Food Village (Takashimaya)

Sambal Stingray for $16 in the heart of orchard road? 1 please.

Not bad also, and Stingray meat was tender and easily slides off the bones. Generous amount of sambal.

Silky Eggs Rice with Char Siu & Pork Belly

(from Tai Cheong Bakery)

Quite surprise and unexpected can still able to get the price of $4.80 Chinese mixed rice in orchard area. The one in food opera is overpriced though!

Not too shabby, enjoyed this carrot cake! Added on extra egg as usual, and the sides were even crisped (despite the colour it wasn’t charred!). I liked the presence of caipohs, especially since my recent caitaokueh experiences didn’t have those😕. The kueh was soft but not too soft; and portion was quite generous so I don’t think I would be able to finish this entirely on my own. Chili was shiok and rather potent to me.

The stalls have generic names (like ‘Chicken Rice’, ‘Prawn Noodles’, ‘Yong Tau Foo’, ‘Cutlet Speciality’, ‘Fried Carrot Cake’, ‘Korean Cuisine’, etc), so that stall holders can be replaced without much drama. This also means they cannot induce brand name hawker stalls to come - a strategy adopted by Food Republic at its 3 food courts (ION Orchard, Wisma Atria, and Isetan). No wonder the quality of the food is at least one notch below the others. - the food at the ‘Indian Cuisine’ stall is downright horrific, and choice limited; avoid it! On top of that, seating place is more limited, AND must be shared with brands that are not in the food court (SaladStop, ToriQ), whereas these brands do have their own seats and tables at Tangs and ION, respectively. But, given the prime position of Takashimaya, at meal times this is always packed solid; more than once I have seen customers fights over seats. Along with the Lucky Plaza food court(s), this is probably the worst on Orchard Road, although the Far East malls are positioned to be more downmarket, so that is less of a surprise.

The popular roasted meat stall selling a variety of roasted meats. Char siew and Siew yok rice is not bad.