Hot in the City

Miss Mo knows she really likes Mr Big because instead of insisting on going to the town's hottest hangouts like Clark Quay, Robertson Quay or Dempsey Road, she agreed to go to Tiong Bahru with Mr Big on a Friday evening. Ha!

There were ample parking when we arrived around 8pm. We walked around to see whether there were other better options besides the hawker center. Besides the busy corner coffee shops and bigger cook-fry restaurants, amazingly, there were other options like a Thai Restaurant and a Shanghainese restaurant.

We decided to have our dinner at the market itself. Afterall, that was what attracted us to this area for dinner. We circled the whole market and came upon this Cantonese cook-fry stall, which seemed pretty busy. We ordered my favorite sliced-fish over crispy noodles and smooth egg over shrimp and tofu. OK, you should translate these dishes to Cantonese and you'd know what I mean. Ha! We also had some delicious chee cheong fun. Not bad at all.

After dinner, we took a stroll in the neighborhood to digest our sumptious dinner.

Along the way, we found interesting stuff like this old provision shop. Look closely and you'd see that it still has those glass cabinets, glass counters and that old clock.

There was this corner seafood restaurant that was selling these giant crabs. They look mutant.

Then we went to explore this Link Hotel, which is converted from this block of old flats. It's like a boutique hotel, maybe like Fragrant Hotel or Hotel 81 but much nicer.

At last, we took refuge at Wine Wise, a wine bar. This place sells relatively cheap wine by Singapore standard and the layout is nice such that there are wine barrels and the furniture are all made from the barrels.

It was really nice to sit outside with our wine, looking at the hustle and bustle of Tiong Bahru as the night went by.

It has been a while since I was last at Robertson Quay so I thought I'd bring Big with me this time. Erm..believe it or not, Big hadn't been to the revamped Robertson Quay. Well, thanks to me, he gets to visit such places again. Ha!



I remembered there was this tiny Italian restaurant which I passed by the last time I was there. It was one of those obscure, non-pretentious trattoria-ish place, that is rare in Singapore. I told myself I got to visit it next time.

Da Mario Pizzeria is the place. The restaurant only has about 7 tables inside and 3 tables outside. We had the mozzarella with tomatoes and basil in olive oil and vinegar. Hmm...it's been a while since I had that. Delicious!!! Next, we shared a pizza Rustica with Italian ham, mushrooms and sausages. It was good but the next time, I want to try the spicy salami. Hmmm...We finished it off with a tiramisu.



Another place we recently went was Tong Shui Cafe along Upp Thomson Road. Whenever I pass by this restaurant when I take the bus home, it is always packed so I had to check out this cafe. To be honest, numerous Hong Kong cafes have opened in the recent months and most are not as good as they seem. I was hoping that this one would not disappoint me.


I ordered a beef brisket noodles. It is one of my favorite dishes and it is not a common dish so whenever I see it on the menu, I'd order it. Alas, it wasn't that bad but for the price I was paying, I was expecting something better. Big ordered a pepper chicken chop with rice. He said it was ok but nothing fantastic. Even their yuen-yang drink wasn't something to rave about too. Oh well, at least I know I won't be going back there any sooner.