SINGAPORE'S VINTAGE EATING PLACES: TIM'S RESTAURANT & CAFE @ TOA PAYOH

We've come here many times, especially when my son Shan Ming was younger. Tim's Restaurant & Cafe was a favourite of ours, an informal heartlands eating place which was a spin-off of the Hainanese Western cuisine of the famous Marriners' Corner. Its proprietor, Nepalese chef Tom Shrestha was originally the manager of The Vines Restaurant (sister restaurant of Marriners') at Novena when we first got to know him. He later started this establishment at Block 95 Toa Payoh, Lorong 4 selling Hainanese Western and the favourite comfort food of his homeland.

My latest visit was with Piano Duo CieL, Jared Liew and Juyen Chai, who had come from Seoul, South Korea to perform here. They had never visited Nepal or sampled Nepali cuisine, and so this was the perfect opportunity. The popular dish is momoes, meat dumplings which resemble xiao long bao but without the soup filling. Another was the Nepali chicken salad served on a crunchy poppadom. 

The Nepali chicken salad
was mouth-watering.

Just the starters:
Nepali momoes & garlic cheese mussels.

The man himself, Tom Shrestha
serves up his Nepali pork belly.

The meat dishes are mildly spiced with herbs and a far cry from the fiery curries of the south. Tom's piece de resistance is his Nepali pork belly, which is succulent and almost melts in your mouth. The Nepali dishes are enough to fill the belly even without trying the Western dishes (steaks and seafood), which are also very satisfying. But this did not prevent us from enjoying the garlic cheese mussels and minced beef pizza. 

Served with spiced rice and salad,
this Nepali pork belly is a must-try.

Nepali lamb tash
& the minced beef pizza.

Most memorable is Tom's personal touch. He always remembers his patrons and their preferences, but is unafraid of suggesting new dishes to try out. I remember my 2011 trip to Kathmandu where the local restaurants serve up a wide variety of dishes to suit every taste, and Tim's menu is just as broad, and there is little to be disappointed about.

After the meal, there was a short walk across the courtyard for some ice cream at Shrove Tuesday, a hip little gelateria. This area of Toa Payoh, one of Singapore's oldest housing estates, has gentrified a little, but not too much. It's still as local as one can get, and it's only a matter of time we will return. 

TIM'S RESTAURANT & CAFE

Blk 95 Toa Payoh Lorong 4

#01-52. Singapore 310095

 Tel: 6250-5246

THE CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS / Piano Duo CieL / Review

 

THE CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS

Piano Duo CieL

Esplanade Recital Studio

Sunday (17 August 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 19 August 2025 with the title "Piano Duo CieL combine kid-friendly programme with fine playing".

The modern piano’s ability to mimic the sounds or evoke the spirits of animals was the basis of this enjoyable recital for young people by the Seoul-based Piano Duo CieL. The husband-and-wife duo of Singaporean pianist Jared Liew Wei and South Korean pianist Juyen Chai was formed as recently at 2021, and has won various international prizes including being shortlisted finalists at the prestigious ARD Piano Duo Competition in Munich the same year.

Their recital opened with solo repertoire that was technically challenging and meant to be performed by adults. Take George Gershwin’s Promenade, also called Walking The Dog, played by Liew. It juggled between staccato and legato passages and involved rubato to imitate the stop and start nature of taking Rover out into the street.

Or Aaron Copland’s Scherzo Humoristique, or The Cat and the Mouse, performed by Chai, which had smooth gliding motions alternating with mad scampering. Guess which was the cat, and which was the mouse. Such music sparked the imagination, and piqued the curious child in listeners.

Birds featured prominently in the programme. Spanish composer Enrique Granados The Maiden and the Nightingale (from Goyescas) stirred up romantic ardour amid trilling birdsong by Liew. Mikhail Glinka’s The Lark in Mily Balakirev’s virtuosic transcription found Chai in scintillating form, which contrasted with the repetitious strutting of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s The Hen.

Even insects had a look in, with shorts by Francois Couperin (Le Moucheron or The Gnat), Alexander Scriabin (Mosquito, Op.42 No.3), Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (the ubiquitous Flight of the Bumble Bee) and Edvard Grieg (Butterfly, Op.43 No.1), both pianists alternating pieces with technical adroitness and care for detail.

The inimitable classic was Liew’s account of Bela Bartok’s The Night's Music (from Out Of Doors) which eerily portrayed terrors of the dark, inhabited by rustling creepy crawlies, night bird hoots and croaking frogs. Listen more closely, one will also hear fidgeting children, handphones and arm-rests being dropped, and parents trying to maintain control.

Photo: Darrel Tan

The concert’s major work was Camille Saint-Saens’ The Carnival of Animals, uniting both pianists in its two-piano transcription. The original was written for two pianos with orchestral instruments, and some things are lost when there is neither cello (for The Swan), nor double-bass (The Elephant), clarinet (Cuckoo In The Woods) and xylophone (Fossils).

The duo nonetheless did the best on two keyboards, with some excellent results, such as the incessant clucking of Hens and Roosters, stampeding Wild Asses and the flowing fluid realm of Aquarium. Humans also appear in its 14 movements, not just Pianists practising scales badly but also the hilarious hee-hawing of Persons with Long Ears, which actually refers to music critics.

Photo: Darrel Tan

The uproarious Finale, which recapped exploits of earlier beasts, closed with those donkeys having the last laugh. After encouraging applause, the duo performed a lovely encore: Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sheep May Safely Graze in a neat and effective four-hand arrangement by Mary Howe.

A PIANO DUO RECITAL NOT TO MISS: PIANO DUO CIEL on 17 August 2025

A piano duo recital for the young and young at heart. Making a welcome return to Singapore is Piano Duo CieL, a prize-winning piano partnership formed by the husband-and-wife team of Singaporean Jared Liew Wei and Korean Juyen Chai. 

Their recital showcases solo works inspired by animals and culminates with Camille Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals, performed on two pianos. Do you have children whom you would like to inspire in music? Here is the chance to impress them.

Works performed:

GERSHWIN Walking the Dog

COPLAND The Cat and the Mouse

BARTOK The Night's Music

GRANADOS The Maiden and the Nightingale

GLINKA/BALAKIREV The Lark

RAMEAU The Hen

COUPERIN Le Moucheron (The Gnat)

SCRIABIN The Mosquito

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Flight of the Bumble Bee

GRIEG Butterfly

SAINT-SAENS Carnival of the Animals

Sunday 17 August 2025

Esplanade Recital Studio, 4 pm   

Click here for tickets:

The Carnival of Animals - Esplanade

Now watch these videos:

Arensky Suite No.1 for two pianos

Weber-Godowsky Invitation to the Dance