries on the second floor, and a supermarket on the first floor.

I have no idea what this Katong V building used to be. 

But like many a building on this road, pretty sure she has a heritage story of her own.

East Coast Road gets progressively more vintage as one heads eastward.

That is, to the very least, until you hit the enclave of Joo Chiat and Joo Chiat Road, which is where this row of shophouses leads straight to.

The pictures of these shop houses are not very close, nor very clear.

My focus had been on the overhead bridge. 

That doesn't mean I'm not interested in the shop houses.

It just means that one day I shall do a more intimate walk-through of this entire stretch hosting a variety of eateries that fit nearly every palate and every appetite, that it doesn't matter if you're craving for a bowl of Katong Laksa rich with coconut milk, wanting a plate of pasta, a piece of tenderloin steak, a bowl of butter chicken, a bowl of palak paneer, a good, butter-rich strawberry muffin, or a slice of banana pie.

If there's one thing I've noticed, however, it is that there're plenty of snacks to be sold from these shop houses here.

To the left of this bridge there is a bakery that offers pastries, muffins and pies, to the right of this bridge, further on, there's Kim Choo with their Nyonya kuehs, Dona Manis with their banana pies and chocolate pies, and right as you descend, an ice cream parlor so known for their buttery waffle cones that there're long queues whenever I walk past anytime. 

What makes this section a cool place is that as much as there is to see on the east-bound side, the west-bound side doesn't lose out too.

No doubt there isn't much of a shop house here- the properties have moved in, revamped once, twice even- but there is heritage in the form of the Joo Chiat Police Station where Starbucks has now conquered and taken over. 

It is a little difficult to see just how the interior of the police station once used to be- we can only use our imagination- but with the Hotel Indigo and the Holiday Inn Express located just behind, one can say, I guess, that this structure will not be going away anywhere anytime. 

Same too, I should say, for the rest of the buildings this side of the road.

It don't matter whether the building has been recently revamped aka i12 Katong, or if the building hosts a group of tuition centers and enrichment centers. 

It also don't matter if the building has been there since the 90s and serves the community clientele with their plethora of nail salons, hairdressing salons, TCM clinics, health foods, and specialized services. 

All of these ain't going anywhere. 

You know, it was no coincidence that I happened to be at the walkway bordering between Roxy Square, and the Starbucks of Old Joo Chiat Police Station. 

It was also no coincidence, I too say, that the light from the setting sun hit the staircase just at the right time, illuminating the tiles that, on close discovery, shone with holographic, iridescent colors giving off glamorous, glossy, funky unicorn vibes. 

Bus Ride Sights: Parkway-Suntec

You know something funny?

For all the times that I have taken Bus 36 from Parkway down to Suntec City, Raffles City, and Orchard, I have hardly had the chance to take a picture of this particular view. 

I don't know if it is because I happen to be standing most of the time. 

Or if it because I don't have Chonkycam with me those times. 

But today I had a seat, I had Chonkycam with me, and, best of all, the light was good. 

Hence it was that this afternoon granted me some of the loveliest pictures that I have ever taken on this one bus ride.  

Bus 36 for me today began at the bus stop outside Parkway Parade.

Like always.

By right, Chonkycam should have come out there and then, but I was settling down, and so not until the bus had gone past Mountbatten Road, onto Tanjong Katong South Road, and up onto the East Coast Parkway did she come out from my bag.

If there is one thing you must know, it is that it is a very quick journey from here down to Suntec City.

How long the journey takes, I don't know, but think thirty minutes at most from this one turn of Tanjong Katong South Road, onto the ECP, and into the Downtown zone of Temasek Boulevard. 

With such short leeway overall, you can imagine that Chonkycam worked overtime. 

But I didn't mind. 

See, one of the most charming things that Bus 36 has going for her is the view of the sea. 

The view doesn't actually begin here this side of East Coast, but stretches all the way back from Changi Airport where most of the route takes you along one of the most scenic views this side of the country. 

It is somewhere around there near the airport that the sea view begins, and on it goes at pockets here and there, not stopping even after the bus enters the residential areas, because after them blocks and schools and shops and condos, out onto another part of the East Coast Parkway she goes. 

Now, it would be perfect if the sea view stayed unabated all the way, but this is Singapore- a dot of an island- and there are bound to be places where, even though you're on the highway, your view gets blocked by the sight of (forested) trees, the glass showing the reflection showing the condominium towers opposite. 

I have no idea what these condominiums are, I also don't know which part of the East Coast area they are, but certainly they are not standing amongst the forests this side of the highway, because in the midst of all them leaves and one random staircase, all of a sudden, almost immediately, another view appears.

The unmistakable hotel towers of Marina Bay Sands, the distinctive curve of the Singapore Flyer, and the glassy, glossy blue surfaces of the Marina Bay Financial District. 

From here on, the view changes pretty fast.

All you get is a couple of minutes- five, ten- as the bus climbs up a sort of slope over the Benjamin Sheares Bridge- and then you're right into the heart of Suntec City, Marina Bay, and Temasek Boulevard. 

But an inspiring, breathtaking picture this will make if your hand works fast enough to get the shot right. 

All at once there is the view of the waters beyond Singapore's shores, there are the blue waters of the Marina Barrage Reservoir shimmering beautifully under the bright light of a Singapore sun, and as the bus nears Temasek Boulevard, the Supertrees, and them two bug-eye structures from Gardens by the Bay slide into view. 

At the same time, there is the Skypark atop Marina Bay Sands that from this angle is facing toward you, there is the ArtScience Museum that to me resembles a lotus flower in bloom, there is the F1 Pit Building, and then finally there is Marina Bay herself- distinctive, sharp, recognized. 

Never mind if you're seeing it through the grainy blur of a bus window. 

Soi 47 Toa Payoh 2026

A blessing it is to have a meal here at the Soi 47 of Toa Payoh Lorong 6. 

Don't laugh.

Soi 47 might be one of those places where authenticity sits somewhere in between, but as far as one goes when craving a plate of Pad See Ew or Moo Ping or Green Curry, this is one of the best. 

I have a love for their Pad See Ew and their Pad Thai. 

I also have a love for the Green Curry and their Tom Kha, both of which, come to think of it, I have not had in a long time.

It is a relief, and joy, really, to be back here at this outlet at the corner unit of the void deck of this block. 

I don't know if it is the familiar sight of them tables and chairs. 

Or the sight of the menu, which, by the way (in much typical Thai fashion) has looked the same and has not changed since the first time I had their meals over at Temple Street in Chinatown. 

If you think it amusing, you must know that there was a season where Soi 47- six, seven outlets and all- faced the risk of an impending closure, and indeed, for a few weeks they did, until one day when corporate management did what corporate management does, and the outlets (or at least this one) reopened again.

We could not be more glad, I tell you. 

Especially since Thai food is very close to our hearts and which is a cuisine we always want to go for whenever we can. 

You might say it's the taste, or the portion or the fact that the cuisine somehow brings back very pleasant memories. 

And it doesn't always have to be the dishes that we favor. 

Sometimes we skip the familiar favorites and go for dishes that we feel like having that day.

Like today, this evening, where instead of Green Curry or Pad Thai, we ordered a plate of fried duck Mama (instant noodles), and a big fluffy egg omelet.

I had been surprised by the order of noodles.

My friend generally prefers rice. 

As it turns out, he had made the order by mistake, but what with us being us, we just ate the noodles (happily) anyway. 

The charm of this dish lies in the ingredients- the duck, and the fried egg. 

It might surprise some just why a duck leg is so attractive. 

First of all, it is fried. 

Here on this island, roast duck, braised duck, even stewed duck, are common. Fried duck, however, is not. I don't think I have ever seen fried duck meat ever been offered in any of our hawker centers, coffee shops or even restaurants. It is not a dish on any reputable Chinese restaurant menu. It is also not a dish that you can buy for a couple of dollars at a hawker center. 

It's rare. 

What's more, the meat beneath the crispy skin is remarkably tender.

One might think that the meat be dry and hard, but no, it isn't. 

It also has a distinctive, if not slight, smoky taste only distinguishable in meats that have been fried in a wok already full of wok hei. 

Think that's what we liked the most. 

Same too for the fluffy omelet.

Nearly every Thai place I know offers the omelet. At other places I don't have the feeling to order the omelet, but not here. 

Perhaps it be that Soi 47 does it in a homely, familiar way that makes you think of the street stalls in Bangkok whilst sitting at a table in Toa Payoh. 

Might be the generous amount of eggs they use for the omelet.

Or, might be the way they do their ubiquitous omelet that has textures both soft, fluffy, crispy, and tasty, yet not very, very greasy at the same time. 

Comforting as a dish this is, we had a great time with the omelet, eating it together with the rice, feeling the crisp and crunch of the egg mix perfectly good together with the hot grains of rice. 

(Some) ChaletYums

You know, it's a little funny, but whilst sorting through my pictures, I have only just realized I have yet to write anything about the meals we have had here at home. 

Could it be because of everything that has happened that I have felt unready?

Could it even be that, despite living here from January to now (early April) I have yet to feel comfortable enough to call it a home? 

I don't know. 

What I do know is that the meals here differ greatly from the ones we have had before, and to be honest, I know not what to make of them even at this point in time. 

But life is such that you take the picture- never mind how you feel- and then- when you get the courage- look at it again. 

We have had a good number of meals here at home. 

Some, out of necessity, others, because it seemed wiser to have a meal at home with no service charge than to go outside and have to pay for this and that. 

If there weren't so many interesting places close by, we might have dined there, but since Parkway Parade and i12 have no shortage of interesting foods, not to mention the hawker center and the coffee shops opposite the road, eating tapaoed meals at home have now become a normal, pleasant thing. 

Three months now, and there have been a good menu of foods we have had here at home, all of which I am very thankful for.

Amongst some of my favorites we have had here at table are the salmons and the fast food. 

That doesn't mean I don't like the skewers or all the other foods we've eaten at this table.

It just means that it has always been my (childhood) dream to have fast food at table at home. 

That, from a long time back I had always wished to have McDonalds or KFC or Burger King at my dining table, or in my room, comfortable, being able to eat what I want and drink what I want in the environment that I am at ease in.

Except that maybe that sort of ease never got permitted, and so never came. 

Until a couple of years ago when we started having Burger King breakfasts and McDonalds breakfasts around the coffee table in Ceylon- and now here. 

To have the Filet O Fish, the Buttermilk Chicken burger, the chicken nuggets, and the curly fries all in their opened boxes has made for a very happy albeit (adulting) meal. 

I loved the quiet joy of spreading over the burger bun an additional layer of Hellmann's mayonnaise straight from the jar.

I loved the ability to dip the chicken nuggets with mustard and ketchup from packets saved over the years.

Same too it is with the salmons. 

I have missed having plastic trays of them salmon sushis and salmon sashimis at table. 

Seeing these bright orange slices brought back a memory both pleasant, and precious, where tapaoing food was the norm, and you either ate at the void deck, some park, or at the dining table in your home. 

Not to mention, eating at home means one gets the unique taste of sashimi dipped in very good sesame oil, accompanied by a little bit of soy sauce. 

Other dishes that have been just as great at table include them on big blue plates, most of it, I think, have been frozen minced chicken that got marinated with oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and then stir-fried in the pan.

Even if some aren't homecooked, we also have had roast chicken bought from the supermarket downstairs that we cut into half, eat what we want, and save the remainder for another day.  

The meat sans chicken skin actually does last quite long and whilst it might be all cut up and shredded, it still does taste very well. 

Of course, there can't be any homecooked meals without the presence of instant noodles. 

Since coming here, I haven't had them a lot- only two times.

The first time was, I think, Chinese New Year Eve, and I had somehow accidentally tore open the packet of seasoning and dunked it inside the water where my noodles were cooking. 

The second time, however, I was more conscious, and I made my noodles the way I like them- dry, without seasoning, and with the blessing of meat skewers plus quail eggs that my friend had tapaoed from Mainland Chinese place Thumbs Up on East Coast Road downstairs. 

Can I just say I have come to like this combination?

The marination from the well-marinated skewers gets all spread out over them noodles aka a more natural taste than MSG, and I get to have a bit of carbs with the meat.

I'll stop writing for now, but certainly there'll be more pictures as time goes by. 

After all I haven't written about the Lu Rou Fan, nor the Pad Thai noodles from Killiney that my friend has, more than once, bought for me. 

BKT @ Joo Chiat

I'm pretty sure I have taken pictures of this meal here at Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh before. 

But it has been a while, and it has been some time.

Still, a dish of bak kut teh from this place here at Joo Chiat Road is not something you easily forget, and so pictures like these become significant- somehow- to me. 

If you find what I say over the top, well, there's one thing you must know. 

I am not the kind of diner who will have craving for bak kut teh or will think of bak kut teh when asked what I want to eat. Neither am I the kind of person who has this dish at the top of my head, nor will I have it come to mind when someone asks me what I want to eat. 

Here's the irony: I can't say bak kut teh is my favorite dish, but I don't eschew a good bowl of hot, piping soup, be it the (Hokkien) black herbal one, or the (Teochew) white peppery one. 

I too do not eschew big pork ribs when their meat is cooked tender to the level that it falls off the bone. 

That being said, however, there are only a couple of places I am happy to go, and I like sticking to my favorite ones.

My BKT journey to date has seen me queue at a Centerpoint branch, a Chinatown branch, dash across fast-traffic Geylang Road to a shophouse at Geylang Lorong 11, cross two roads to a coffee shop at Geylang East close to Paya Lebar, walk 15 minutes, take a bus, then walk again, to this place here at Joo Chiat Road. 

Sin Heng Claypot serves their bak kut teh in the soup of the dark herbal style.

What makes it interesting is that the soup isn't as thick as most people assume black herbal soups to be. 

On the contrary, they make it such that there is the right balance of thickness with the right quantity of water, so you do get the thickness of a broth same time as you get the clear, watery texture of soup.

Two of our regular dishes we order here at the bak kut teh, and the ter ka. 

Do I like one over the other? 

No, but I do need help picking out the meat from the ter ka whose collagen-rich skin I don't know how to eat, cannot bear to see, and can't tell which is where. 

This afternoon we ordered just one dish- the bak kut teh- on its own. 

We weren't very hungry, and pork ribs are, naturally, easier to eat.

Just peel them off the bone, put them at the side of the bowl and drizzle some of the soy sauce over. 

I have never quite struggled with how pork ribs are like- I am good with the taste in and of its own- but not too long ago I discovered the joy of enhancing the tender, clean-tasting pork with bits of coriander in a spoon with rice, and that's how I had my bak this afternoon. 

One spoon holding a bit of soft, tender, boiled pork, a bit of yam rice, a single stalk of coriander and a tiny little dollop of dark soy sauce that we brought from home. 

Don't laugh, the combination actually  works very well. 

Of course, not bak kut teh meal is complete without you tiao, and this afternoon we got ourselves one bowl. 

My friend ate his crispy and plain. I dunked mine inside the soup. 

Both tasted good all the same. 

Mifenmian @ Aljunied Lane

Mifenmian, or Economic Bee Hoon, is probably one of the simplest dishes to be had on this island. 

Like Economic Rice, it is the kind of dish that every working-class person knows. 

And because each stall is different, and unique on its own, one can't really tell just what is what, and which is which, until you actually patronize the stall and eat the food there.

Good mifenmian has become increasingly difficult to find in the last couple of years. It is either that the noodles have not enough taste, too little salt, or if not, they go the opposite direction with too much salt, too much oil, and an overwhelming amount of soy sauce dunked in when they fry the noodle. 

So, rare and unique it is when you find a stall that serves up good, dry, well-fried bee hoon, smooth kuay teow fried in a nice, warm brown, and ingredients that are cut neither too big nor too small.

We were at a coffee shop somewhere close to Upper Aljunied Lane this particular evening, my friend and I. 

Now, what makes this place interesting is that, whilst I had heard of this place, and visited this place a couple of times ever since childhood, I had never not once eaten at the coffee shop here, nor gone to the row of shops at the main road. 

I don't know if Mr. Radioman ever did.

I had no inkling what, or how the public housing estate close to Jalan Mulia and Jalan Gembira looked liked. 

Until today.

And I was surprised. 

What's the relevance, you might ask. 

Actually, not so much now. 

But still, it made for a significant feeling, sitting here at the coffee shop of Upper Aljunied Lane on 3rd of March, eating a meal that was not only affordable, not only tasty, but also, familiar with me since I were young.

Those who know me will know I am a fan of kuay teow. 

No less, of course, Mr. Radioman, who used to buy mifenmian for the family from the coffee shop downstairs, and who knows I will actually make a small grumble when my packet of noodles reveals strands of mian mixed together with the kuay teow. 

Eating this plate of kuay teow with fish filet and a piece of otah had me wondering what he would say had he known I were here in his former neighborhood, at the blocks close to his former zone.

But, hey, I wasn't emo. 

Not at all. 

On the contrary, I was glad, thankful, for this plate. 

It was quietly comforting, assuring, as if telling me that life had been all right for Mr. Radioman, and it would be all right for me now.

The kuay teow was smooth, tasty, not overwhelming in oil. Also, easy to eat, the noodles picked up easily by my chopsticks. I liked the flavor, the taste, the way the noodles slid around my mouth and wrapped my tongue with its dark soy taste.

And accompanying it, were the crunch of the well-fried fish filet, coupled together with the spice of the soft, mushy, bright colored otah.