Food Junction (HarbourFront Centre)

For the best korean food in an unassuming food court in Harborfront Centre!

This is a restaurant quality cuisine in food court. At $7.90, what a bargain! Very delicious with fresh ingredients. Love it.

I was actually quite surprised with the variety and quality of food at food junction At habourfront centre . ( level 3 )

My default mode would be to avoid food junction Food courts because they don’t serve the best food Nor have the best hygiene levels ( given they are mostly run by ahem..... you know ).

I chanced upon this stall call homemade Italian and decided to give the arrabiata a try and thank God I did .

It was done perfectly. Pasta was al dente and the portion was generous. There was a nice balance between the sweet and sour profile of the sauce too but it would have been better more spicy .

I recognise this stall operator as the same operator who operated from the golden shoe air conditioned food court ( it has since been torn down to give way to new office buildings ). They had a Italian “ chap chye peng” concept where you could select your anti pasti .

So Glad we are re-united . If you are found of pesto , the homemade basil pesto is also pretty good .

And for 5 dollars a plate of pasta with homemade sauce , where to find ???

Homemade Italian

Do you believe in fate ?

My first encounter with homemade Italian was at golden shoe ( an air conditioned eatery ) but they closed because the whole building was torn down for redevelopment . They had a “ salad chap chye peng “ concept where you could pick 2 or 3 types of salad to pair with your pasta .

While I was dining at nasi lemak kus kus at Selegie road quite some years back , I was taken aback that this stall found its way to a coffee shop in Selegie . Selling Italian food in a coffee shop setting is not easy , but the great execution by the stall owner soon got herself a faithful following . Then the stall moved out and I lost contact with the owner again.

On a rare occasion, I passed by habourfront centre and decided to check out its level 3 food court - and I saw a familiar face.

Finally and once again , I was re-United with homemade Italian 😊

I love how her sauces are made from scratch . My favourite is her arrabiata which can rival even established Italian restaurants . It is so rich with plump tomatoes and a right balance between the sweet and sour and just the right consistency .

I decided to go for the pesto pasta today and I must say I really really like it too. Light , basil pesto allowing the basil to shine through . The penne is cooked al dente .

I paired my meal with a pumpkin soup which was very well done too . Not excessively creamy or cloying , just the real stuff 😊

The owner was so happy to see me that she offered a free meal but I declined because I was more happy to see her 😜

6 dollars for a restaurant quality pasta - it can’t get better .

For those of you who are closer to Alexandra , the owner’s Son operates spago homemade Italian ( level 1) at Alexandra Central ( next to ikea ) .
They have a more extensive menu there and you gotta give the tiramisu a try - the one that I had during the golden shoe foodcourt days was heavenly .

I’ve eaten at this MLXG stall in the food court quite a few times and it has always been satisfying in terms of spiciness. There’s a decent selection of ingredients with the usual suspects - lotus roots, thick vermicelli, black fungus etc. What’s noteworthy here is the bean curd skin ring roll that’s available! I love having the ring roll in hotpots and it always makes me excited to see it when I can choose my own ingredients. They do charge per piece for the ring roll though.

I usually order medium spicy and it’s enough to impart some chilli taste to the food, without making you sweat, pant or reach for water. Unfortunately, don’t expect any ma (numbness) from this stall. I hardly see any peppercorns in the bowl (maybe there’s none inside at all) and I don’t feel any sense of numbness even after multiple bites. While I still enjoy the food from this stall overall, it sort of defeats the purpose of being called MLXG. Can’t say I really mind though, as I do enjoy the spiciness and don’t mind forgoing the numbness when I just want a quick and convenient MLXG fix.

I ordered the broccoli, ladies fingers, enoki mushroom, shimeji mushroom, tau kwa, fish cake and 2 meatballs and the bill came up to ~$19. The great thing about this stall is that you get 10% off with PAssion card so remember to use it. The final price was $17.30 for a bowl shared between 2 pax. Overall it was still pricey, but not unheard of for MLXG. Wish they could improve the labelling and be more transparent on the pricing of each ingredient as I honestly don’t know which ingredient falls into which category (what’s vegetable A, B or C?!).

If you wanna avoid the overwhelming crowd at Vivocity, can try this affordable Hot Stone Bibimbap ($5.90) at the food court located at Harbourfront Centre. It was surprisingly tastier & spicier than I thought. 😊 The warm and friendly staff is also more than happy to refill the sides which is uncommon in a food court setting. Well, that explains the queue. 😀