ThaiPan Restaurant Chinese Restaurant

ThaiPan Restaurant at Mandarin Gardens is one of those hidden Chinese zhi char restaurants that you won’t know about unless you stay in the area. I have been to ThaiPan countless of times, just because of the proximity to home. It feels very much like a high class neighborhood zhi char stall at Marine Parade Road with air-conditioning and comfortable seating, great for family gatherings over a meal. Seats can be a cramped if you do not select the right seats and quite a din when it’s full house. What makes up for it would be a good selection of Chinese dishes to select from. They also offer catering, which is perfect for house parties when you are too lazy to cook up a storm. 

I particularly like ThaiPan squid with salted egg, jade tofu with crab meat, and pork chop. In my recent dine in at ThaiPan, they started adding to much salt in the food, so subsequently I asked them to reduce the salt, which helped to make the dishes a perfect combination of homely Chinese zhi char that I would occasionally crave for.

ThaiPan Restaurant

13 Siglap Rd

Mandarin Gardens 

Singapore 448911

Tel: 6448 9827

Email: enquiries@thaipan.com.sg

MRT: Bedok

Opening Hours

Lunch 11.30 - 3.30 

Dinner 17.30 - 22.00

Garuda Padang at Orchard Central

Orchard Central is one of those buildings in Singapore that though creative in its design, totally loses in terms of functionality. If you drive, be smart and get a free valet parking; otherwise you will be going around the car park which can be quite a merry go round.

It was a rainy afternoon when my colleagues decided to dine here after giving them several options to choose from. Garuda Padang has quite a lovely spacious setting set high on the 7th floor. You almost feel you are somewhere near the sky, specially with the tall windows.

As for the food, it's nothing to boast about, to me it's nothing more than regular Indonesian dishes to choose from. We had the beef redang, the ikan billis with peanuts (winner), sayuh londeh, omelette (winner), bagadel, curry chicken, and eggplant.

Simple basic Indonesian food without the wow factor. Yet I must say it's a great place for both colleagues and friends to hang out for a meal, away from the bustle of the rest of Orchard Road.

Garuda Padang has since closed it's outlet at Orchard Central, and have moved to East Coast Road.

Garuda Padang
220 East Coast Road
Singapore 428917
Tel: 6441 0220
Daily: 11:00 - 22:00

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen is even more than finger licking good!

With KFC being the mainstay in Singapore ever since I was a child, seeing Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen come to Singapore recently made me a little wary. Are they that good? Do we really need yet another greasy fried chicken chain to hit Singapore?

My mistrust was unwarranted. I had the chance to try Popeyes chicken at Bedok Point and was simply impressed - the thought of grease aside.

Usually I am not one for breast chicken meat simply because it's cooked so dry it tastes like paper. However at Popeyes the chicken breast is certainly worth a try as it's not only tender but also tasty. And best of all the chicken tastes really fresh. I also liked the mash potato with its very unique tasting sauce. Each 2 piece chicken comes with a biscuit, which is like corn bread that you can spread jam on. The setting at Popeyes is also very spacious which makes dining in big groups a relaxing experience.

Indeed Popeyes has done itself well even with a place like Singapore where people are relatively health conscious, such fried chicken done to perfection is worth setting aside diet plans.

Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen

313 Somerset
313 Orchard Road
#B2-15
MRT: Somerset

Square 2
10 Sinaran Drive
#01-04
MRT: Novena

Bedok Point
799 Upper Changi Road
#03-01
MRT: Bedok

Suntec City Mall
3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-146
MRT: Promenade