Food

Singapore’s National Day for 2022 comes close to a long weekend with just one working day in between. 9th August is a Tuesday this year which means you can take a day off on Monday and have a longer time celebrating. Compared to the last two years, there are more dine-in offers available though takeaways are expected to remain popular – especially with larger groups/families who prefer to dine in the comfort of home. Without further ado, here are some National Day dining promotions you can check out.

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The mid-autumn or mooncake festival 2022 (中秋节) will fall on the 10th of September 2022. In the lunar calendar, the mid-autumn festival is celebrated every 15th of the eight month.

Mooncake Festival 2022

Despite tight supply chains and runaway inflation, this looks to be another year filled with noteworthy and even some unusual flavors. This guide will be regularly updated with 2022’s catalog of the best mooncakes in Singapore as well as ongoing promotions and mooncake delivery options. The most common types of mooncakes include:

• Traditional baked mooncakes which come with lotus paste or occasionally with red bean paste. These baked mooncakes may also come with one or two salted egg yolks at the center. Sub-specialties include low-sugar baked mooncakes or those that replace the traditional lotus paste with something else, such as pandan.
• Snowskin mooncakes, which need to be chilled and have a shorter shelf life, usually come in fruit flavors with sub-specialties including durian mooncakes and even alcohol infused ones. Snowskin mooncakes are not baked and the crust is made with glutinous rice, enabling a texture similar to mochi. These mooncakes are usually considered less oily than the traditional baked ones.
• Teochew mooncakes are also baked but differ in the sense that the crust is made of filo pastry. Instead of lotus paste, the filling is made with yam, green bean or red bean.

I will also aim to show what the containers look like, so that you’ll know which hotels, Chinese restaurants and bakeries have the best and most beautiful mooncake boxes for 2022.

Is there mooncake fair in 2022?

Given the relaxation of measures, physical mooncake fairs are expected to come back in 2022. However, online mooncake fairs are likely to persist given the convenience it has provided the last few years. The list below contains some exclusive deals and offers not found elsewhere so check them out.

If you do get any of the mooncakes listed below, do share snaps of your haul with me by tagging me on Instagram (@iwanderrr) and I’ll repost as much as I can!

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With further relaxing of measures, the idea of diners looking up their favorite dishes from the buffet spread seems to have made a return in many dining outlets for now. Regardless whether you prefer the ala carte buffet from the last 2 years or checking out your favorites through live stations, the all-you-can eat concept remains alive and well and I checked out a number of different hotels to see how they have adapted to the new normal – some through the clever use of technology while others through age-old hospitality practices.

Without further ado, here are some noteworthy hotel buffet dining promotions to check out this month:

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Mad About Sucre stands in an area that has seen constant change in terms of tenant mix. Over the years, the shophouses surrounding Bukit Pasoh have evolved from clan associations and offices into hip bars, Michelin-starred restaurants and exclusive members-only clubs. Mad About Sucre, which has stood in the section near where Teo Hong Road melds into Bukit Pasoh since 2014, is probably the oldest surviving modern F&B establishment in the area – quite a feat when one considers that only 60% of smaller restaurants in Singapore ever make it past 5 years.

I had first known about Mad About Sucre since their first year of operations back in 2014 but I’ve never had a meal here prior to this visit. I have tried their pastries before which I remembered to be very good and I had also heard stellar reviews about their savory dishes so I was quite excited to drop by for dinner upon receiving an invitation to dine here.

At the time of my visit, Mad About Sucre was rolling out its summer menu. Despite supply chain challenges throughout much of the world, the restaurant still imports many of their ingredients. This includes their caviar which they still source from Ukraine despite the war. 

Entering for the first time since their refurbishment, the space looks very much to me like an arts space with projectors across three sides of the multi-colored dining hall showcasing the blooming of different types of flowers. 

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Around a month back, I went up the 51st floor of CapitaSpring to check out the dining concepts that had newly opened there. Oumi, a modern Japanese Kappo restaurant, takes up half of the F&B space while Kaarla, the mod-Australian restaurant, takes up the other. I dined at Oumi during that instance so this month, I returned to check out Kaarla. 

Contrary to my initial assumption, the restaurant name “Kaarla” is not a homage to a particular person. It actually means “where the home fires burn” in the Australian aboriginal language. 

At Kaarla, the focus is on the cuisine from Australia’s coast. My host was quick to point out that a large majority of Australians live along the coast so it comes as no surprise that one gets to experience the bounties of both the land and sea at Kaarla.

For starters, we had the Damper (S$8 per piece). Damper is a thick homemade soda bread that is quintessential in Australian society. In Kaarla, the damper is left to ferment and aerate within the 1-Arden Food Forest (CapitaSpring’s rooftop garden) prior to serving. The collection of natural yeast in the air allows for a unique taste to the dough. The bread is doused in a native macadamia spread, lardo and lemon balm – allowing for a slightly nutty taste to juxtapose with the sourness.

For something more conventional, one can’t go wrong with oysters. The Australian Market Oyster (S$8 per piece) is shucked upon order and drizzled with a house-fermented fig lead and oyster plant vinegar. 

One benefit of having a rooftop garden of your own is that you get a great source of greens right at your doorstep. This is reflected in Kaarla’s menu. Many of the dishes (including the meats) feature a sprinkling or two of some of the day’s harvest. To sample the delights from the 1-Arden Food Forest in one plate, the Kaarla Closed Loop Salad (S$28) features over 20 different edible leaves and flowers from the outdoor garden. The picks vary according to what’s in season and can include the likes of Roselle leaves, fame flowe, marigold, Egyptian star and cat whiskers. The myriad of herbs certainly give varying textures when consumed especially when considered alongside the tiger nut curd dressing, and is a must-order here in my view for its uniqueness. 

Speaking of uniqueness, one can also sample some exotic dishes here. This being an Australian restaurant – I checked out the Salt Cured Kangaroo (S$32). My only prior exposure to kangaroo meat before this was through jerkies and I remember how tough those were so I was initially skeptical when this dish came. I am happy to report that the kangaroo meat here certainly dispelled any notions I had about the toughness. The meat here was brined, hung and smoked for 3 days each and thinly sliced which help to explain how they managed to attain such an unimaginable tenderness.

Among seafood options, the pickled Australian Blue Mussels (S$30) or Line Caught John Dory (S$62) are worthy options. The latter is noted for being topped with abalone and possessing a sauce made with the innards of the abalone.

The Free Range Pork (S$58) consists of a pork asado shortrib cut. It’s brined for 2 days then slow-cooked on a a wood-fire grill for 8 hours. The “asado” means you have the belly and loin attached to the rib. This is best eaten with the warm minya and riberry vinaigrette to truly appreciate the dish’ overarching flavor profile.

Another meat option is the Aged King Island Beef (S$210 per kg) which was already quite flavorful even without dipping it anywhere. 

Often relegated as a side dish, I found the Pumpkin (S$18) surprisingly noteworthy. It featured a burnt crust, miso made from pumpkin seeds and was topped with goat’s feta – evidently showing how much thought was put into perfecting the recipe for this dish. The combination of these ingredients created an umami flavor that one would not normally associate with the sweeter profile of pumpkin. Again, this shows Kaarla’s capabilities in preparing plant-based dishes.

I enjoyed the dessert selection at Kaarla because they make everything inhouse, even the ice cream which come in unique flavors. I was particularly fond of the Arden Grown Tigernut Ice Cream (S$25) as it had “many things going on at the same time.” By that, I mean the combination of tiger nut nougatine, calamansi jelly and poached oranges. There’s crispy and soft, sweet and sour all at the same time. The tiger nuts used for the ice cream and nougatine come from the 1-Arden Food Forest as well.

My other dinner companions were more inclined towards the Wood Fired Pineapple (S$22) and I can see why. The star here is the caramelized pineapple, served baked and with a sweet coat of syrup. In contrast, the shoyu ice cream that came with the dessert was too creamy for my liking.

There are a number of so-called “Australian” restaurants in Singapore but most of them focus on brunch / cafe or BBQ items which the Land Down Under is also known for. In contrast, Kaarla is a breath of fresh air because it seriously takes the Australian approach by heart by offering Aussie dishes that you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else in Singapore.

Kaarla
 88 Market St
#51-02, CapitaSpring
048948

+65 8518 3763

Opening Hours:

Lunch – Monday to Friday, 12PM to 2:30PM
Dinner – Monday to Saturday, 6PM to midnight

Market Street Hawker Centre is a recently reopened food centre in Singapore’s CBD in CapitaSpring. Despite the change in name, many CBD workers still call it “Golden Shoe” – owing from its origins from 1984 up until 2017 when the hawker centre was housed in a relatively low-rise carpark building called Golden Shoe. When that original building was demolished to make way for the construction of CapitaSpring, Market Street Hawker Centre moved to a site just beside Telok Ayer MRT Station where it stood for almost 5 years as the Market Street Interim Hawker Centre.

On 5th April 2022, Market Street Hawker Centre reopened as part of the gleaming CapitaSpring skyscraper with the food centre occupying the 2nd and 3rd floor of the building – just like it did during the Golden Shoe period. The reopened hawker centre houses 56 stalls – the same number it did back then, although some establishments have changed hands.  

I have personally been visiting this particular hawker centre since its Golden Shoe days. When the interim market was set up, I had also frequented it due to its proximity to my workplace. When the food centre reopened in 2022, I was pleasantly surprised to find many of my favorite stalls intact despite the many changes over the years. 

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