SUKA MAKAN: XIANG XIANG HUNAN CUISINE

We've passed this restaurant on many occasions, and there were always long lines waiting to enter. And it was always full. On this Monday evening at 6 pm, there was curiously not a crowd. So we took the chance. Xiang Xiang Hunan Cuisine has to be the most popular restaurant in all of One Holland Village. And for good reason too.

Hunan cuisine refers to Chinese food from Hunan, the province south of the great lakes of central China. It's not one of the common cuisines in Singapore, so it attracts a lot of interest like Sichuan cuisine several decades ago. We tried some dishes, and they were simply delicious.

Century egg and eggplant

Prepared with mortar and pestle
before your very eyes!

It looks like a gooey mess, 
but it tastes heavenly!

Stir-fried beef with spices

Stir-fried chicken with bamboo shoots

The other factor is the wonderful service staff. Everyone here is cheerful and happy to oblige. Beverage is free flow for teas, and there are also free snacks and ice-cream to entertain you before and after your meal. On this evening, one child even had a birthday song sung by the staff. Much like Haidilao, service is geared to get you to come back. We will certainly return and try other dishes.

Some child is serenaded by the staff
on his / her / their birthday.

Yippee, free snacks and ice-cream!

When there's no queue, step right in!

XIANG XIANG HUNAN CUISINE

7 Holland Village Way #2-19/20

One Holland Village

Singapore 275748

XIANG XIANG HUNAN CUISINE

SUKA MAKAN: BRONZO PASTA BAR @ BUKIT TIMAH FOOD CENTRE

An Italian kitchen with sub-restaurant prices. That's what Bronzo Pasta Bar at Bukit Timah Food Centre was all about. We walked around it for a while, looking on curiously and finally decided to give it a chance. And it tastes like the real thing.

The menu is very small, only five choices of pasta dishes, and three side dishes at one time. Everything is under $20, no service charge, no GST added. Here are the pics, and a repeat visit to try the other dishes is imperative.

Carbonara pasta with guanciale (bacon)

Fried Calamari with
smoky roasted pepper sauce. 

BRONZO PASTA BAR

2a Seh Chuan Road #01-071

Singapore 599213

Bukit Timah Food Centre (Interim)

Bronzo Pasta Bar (@bronzo_pasta) • Instagram photos and videos

SUKA MAKAN: COPTHORNE KING'S HOTEL PENANG BUFFET

People actually travel to Penang for its food. If you cannot spare the time and airfares, one trick is the Copthorne King's Hotel Penang dinner buffet. Its ground floor restaurant and breakfast hall is called Princess Terrace, but nobody remembers that name. All we remember is Penang Buffet at the King's. 

The legendary Mr Yeoh Cheng Kung.
Also a well-known classical music-lover.
Rumour has it he has a grand piano
in his bedroom at the King's.

Penang rojak / Nasi lemak & Nasi ulam

Persembuk or Indian rojak (right)

It's authenticity is without doubt. It's tradition dates from the 1970s when the hotel was managed by the legendary Mr Yeoh Cheng Kung, a Penangaite true and true who still stays on the premises and makes frequent appearances. He's here this evening, especially because its 21 October, the founder's day of Penang Free School, which holds its annual general meeting and dinner here every year.

Chicken satay & Har Cheong fried chicken

My modest first plate of dishes,
and Kueh Paiti for the table to share.

There are so many dishes here that it is impossible to take in one sitting. So one has to be strategic, take small portions of your favoured dishes, and small portions of things you want to try. Once you've had the full spread, then focus on your favourites. This is the night-time equivalent of coffee shop hopping for breakfast in Georgetown, where you have a single dish (for 5 ringgits) at one shop corner and move on to the next, until its lunchtime, and you repeat the cycle. An epicurian's dream!

What is the chef making?
Char kuay teow, best eaten piping hot.

Two favourite dishes:
Char kuay teow and Hokkien prawn noodles.

"Fried" porridge (top left)
is a rarity these days.

Penang assam laksa (top),
squid & stingray (bottom).

Here is the sum total of the dishes I tried, and yet I had not even covered everything.  By the time I left, my stomach was almost full to bursting and the thought of more food was near impossible. The next time, I shall skip breakfast and lunch and only have a Penang dinner fit for datuks and datins. 

Ban chung kuay
(durian and peanut fillings)

The best part of the ice kachang
and chendol here is you can choose
how much attap chee you want to add!

COPTHORNE KING'S HOTEL

403 Havelock Road

Singapore 169632

princess-terrace-2026-10-buffet-dinner-menu

People spotting at the King's Penang Buffet:

Why was I even there? I was the guest of prominent Penangite lawyer Malcolm Tan, and I also had Penang roots to do with Penang Free School. My maternal grandfather Datuk Tay Hooi Keat was an old Free, and so were all three of my maternal uncles, Tay Lee Inn, Tay Lee Soon and Tay Lee Kheng. Had I been born in Penang myself, I would have attended Penang Free School. Instead it was its equivalent in Singapore, Raffles Institution.

SUKA MAKAN: A RETURN TO ARAB STREET @ CLEMENTI SUNSET WAY

Here we are again, in Arab Street Turkish Restaurant along Sunset Way. The thing about favourite restaurants is that we keep coming back. The reasons have to do with the food - it must be delicious - but also the service. Here, we are made to feel at home. The owners and staff treat you like special guests, and are genuinely happy to see you return.

Whatever you order on the menu you get, and then you get extra on the house. Mushroom soup was served first, compliments of the chef. Then a humus dish with vegetables. That whets your appetite for the main courses.

Mushroom soup

Humus with vegetables

On this occasion, we enjoyed a lamb pide (Turkish pizza) and cheesy chicken and rice served in a tagine (brass bowl). That's more than enough to fill the stomach, and this is washed down with Turkish mint tea, which they know has been a favourite of ours. That special service keeps you coming back!

Lamb pide

Cheesy chicken rice in a tagine.

There's a trick of pouring tea
without getting scalded.

With owner Max & staff Abdel Rahman

ARAB STREET TURKISH RESTAURANT

Blk 106 Clementi Street 12 #01-38

Singapore 120106

restaurant arab street turkish & western (@arabstreetturkishwestern) • Instagram photos and videos

SUKA MAKAN: LE MANOLIS @ POST OFFICE SQUARE, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA

This has to be Suka Makan's restaurant of the year. While schlepping around Phnom Penh's Post Office Square, I discovered this old school French restaurant at the corner of what has to be the city's grottiest looking building. Located just opposite the old Post Office was a square block that used to be The Grand Hotel, later Le Grand Manolis after being bought by a Greek businessman.

Le Grand Hotel gained some notoriety in the 1920s after it housed the young Frenchman Andre Malraux, who had been arrested for stealing reliefs from Banteay Srei Temple near Angkor Wat. Pending trial, he and his wife stayed in this hotel before he ran out of money and pushed off elsewhere.

See, no Richard Clayderman here!

The Old World decor of Le Manolis restaurant which occupies its northwestern corner of the Grand complex looks like it's still existing in the Belle Epoque. One might even imagine Andre Malraux still lounging here for a smoke and drinks. This represents the height of French elegance, oozing atmosphere and class from every pore. It even has a decent classical vinyl collection, sure sign the owner has good taste.

Mediterranean squid,
with garlic and parsley.

Burrata with melon and Parma ham.

Baked mussels with cheese and garlic.

We had a leisurely Sunday lunch, which turned out to be the finest on our trip to Cambodia. Ordering tapas rather than main courses was a good choice, if only to sample the variety of dishes on offer. Here are the photos, of what was perhaps and most likely our most memorable meal of the year!

A steak tartar salad.

Japan oysters, half dozen.

That's when we'll be coming next!

Watching the world go by.

LE MANOLIS

No.6 Preah Ang Eng Street (No.13)

Post Office Square

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

French Restaurant in Phnom Penh | Le Manolis Wine Bar

Old World charm. 
Paris or Phnom Penh?

You can see this "hotel" (Belleville) and it's environs in the 2002 movie City of Ghosts starring Matt Dillon, James Caan and Gerard Depardieu.

Matt Dillon is taken for a ride

to Le Manolis (Belleville Hotel)