Galangal in Bishan

Galangal is a halal-certified Thai restaurant located in Bishan Club House, just a stone's throw away from Bishan Sports Hall.

Galangal, taste the flavours of Thailand

While locating the restaurant may be tricky, keep looking for the Neon lights with flowers just beside the basketball court.

Eye Catching Decors

The Floral Theme makes the cafe so beautiful. As we stepped into the restaurant, we were greeted by the wall of roses, the environment gives a very lovely & comfortable feel to dine in. With the pinkish splash of colours, especially with flower decoration at this corner, I would have thought that there was an event going on for ROM (Registry of Marriage). This will be good corner to bring your partner to romance your date too.

Interior decorations

I can't wait to have my Thai Food. Let's take a look at the menu.

Menu

It's too beautiful not to take pictures against the wall of roses! 

The glass of Iced Lemongrass Tea was refreshing and good for quenching thirst. 

Iced Lemongrass Tea - $5.90

Thai Iced Tea which is also known as "Cha Yen" in Thailand is a sweet and creamy beverage popular there as well as around the world. They are made up of strongly brewed black tea, sweetened condensed milk and also evaporated milk. Traditionally served over ice, creating a refreshing & indulgent drink, totally perfect to go with the upcoming hot & spicy dishes. 

Iced Thai Milk and Green Milk Tea - $6.50 each

The Papaya Salad commonly known as "Som Tum", is a refreshing and vibrant dish in Thai Cuisine that combines the 5 main tastes, sour lime, hot chilli, salty, savoury and sweet. Served with shredded unripe papaya with chopped long beans, sliced cherry, garlic, peanut and chilli pad drizzled with sweet and sour sauce.

Papaya Salad - $6.90

The Minced Chicken Omelette Egg was fluffy and addictive.

Minced Chicken Omelette Egg - $7.90 / $9.90

Enjoy the Thai Cuisine Staple, Tom Yum Soup in clear or red broth and choose between the chicken or seafood flavour. This Thai classic is clear and spicy, tangy and sour with seafood.

Clear Tom Yum Soup (Seafood) - $17.90 (Large)

 While we were expecting the usual circular-shaped fish cake, Galangal had theirs served with a lemongrass stalk. It's a perfect dish for group sharing and dip them in the sweet chili sauce. 

Thai Fish Cakes - $7.50 (3 PCs)

Enjoy the flavourful and aromatic appetizers made of Prawn paste patty blended with Thai Herbs & Spices. If you are ordering Appetizers for sharing, these are not to be missed. The Thai Prawn Cakes were yummy and had a crispy outer layer.

Thai Prawn Cakes - $10.90 (5 Pcs)

They had this handmade and the fillings were generous, springy and plump. 

Order this!

Another Popular and flavourful dish that features stir-fried chicken with Thai Basil, garlic, chilli and a savoury sauce, also better known as "Pad Krapow Gai". The aromatic dish is quick to prepare and offers a perfect balance of spicy, savoury and slightly sweet flavours. Grab a bowl of rice and enjoy them.

Thai Basil Chicken - $11.90 / $15.690

What a fantastic way to combine the succulent flavours of seafood with the spicy kick of Thai chilli. The Prawns & beautifully cut Squid were generously coated in sauce allowing the flavours to permeate them. It's good for pairing with a bowl of pearl white rice.

Stir-Fried Prawn & Squid with Thai Chilli - $11.90 / $14.90

The Honey Garlic Fried Chicken was appetizing. We love these deep-fried boneless chicken chunks coated with sweet honey, and garlic sauce and topped with garlic slices.

Honey Garlic Fried Chicken - $13.90

For the Rice dishes, we had the Pineapple Fried Rice. The hint of sweetness with Jasmine rice stir-fried with pineapple chunks, and prawns. This dish was served with tomato and cucumber.

Pineapple Fried Rice - $12.90 / $15.90

We had Prawn Pad Thai for the Noodles. The rice noodles were stir-fried together with prawns, eggs, bean sprouts, Tau Gua and onions. Chilli flakes and crushed roasted peanuts were served separately.

Prawn Pad Thai - $12.90 / $15.90

Besides the Instagram-worthy & beautiful vibes from the restaurant, the service staff deserves a mention too. They are not only friendly but also attentive. 

Thank you Ericia & Galangal for having us.

Galangal
Location:  3 Bishan St 14, Singapore 579780
Website

So Good Char Chan Tang

Weeks after passing by So Good Char Chan Tang, we were in luck with a shorter queue and decided to have this for lunch. So Good is quite popular and always pack with queue during the lunch hours. 

So Good Char Chan Tang

The first taste on their food had liven up my appetite for the flavours carry a Traditional Taste of the Hong Kong Cuisine. It is no wonder that its always bustling with customers and diehards willing to join the snakey queue.

We had the poached choy sum with oyster sauce. The natural flavours of choy sum was very much complemented by the savoury sweetness of the oysters sauce, whats more, I love the succulent and the crunchy bites！

We had the Triple Combination of BBQ Meat, Roast Pork, Duck and Soya Chicken. The flavours of every meat was delighting and not gamey. 

Triple Combination of BBQ Meat & Poached Choy Sum with Oyster Sauce
烧味三拼， 蚝油灼菜心 - $26 + $4.30

We had each ourselves a plain plate of noodles to pair with the meat. Noodles texture was fine like what we have from the usual Char Chan Tang. The springy texture was worth the mention.

Noodle

Ordering the Hong Kong Style Shrimp Dumpling Soup can never go wrong for its a delightful dish that combines the flavours of delicate shrimp dumplings with a flavourful broth. 

Shrimp Dumpling Soup 港式水饺汤 - $8.30

The shrimp dumpling soup is comforting and delicious. It is perfect to pair along with our meat and noodles. The dumplings were plump and nicely wrapped up with fresh springy prawn and bites of the shredded black fungus enhance the texture. Recommended!

Shrimp Dumpling

While their standards had attained a good score on my scorecards, I will very much like to make a return not only for their Char Chan Tang but also their bakery. 

Rating: 3.5 / 5

So Good Char Chan Tang

Location: 111 Somerset Rd, #01-16 TripleOne Somerset, Singapore 238164
Website

Boon Kee Wanton Noodle

 Boon Kee Wanton Noodle is one of the popular stalls in 448 Clementi Market & Food Centre that deserve a mention. Whenever I pass by the place, it is always lined up with a long queue, however, the operations are efficient and the queue clears off quickly with one of them taking the order while we are in the queue and the other in the kitchen preparing the noodles.

The Wanton Mee has a unique and old-school taste with noodles accompanied by rich and flavourful sauce. Besides the boiled wantons in the bowl of soup, you will get cut pieces of char siew, fried wanton and vegetables on top of your noodles.

Wanton Mee - $3.50

Noodles were cooked to a good texture and Wanton's texture in a tasty bowl of soup.

Wanton

We ordered an additional bowl of Dumplings soup to share.

Shrimp Dumpling Soup - $5.50

Each dumpling was plump and packed with meat, diced chestnut, and shrimp as ingredients.

Dumpling

If you love nostalgic taste of a good bowl of Wanton Mee, you should give Boon Kee Wanton Noodle a try.

Rating: 4 / 5

Boon Kee Wanton Noodle
Location: Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre, 448 Clementi Ave 3, #01-40, Singapore 120448

Lao San Kway Chap

I have been wanting to try Lao San Kway Chap from Ang Mo Kio after seeing good reviews about them a few years back but never got the chance to try them out till recently I chanced upon people ordering Kway Chap from the Coffeeshop in Clementi and got excited about it.

Lao San Kway Chap Stall

The Coffeeshop has several popular stalls like Roast Meat, Thai Wanton Noodles, Braised Noodles, Vegetarian, Mixed Vegetable Rice etc. While there are many choices around, I find that for the stall to survive, the food standard must be good. 

Menu

The menu had it sorted out for those who love sharing of kway chap with prices catered for 1, 2, 3 or 4 pax. We had the 2 pax set. The two big bowls of kway soaked in the brown stock with cut Chinese celery and fried shallots were fragrant 

Kway Chap Set (2 Pax) - $13

Portion are generous that we even finished our bowls of kway before even finishing one third of the ingredients on the plate. The braised items were nicely prepared with adequate amount of braised flavours without being too salty or sweet. The items were nothing out of the ordinary and they include braised egg, pork belly, skin, tau pok, intestines and fish cakes. I love the pieces of pork belly that literally melts in the mouth with the slightest pressure.

Braised Ingredients

While this is also one of Lao San's signature dishes, the preserved vegetables and fried shallots give a good taste to the soup with innards well clean without gamey taste. All in all, I would prefer a stronger taste, more sour and fragrant.

Pig Organ Soup - $4

Having seen other rice items on their menu, it will be nice to be back for braised pork trotter or even the pork belly rice.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Lao San Kway Chap
Location: 443 Clementi Ave 3, Singapore 120443

58 Minced Meat Noodle

58 Minced Meat Noodles or BCM has been my all-time favourite and I always tell myself that I will never get bored having this daily. 

The queue is always ongoing during my visit on its peak hour and demanded about half an hour from us.

Minced Meat Noodles

Finally after queueing up for so long! The chilli was still as good as before with a combination of Tomato Ketchup as requested. The ingredients were still as generous with slices of button mushroom, mushroom, minced meat, lean meat and liver. The simple bowl of noodles carries a homely taste that will satiate our appetite, followed by a tasty BCM soup. 

Mee Kia Dry - $5

Kway Teow Soup from 58 BCM is my comfort food and order. Thin strands of Kway Teow soak in the sweet-tasting soup with fried pork lard and spring onions for garnishing. 

Kway Teow Soup - $5

Just too bad that they are not open during the evenings, else I can have them every day or frequently.

Rating: 4 / 5

58 Minced Meat Noodle
Location: Taman Jurong Market & Food Centre, 3 Yung Sheng Road, #03-150 Singapore 618499

Yamato Izakaya

When the Birthday Baby mentioned Yamato Izakaya for dinner, the wish was granted and here we go. It is located in Oxley Bizhub serving authentic Japanese Cuisine in the industrial area. Enjoy your spread of Japanese food with their comforting bowls of ramen and donburis to handmade gyozas and freshly grilled unagi over binchotan charcoal.

Yamato Izakaya

They do have open-air seating as well as an air-conditioned dining environment. For open air, you can bring your fur kids there too.

Decorations

Before entering the restaurant

We were served with a bowl of fried garlic rice and it definitely made me happy with its classic fragrant fried pearl rice with egg and chopped spring onions garnishing.

Fried Garlic Rice - $11.90

The Tamagoyaki was below par even though the taste was right there with the sweet mirin. The egg texture was on the dry side and in our opinion, overcooked.

Tamagoyaki - $11.90

The steamed egg was perfectly done. We were impressed by its smooth and wobbly texture.

Chawanmushi - $7.90

This dish will satiate your tastebuds for Unagi was Bincho-tan charcoal grilled served with don set and condiments, dashi broth chazuke, seaweed soup. You can opt for the regular or crispy texture for the unagi. The regular will give you a tender and soft exterior while the crispy will be fluffy and crispy exterior.

Large Hitsumabushi - $49.50

We had the crispy selection of course. How to enjoy hitsumabushi? Divide the unagi rice into 4 portions and use the extra bowl to each one. 

(1) Enjoy the unagi as it is, without any toppings.

(2) Add half of condiments (spring onions, wasabi and nori)

(3) Create an ochazuke by adding condiments and dashi broth from the pitcher provided.

(4) Enjoy with additional sauce provided.

Crispy Unagi

The Premium Moriawase is good for 1-2 pax with 6 kind of sashimi, with 2 slices each. It was beautifully served in a bed of rice on the boat with shredded reddish and sliced cucumber followed by salmon, maguro, mekajiki, hamachi, hotate & tako. 

Premium Moriawase - $42.90

I was excited to see Teppanyaki on their menu and ordered the beef teppanyaki with vegetables. Juicy beef in dice was served together with fried beansprouts, mushrooms, capsicums and fried garlic. I enjoyed the taste but the dish is on a greasy side.

Beef Teppan - $29.90

A4 Miyazaki was good and definitely for the price to pay for. The texture of meat was tender and succulent. The other two we had was Buta slice wrapping up enoki and Pork belly with spring onion.

A4 Miyazaki Kushi, Buta Negi Kushi & Buta Enoki Kushi - $15.95, $5.20 & $5.50

The Yaki Buta was yummy and was cut into pieces for serving.

Yaki Buta - $19.90

A plate of sweet and savoury udon with pork was delicious. It was fragrant with eggs and garlic.

Buta Udon - $18.90

Chicken Thigh meat on skewer and spread with sweet savoury Teriyaki sauce. Yummy!

Yakitori - $3.95

Love their concept of the restaurant from having Unagi and Skewers on Binchotan Charcoal to Teppan Yaki and Sashimi. Having an Izakaya in the industrial area is unique enough, I do not mind making a return again for other dishes.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Yamato Izakaya
Location: Oxley BizHub, 65 Ubi Rd 1, #01-92, Singapore 408729
Website

Wild Honey

Wild Honey. The place that gave me a deep impression of a full breakfast meal, keeping our stomach satisfied for the whole day. While my first trip to Wild Honey was like many years back, we decided to revisit this place, simply to fix our craving for poached egg from a breakfast meal. 

The exterior of Wild Honey reminds me Surrey Hills at Raffles City with greeneries and a garden-like theme.

Wild Honey at Mandarin Gallery

If you order their Ice Latte, you enjoy a glass of cold brew coffee in frozen cubes, served with warm milk and sugar syrup.

Ice Latte - $7.50

Enjoy the cup of Ice Latte by pouring the milk into the glass of frozen coffee cubes.

Ice Latte

Having Chia Seeds all over the rim of the glass of green smoothie made up of apple, spinach, banana, avocado, honey and lemon juice.

Iron Woman - $10

The Potato Rosti was special and was served with sour cream. Love the crispy shredded potato at its exterior. The texture and bite would be perfect if the shreds were bigger instead.

Potato Rosti with Sour Cream - $9

The cravings for poached eggs brought us here. We ordered the English. It is the full work, comprising of poached eggs, streak bacon, pork & fennel sausage. turkey croquette, sweet potato hash, sauteed mushrooms, house baked beans, grilled tomato & signature brioche bread. The size of poached egg was not outstanding and the sausage was so tough that we put in quite some effort to have it cut with the utensils given.

English - $29

Upon looking at the menu item, it reminded me of the Reuben Sandwich I had in the London train station many years back, thus I decided to give it a try. Hand-sliced beef pastrami with sauerkraut, Emmental cheese, Russian dressing on a grilled rye with pickles. The sandwich can be served with spiced paprika fries, plain fries or chopped salad. 

The portions do not look big but it definitely fill up my stomach in a short while even with chopped salad. 

Grilled Reuben Sandwich - $29

The dining atmosphere, service and vibes of Wild Honey definitely scores. However, with the pricing of their breakfast & spread, there are definitely better ones out there. We would not be back any sooner.

Rating: 3 / 5

Wild Honey
Location:  Mandarin Gallery, 333A Orchard Rd, #03-01/02 Singapore 238897
Website