Food

Bak Kwa or 肉干 is a form of dried meat that originated in China. A popular snack in Singapore, especially during the Chinese New Year season, the manufacturing of bak kwa entails preservation and the infusion of ingredients such as salt, sugar, sauces and spices thrown into the mix. In more recent years, bak kwa manufacturers have become more creative as well, infusing herbs, honey, chili and even minerals into the bak kwa to differentiate themselves from other brands. There has also been increased preference for more authentic looking bak kwa – which means less on the redness and the sugar.

Bak Kwa is extremely popular in Singapore, with some brands even ingrained internationally as being iconic of the Lion City. As such, it can be said that Singapore is at the forefront of innovation as well when it comes to this snack. Bak Kwa is also commonly used as an ingredient in some everyday dishes such as fried rice, claypot rice, etc; thus allowing it to a stand as a year round item even outside of Lunar New Year.

Some of the common types of bak kwa include:

• Sliced pork / beef / chicken / duck / lamb
• Chili sliced pork / beef / chicken / duck / lamb
• Coin-shaped slices using pork / beef/ chicken / duck / lamb
• Pork belly (think: similar to bacon but undergoing the same preservation and cooking technique as the usual bak kwa)
• Flavored bak kwa – can be infused with fruits, additional herbs, seaweed, minerals, etc

If you are wondering which is the best bak kwa to buy as an everyday snack or during Chinese New Year, I have tried to sum it up here for your convenience. You will find here the most comprehensive list of bak kwa in Singapore! Do note this list is not arranged in order. Most of these bak kwa brands also sell online and even deliver, giving an added convenience. For next Lunar New Year, you won’t need to waste a considerable amount of time queuing!

You can also join our newly-launched telegram channel here and receive updates on price drops, exclusive promotions not found anywhere else as well as flash deals for other CNY goodies and other F&B promotions.

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No holiday feast is complete without a large platter of turkey for the family. Especially in this time of year when Christmas gatherings and home parties are in full swing, you may wish to order a roasted turkey to feed guests visiting your home for the holidays. 

With the past year’s recurring theme of inflation, I am surprisingly seeing many hotels and restaurants keep turkey prices stable this year. I am even seeing a few vendors offering their turkeys at slightly lower prices, albeit with fewer side dishes to go along with the bird.

Whether it is a Christmas party with friends or an intimate holiday dinner with family, check out this selection of turkeys for 2024. Many of these vendors deliver as well.

You can also join our newly-launched telegram channel here and receive updates on price drops, exclusive promotions not found anywhere else as well as flash deals for turkeys and other Christmas goodies. 

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 A new addition to the growing ensemble of restaurant options in Joo Chiat is the Ebb and Flow group’s Spanish restaurant, Carlitos. 

Conceptualized as a casual tapas joint, Carlitos is a diminutive form of Carlos, a nod to Chef Carlos Montobbio who started the restaurant as a collaboration with Antonio Miscellaneo, from La Bottega which is just 2 doors away. 

Carlitos occupies the space that used to be Tigerlily Patisserie, an Ebb and Flow concept that closed down earlier this year. The style of Carlitos is relatively informal – a bit family-style if you will and in fact, the space reminds me more of an Italian restaurant than a Spanish one. Perhaps the most obvious suggestion that is a Spanish restaurant is the presence of booth seats surrounding a bar (the way Spaniards usually take their tapas). There is also a table dining option.

Although relatively authentic, the food in Carlitos is meant to cater to what Singaporeans perceive Spanish food to be. This means you will find dishes from all over Spain in the venue’s menu of 30+ items – from Catalan to Andalusian and even Basque specialties all under one roof. 

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Desserts are an essential part of any festive dinner table and no other sweet treat is more evocative of the Christmas season than log cakes. Dessert chefs are known to be very competitive by rolling out highly creative pastries each year. It might still be quite early for Christmas but a few bakers in Singapore have already started rolling out their log cake selections for 2024.

This year, many establishments are consolidating their log cake offerings. For instance, I see fewer of the fancier/exotic flavors and many hotels have reverted to offering only their bestselling flavors. Many are also reducing the number of flavors in their repertoire to just 1 or 2 whereas they had offered 5 or more in past years.

Without further ado, here is the list for the year – I will update it as and when more brands come online with their offerings.

You can also join our telegram channel here and receive updates on price drops, exclusive promotions not found anywhere else as well as flash deals for log cakes and other Christmas goodies.

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Golden Peony at Conrad Centennial Singapore has just launched a new menu, focusing on nostalgic and time-honored Cantonese recipes. Launched on the 11th of October, the Chinese restaurant which is helmed by Chef Ku Keung makes a deliberate nod to the 28-year old restaurant’s storied heritage. 

I returned to Golden Peony recently for lunch to try out the new menu. It has been a while since I have been to the restaurant.

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Along with the log cake and turkey, the festive ham is another must-have dish during Christmas. The huge chunk – usually pork but may also be chicken or turkey – is either wet or dry cured and may or may not be smoked. There are many variations of ham available and all are generally considered acceptable for Christmas. There have also been deviations from the original honey-glazed hams. Some restaurants and hotels have rolled out hams with a local flair for instance, and I’ve aimed to list some of the noteworthy ones down below.

You can also join our telegram channel here and receive updates on price drops, exclusive promotions not found anywhere else as well as flash deals for  other F&B and travel-related promotions.

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The mid-autumn or mooncake festival 2024 (中秋节) will fall on 17th September 2024, a Tuesday. In the lunar calendar, the mid-autumn festival is celebrated every 15th of the eight month.

Mooncake Festival 2024

With inflation easing somewhat, this looks to be another year filled with noteworthy and even some unusual flavors. This guide will be regularly updated with 2024’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 2024.

Mooncake Fairs in 2024

While you can expect mooncake fairs to occur in places such as Takashimaya in 2024, online mooncake fairs are expected to persist and even become the preferred method of purchase for many due to lower prices stemming from vendors’ lower overheads and ability to hold flash deals. The list below contains some exclusive mooncake promotions and deals not found elsewhere so check them out.

You can also join our newly-launched telegram channel here and receive updates on mooncake flash sales, exclusive promotions not found anywhere else as well as other F&B and travel flash deals.

Without further ado, check out these mooncakes for the 2024 season. All the brands listed below direct to their official online stores or their designated authorized e-commerce marketplaces. With the rise in mooncake scams, it is not advisable to purchase from Facebook or WhatsApp.

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