Food

Located amongst the lush greenery of Dempsey Hill, Torno Subito brings a playful, Italian coastal vibe to Singapore’s dining scene. Part of celebrity chef Massimo Bottura’s international portfolio, this restaurant channels the spirit of a classic Italian trattoria with a modern twist. Its retro-inspired decor, open kitchen and lively atmosphere make it a conducive spot for both casual gatherings and special celebrations. Torno Subito’s menu focuses on approachable yet inventive dishes, often blending Italian tradition with local flavors in unexpected ways. In that sense, one should not come here expecting the usual Italian classics. 

I came here during a Saturday evening. I was amazed by the expansive space – something that few, if at all, Italian restaurants in Singapore possess. Both sides of the restaurants were flanked by columns that reached out to the high ceiling. Blues and reds permeated the restaurant’s interiors, with a few art works here and there adding a nice touch. For this particular occasion, I tried dishes from their revamped ala carte menu. 

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The mid-autumn or mooncake festival 2025 (中秋节) will fall on 6th October 2025, a Tuesday. In the lunar calendar, the mid-autumn festival is celebrated every 15th of the eight month.

Mooncake Festival 2025

I have been writing about mooncakes in Singapore for the last 10 years and noticed that there are more brands offering low sugar / reduced sugar this year. This guide will be regularly updated with 2025’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 2025.

Mooncake Fairs in 2025

While you can expect mooncake fairs to occur in places such as Takashimaya in 2025, 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. 

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 2025 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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After the success of Scaled, Wong Jing Kai (Kai) of Ah Hua Kelong is back with another farm-to-table concept. Enter Smolder, a new restaurant that captures the laid-back charm of a coastal backyard barbecue right in the heart of Singapore on Outram Road. The vibe here is relaxed and non-judgmental —a celebration of pristine, locally farmed seafood, caught and delivered the very same day, and cooked with just enough seasoning to let their natural flavors shine.

smolder restaurant dining area

Smolder opened on the 15th August 2025. The kind team had invited me over the day before to preview the new concept. These were the dishes I had:

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Many of Singapore’s old-school hawker centers in the city area were established to resettle pioneer hawkers that used to ply the streets of the older parts of town. One such hawker centre is Golden Mile Food Centre which was built in 1975 to resettle the original hawkers lining nearby Jalan Sultan. Today, Golden Mile Food Centre, which is also sometimes known as Beach Road Army Market, is a haven for those seeking traditional hawker fare such as claypot rice, grass jelly, chee cheong fun as well as more innovative dishes catered to younger folks. Here, I aim to present some of my favorite stalls.

Do note that Golden Mile Food Centre is a standalone hawker center that is different from the Golden Mile Complex at the opposite side of the road. I have been visiting this hawker centre for a couple of years and find that after the closure of Golden Mile Complex, they are now mainly busier during weekends while the patronage is rather light during weekdays.

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5 on 25, the Chinese restaurant at Andaz Singapore, recently launched a weekend yum cha menu. While dimsum is not a new concept to this restaurant, with 5 on 25 being a Cantonese restaurant after all, this latest offering represents a rationalization of their weekend menu. 

Priced at S$68++, it is quite competitive when benchmarked against other hotels’ weekend dimsum brunches, where it almost touches S$100++ elsewhere. 

The yum cha menu allowed for 1 soup, 5 kinds of dimsum, 2 dishes from the chef’s recommendations, 1 carbohydrate dish and dessert. While by no means a buffet, I thought the selection was more than enough to be a filling meal. It also didn’t hurt that one is graced by a bird’s eye view of Kampong Glam while enjoying the meal. 

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Acclaimed sea urchin specialist Morita UNIGORO, which hails from Osaka, has opened in Singapore. Apparently, the original outlet in Japan is notoriously difficult to get a reservation so it was quite a relief to see just 2 groups of diners on the weekday evening I came for dinner. 

Occupying a space in a shophouse along Stanley Street and just a few doors down from Restaurant Gaig and Sushi Hare, the intimate 14-seater outlet features counter-style seating – just apt for the mode of service here. Each dish is prepared right before the diner’s eyes with great attention to detail. 

Morita UNIGORO offers 3 types of menu ranging from S$98 / S$168 / S$250. For this particular occasion I tried their S$168 menu.

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Dumpling Festival 2025, also known as Dragonboat Festival or Duan Wu Jie (端午节) in Chinese, will occur on the 31st of May 2025 – the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Although the Dumpling Festival is not a public holiday in Singapore, this is the time that families and friends come together to enjoy exquisitely handmade sticky rice dumplings or zongzi (粽子) or bak chang in the Hokkien dialect. Traditionally, there are 3 types of rice dumplings: 

• Nyonya – Often has a blue tip. The interior features minced meat.
• Hokkien – Juicier than the Nyonya rice dumpling due to the presence of pork belly brimming with fat. The juices get absorbed by the rice.
• Sweet – Filled with various beans, nuts, dates or simply just the sticky rice and nothing else. Also called kee chang. Vegetarian-friendly.

If you were to choose to buy your rice dumplings from hotels and Chinese restaurants, expect luxurious ingredients such as scallops, abalone and even duck. This year, a couple of outlets have introduced some unique flavors. Many of the bak chang listed below for Dumpling Festival 2025 are available not just for takeaway but also for delivery. Here is a list of the best rice dumplings being sold this year.

You can also join our newly-launched telegram channel here and receive updates on F&B promotions as well as other flash deals and offers in F&B and travel.

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There is a new Chinese restaurant in town. The Black Pearl occupies the rooftop space of Odeon 333 along North Bridge Road. It is one of the concepts of Gaia Lifestyle Group, a chain that also includes Social Place and Gyutan-tan. The Black Pearl is helmed by Executive Chef Dee Chan. 

The space is impressive and features panoramic views of Singapore’s skyline, including the iconic Marina Bay Sands. The 80-seater main dining hall is inspired by the beauty of the pearl and evokes the spirit of the Qing imperial banquet.

Aside from the main dining hall, there are also private rooms as well as a chef’s table with a particularly noteworthy ceiling. Overall, it is quite an enchanting venue – one that I’d imagine suit business lunches and family gatherings. 

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