Artisanal
As the office towers empty, Issho Izakaya at Marina One fills with diners. Located at #01-14, 5 Straits View, West Tower, Singapore 018935, this contemporary Japanese izakaya offers a warm, inviting space at the heart of the CBD. Issho means “together“ reflecting its focus on shared plates, communal dining, and a cozy atmosphere with both…
Comfort food rarely announces itself. It waits in a mall corridor, somewhere between a shoe shop and an escalator, holding the smell of grilled pork and warm rice until you slow down enough to notice. That is where you find Gochi-So Shokudo ご, also known as ご ち 惣 食堂. Not a place chasing attention.…
The last bus has gone. Newton Food Centre keeps a few lights on. I walk in past shuttered stalls, chairs stacked, floors still wet from a mop. Then I hear it: the scrape of a ladle, the low hiss of a pot. At 500 Clemenceau Ave N, #01-10, one stall is awake. XO Minced Meat…
The day heat lifts slowly here. By the time I reach Newton Food Centre, the sun has gone and the light has changed hands. No longer the flat white of afternoon. Now it comes from the stalls themselves, bulb by bulb, a row of small fires holding back the dark along Clemenceau Avenue North. Newton…
Finding Apollon AM-Bar on the First Floor The first floor of Orchard Plaza’s dining oasis is quiet in that way old shopping centres go quiet at night. The bright shops of Orchard Road felt far away by the time I found unit #01-29. Inside, there isn’t much room. A counter, a handful of seats, staff…
I nearly walked into Cuppage Plaza by mistake. That’s the thing people get wrong about Al Capone’s. It’s not inside the plaza at all. It sits a short walk away at 37 Cuppage Terrace, along that covered open-air stretch where the tables spill almost onto the walkway. I found it by following the sound first.…
Orchard Plaza after dark is a strange kind of quiet. The shiny malls down Orchard Road buzz with crowds, but up here the corridors hum under old fluorescent light, half the shutters down, the air still and slightly worn. I almost walked past Tha Siam Thai Kitchen. If not for the faint thread of Thai…
I’ll be honest, the first bowl that landed in front of me looked a bit sad. Pale noodles, not much going on, and I nearly worried I’d made a wrong call. Then I tossed it, and the whole thing transformed. That’s the trick with Orchard Bak Chor Mee. The sauce hides at the bottom, so…
I’ve spent many nights exploring Orchard Plaza’s vibrant late-night food scene, capturing the warm, honest atmosphere that emerges after most of the city sleeps. Over the years, I’ve sampled nearly every supper spot in this slightly worn but charming building. Some places came and went, but three have remained my go-to late-night haunts, plus one early-evening…
I almost didn’t see the entrance the first time. Tucked along Robertson Quay at 30 Robertson Quay, #01-15 Riverside View, Shunjuu Izakaya is a Japanese restaurant in Singapore serving an exciting menu of Japanese cuisine. It hides behind a curtain of charcoal smoke and warm lantern light. Then I caught the smell of grilling pork…