pianomania

Sunday, 23 August 2026

PRE-CONCERT EATS: YAKINIKU SHOKUDO @ PLAZA SINGAPURA

The nearest concert venue to Plaza Singapura is the School of The Arts (SOTA), and that is where you go when you cannot find car parking at The Cathay. At any rate, we were not attending a concert at SOTA but rather attending the first evening of the Singapore Night Festival. A light Japanese meal was what we opted for, and conveniently placed Yakiniku Shokudo was the solution before we went on our evening jaunt.

The menu is simple, and one can opt for cooked dishes or you can doing your own cooking on the table grill. We do the former, and the sets were rather reasonable. Add $2 for a side dish and a glass of houjicha. The portions are not too big, just adequate for you to be tempted to order more items. We resisted the temptation.

Side dish: Thai fish cakes

Beef yakiniku set

Chicken Chashu Ramen

YAKINIKU SHOKUDO

@ PLAZA SINGAPURA

68 Orchard Road #B1-01

Singapore 238839

(20+) Facebook

Saturday, 22 August 2026

SUKA MAKAN: BUDDY HOAGIES @ BUKIT TIMAH SHOPPING CENTRE

Bukit Timah Shopping Centre is the poor country cousin to Bukit Timah Plaza, but it has something which the Plaza lacks - an affordable Western-styled family restaurant. Even since Wishbone Restaurant closed, one needed to make a trek north to the Shopping Centre to enjoy inexpensive chicken chops and steaks at Buddy Hoagies Cafe & Grill.

Buddy Hoagies is a Singapore-based chain that does very decent Western food, like a more Country & Western version of Aston's. Young people and families come to the BTSC branch, and there is an air of informality and homeliness to the establishment. LP covers line the walls and it even has an upright piano, but it's never being played now and probably needs a tuning or two.

Pork chops with baked potato & vegetables.

"Double-up" chicken chops with
mushroom sauce & black pepper sauce.

Double the meat, but not double the price!

As informal Western meals go, this was very enjoyable, and its likely we'll be back for more.

BUDDY HOAGIES @

BUKIT TIMAH SHOPPING CENTRE

170 Upper Bukit Timah Road #B1-05

Singapore 588179

Buddy Hoagies Steak & Grill

This has been the 3500th post on Pianomania.

PRE-CONCERT EATS: MALATANG BY RU YI FANG @ CITYLINK MALL

Mala restaurants have been opening in Singapore like mushrooms after a rain. There are at least three mala restaurants near Esplanade, and this is the closet one to it. Located in Raffles Link / Citylink Mall, Ru Yi Fang's Malatang outlet occupies the space that was once a New York-styled pizza joint.

It's 6.45pm and there's hardly anyone here.

The all-important sauce / condiment station.

For some reason, it's always deserted, as if no one knew it existed. That makes the service very prompt. The formula is much the same: get a bowl, load it with the assorted goodies - noodles, vegetables, mushrooms, meat and seafood - and have it weighed for the price you pay. Its $2.98 for 100g, with a minimum of 300g for an order. So each bowl should minimally cost $9.94.

There are different soup options, but I opted for the boring stir-fried version with the lowest possible level of spice. Mala uses peppers which leave a chilly, numbing and tingling sensation on the lips, and some people love that. Me? Not so much. I'll try the soupy version the next time around.

RUIYIFANG MALATANG

@ CITYLINK MALL

1 Raffles Link #B1-01 and 02

Citylink Mall

Friday, 21 August 2026

SINGAPORE'S BUONA VISTAS: SKYRESIDENCE @ DAWSON

SkyResidence @ Dawson and
Margaret Drive Marketplace.

Singapore is a terribly flat country, one where its buildings tower over its hills. There are at least 60 office buildings and apartment blocks taller than the 163 metres that is Bukit Timah Hill, Singapore highest natural point. Their views of our island city-state must be breathtaking.

The 8th floor roof garden.

View of MRT between
Queenstown and Commonwealth stations.

That's where we need to go up next.

We just found our way to a roof garden not too far from home, at SkyResidence @ Dawson, after having lunch at Margaret Drive Marketplace. There's one on the 8th floor of the car-park block, and there is even access to the 27th floor garden of the adjacent block which is free to enter.

Queenstown sports and swimming complex.

The Stirling Road area, with
Stirling Residences soaring above.

View of the Mujahiddin Mosque,
Queenstown Polyclinic and Tanglin Halt beyond.

The views of surrounding Queenstown are simply stunning. Looking south, one can spot the Southern Ridges over the Alexandra district. Viewing north, there is the vast greenery of Botanic Gardens and Orchard Road beyond that. Once-humble, down and out Queenstown and Margaret Drive has been totally transformed over the years, and that is gentrification for you.

Queenstown, new and old.

Looking north to Ridout and
Swettenham Roads, Botanic Gardens beyond.

Here is another good vantage point.

This does begin to resemble Hong Kong.

As if one did not need further reminding, Margaret Drive was named after Princess Margaret (1930-2002), the Countess of Snowdon and younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. Here she is in her former glory.

SINGAPORE'S HIPSTER PRECINCTS: MARGARET DRIVE MARKETPLACE

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day tired old Margaret Drive would someday become where hipsters hang out. One of Singapore's oldest public housing estates (or satellite towns, which we called them), Queenstown dates from the early 1960s, before the nation became independent. Margaret Drive was home to low-cost housing, cinemas centred around the once popular Tah Chung Emporium, hawker centres, a shopping complex with a bowling alley, several primary schools, the beloved Queenstown Library and even a prison (its most famous internee being Michael Fay).

Now that certainly looks like a Chinese coffin.

Over the decades, its early shine faded, with the population growing older and buildings losing their lustre. All of the HDB blocks were demolished including the iconic Margaret Drive Hawker's Centre. All that remains is Block 38, the very distinctive Commonwealth Avenue Wet Market, built by the SIT (Singapore Improvement Trust, HDB's forerunner), popularly known by the Chinese as the "Coffin Market".

Its design is unique in Singapore architecture from the 1950s. No other building like this exists in Singapore today, with its parabolic roof which allowed rain to trickle down its sides. After an extensive renovation, it's become a hipster eating place, like a mini-Covent Garden of Queenstown. All that is missing is an opera house. Completely air-conditioned, it houses cafes, restaurants and upmarket food stalls. There are health facilities and clinics on the second storey, a 24-hour gym and even a sit down mini-library.

It's all very new and posh now, and the demographic is considerably younger. The older folks prefer to hang out at the Margaret Drive Hawker's Centre (Block 38A) next door, where prices are more affordable, but there is no air con. No worries, as neighbourhoods gentrify and "upgrade", so do the accompanying environs. That's what we call progress.