As an annual tradition, I will recap my food journey for the past one year. Looking back at 2019, it is another delicious yearn with good food as well as getting to know new friends over a meal. The bubble tea craze continued to boom with more oversea brands landing on our shore. Several new ramen restaurants also opened in 2019. Unfortunately, none of these made it to my Best Eat In 2019 list. Without further ado, let me unveil my best eats for 2019.
Ah Hua Teochew Fishball Noodle
Ah Hua Teochew Fishball Noodle is a stall run by a father and daughter team in the quiet neighbourhood in pandan gardens. The highlight of the stall is their handmade fishball dumpling and meatball. The fish dumpling has a silky texture with a crunchy bite, wrapped in real fish skin. The handmade meatball is soft and flavourful packed with the aroma of dried sole fish.
Artichoke
Having been around for nine years and still standing tall is Artichoke. The restaurant offers Middle Eastern-inspired cuisine, which is the least authentic Middle Eastern restaurant. The funky take of the cuisine draws inspiration from Middle Eastern flavours and ingredients while injecting the element of fun and creativity into the dish.
Chef Kang Noodle House
Winning Michelin Bib Gourmand 2019 in less than a year of its opening is Chef Kang Noodle House by Michelin starred Chef Ang Song Kang of Chef Kang's Kitchen. For five dollars, you get a plate of noodle with fatty char siew, pork lard, greens and wantons. What impresses me at Chef Kang Noodle House is down to each component on the plate of wanton mee. The char siew is fatty with a nice char on the exterior that comes with a beautiful layer of fats and lean meat. The noodle is springy with a delightful bite, complemented by the delicious dark sauce. The wanton was plump and generous filling such as prawn, minced pork, black fungus and water chestnut.
Chuan Hung
Chuan Hung is a noodle bar that specialises in Mian Yang rice noodles with a choice of different broths, and a variety of toppings such as braised beef and pig intestines. The thin, slippery noodles here are specially sourced from a particular artisan who lives in a village deep in Sichuan. It took close to a year and dozen of personal trips to convince the artisan to supply the noodles. Fast forward, the noodles now served in Chuan Hung are found nowhere else in Singapore or South East Asia. The specially sourced noodle made from rice, is smooth and silky, almost like mee sua. Perfect for soaking up the delicious broth.
La Dame de Pic
With Raffles Hotel Singapore reopening after its restoration work, the hotel welcomes La Dame De Pic by Anne-Sophie Pic, one of the world's top female chefs with a total of seven Michelin stars under her belt. This is also her debut into Asia. This is probably one of the most exciting restaurants to be opened in 2019, and it has great potential to get at least a Michelin star next year. Hence do visit the restaurant before the price goes up after their Michelin star next year.
Lee's Confectionery
A hidden gem in the West, Lee's Confectionery caught the attention of social media with its beautiful plated dainty cakes and tarts. Most importantly, they tasted delicious. The coffee at ee's Confectionery is worthy of a shout out. Although the coffee does not come with elegant latte arts, they are quality coffee using the beans from Tiong Hoe.
Izy Fook
This is a hard one. I was torn between picking Fook Kin or Izy Fook in which I enjoyed the roasted meats from Roasted Paradise. I decided to pick the latter as the menu has a wider variety of dishes that is not just focused on the roasts from Roasted Paradise. The izakaya centric menu includes other delicious items such as the cereal soft shell prawns, wagyu 2gr oyster blade, superior prawn mee pok and more.
Red Lips
With over 40 outlets in China within five years of its establishment, Red Lips is the largest new-age mala tang chain from Shanghai. Customers can customise their hotpot-in-a-bowl choosing from over 45 food items, authentic hotpot base and secret spices. The ingredients include seafood, meat and vegetables, noodles and other speciality offerings, selected for their freshness, quality and taste. Unlike most mala fragrant pot stalls that serve frozen ingredients. What holds everything together is the secret spicy sauce that comprises of peppercorns, and a blend of over 20 ingredients and spices. It has a bold, full-bodied flavour with depth, leaving a pleasing and lingering aftertaste. I would recommend mixing it up with the creamy sesame sauce which kicks up the flavours by several notches. The sauces really go well with the ingredients and its very convenient for takeaway.
Soon Heng Pork Noodles
If you like the Bedok 85 style of Bak Chor Mee, then you are in for some great news. Soon Heng Pork Noodles at Neil Road serves a good bowl of the soupy style bar chor mee. Unlike other bak chor mee stalls, the broth here is almost like a ramen broth that is rich and intense. This is achieved by simmering pork bones overnight for that heavenly flavour.
Yun Nans
Yun Nans (云海肴), the world's biggest Yunnan F&B chain with over 150 outlets in China specialises in 高原料理 or highland cuisine, featuring the ingredients in Yunnan's natural highland terrain that is free from pollution. Singaporean's only knowledge of Yunnan cuisine probably is the 过桥米线 (Cross Bridge Vermicelli). What Yun Nans has given Singaporean is a whole new array of Yun Nans dishes foreign but yet close to our palate.
With this, I present to you my Best Eat In 2019. I also like to take this opportunity to thank all my readers and followers for the supports all these years. Last but at least, wishing everyone a wonderful 2020.
