Welcome to Ang Mo Kio.

One of the ice-cream parlours that has been around the local F&B scene for a considerable amount of time would be that of Lickers — these folks have already expanded their operations all across the island with multiple outlets situated in various corners of the island. Their latest location is one that can be found at the foot of the HDB block of Blk 157 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4; this would be within walking distance from Exit 3 of Mayflower MRT Station along the Thomson-East Coast Line — they are also located right beside the notable Gim Tim Restaurant there. Occupying a shop unit that is larger than the typical HDB shop unit, Lickers does feature a spacious interior with the interior decked in white walls with a mix of white paint and white tiles — all that with the use of bright pink neon lights that is pretty in-line with the look to most of its other locations across the island. The menu at Lickers’ Ang Mo Kio location is fairly similar to what they serve up at their other outlets including their founding outlet at Hougang which features not only ice-creams that are served in cups or cones or with waffles, but also cookies and fried finger food to compliment those offerings as well.

We found ourselves going for the waffle with a single scoop of ice-cream during our visit to Lickers’ location at Ang Mo Kio — Lickers names this the Waffle + Lonely here. Our choice of ice-cream would be the Honey Black Tea Sour Plum Ice-Cream; it is also noted that a small shot of maple syrup does come with the waffle by default at Lickers for patrons to drench their waffles with. Digging into the waffle, we liked the consistency of how the waffle is being made at Lickers; it didn’t feel particularly dense, but sufficiently plush so that it does come soft and fluffy with an aptly crisp exterior. It does waft of a slight buttermilk fragrance while the dusting of icing sugar over it helps to add a bit of an aesthetic factor to the waffle; the addition of maple syrup adds a floral note and an apt sweetness to the waffle as well. Our choice of the Honey Black Tea Sour Plum Ice-Cream does feature a fragrant note of black tea that was pretty dominant throughout the entire scoop; there are bits of sour plum flesh to chew on but we found it especially intriguing that the tangy, sour-ish notes of the sour plum was particularly more evident in the melted parts of the ice-cream, while the ice-cream itself is also noted to be not overly sweet despite the use of honey as mentioned in its namesake.

Still might be one of those names which is more familiar to those follow the local home-based business scene as compared to the wider local F&B scene — these folks had been operating as a home-based cafe for a while. It seems that these folks are now ready to shift their operating model of their business into a proper cafe set-up; they had recently made the move to a new brick-and-mortar commercial space within a shop unit at the foot of Blk 421 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10. This is the same shop unit in which that housed the founding location of Monday Coffee Bar previously — other notable establishments situated at this block would include the coffeeshop named Food Haus which is home to Tham’s Roasted Delights. Still occupies a shop unit that is half the size of a conventional shop unit found at the foot of a HDB block; the interior does sport a rather Japandi vibe with the use of dim yellow lighting to recreate a relaxed yet welcoming vibe — there is also an outdoor dining space that is located right across from the entrance of the cafe as well. An establishment that focuses on its coffee and bakes, the bakes available for the day are display prominently in the display case at the counter; mostly comprises of bagels, cookies and scones, while the beverage menu is split into sections dedicated to Coffee, Matcha and Others.

There are three (3) different types of bagels that Still was offering on the day that we made our visit — we found ourselves going for the Cheddar Cheese Bagel. Patrons can choose to go for the bagels as-is, or add a spread of either butter or cream cheese to go along with it — we went with the option of pairing our bagel with butter at an additional cost of $0.50 on top of the base price for the bagel. It is interesting to note that Still styles their bagels in a way that resembles a cat; there are parts of the bagel that are shaped to replicate the pointy “ears” of cats, whilst each bagel also features an cute illustration that gives a “face” to each bagel. The Cheddar Cheese Bagel from Still is a fairly simple offering in which it is a bagel that features a crusty layer of melted cheese on the exterior for an additional touch of savouriness to the bagel. The bagel itself was also pretty well-made; it carries a firm texture and quite a fair bit of chew; all that whilst being not too heavy. Felt that the spread of butter does help in adding another contrast of savouriness to the Cheddar Cheese Bagel; an option which we would recommend one to go for here.

(~ $11) dumpling noodle was quite ok but the broth slightly salty tbh. siew mai v nice as usual.

(Medium- $6.80) cannot be customised for sugar level. But the hojicha got mild taste as the coconut covered up. 😅

($6.80) v interesting concept for Indian and Mediterranean street food flavour. The spices was quite strong taste tbh. U can choose the ingredients (veg and sides and sauces) for each different burrito.

($5) under nam kee pau. the serving size was quite mild but the soup broth was quite a bit salty.

8.8 deals

($3) its quite sweet tbh giving yakult itself v sweet flavour.

($7.90) the serving size was quite enough for me but the sauce was mild and not spicy. Just sour and spicy in between to mix well with dry noodle and fried food.

($6.50) decent fish soup which a lot of ppl did ordered beside 925 chicken rice.

Revisited Hup Kee after years and the queue is still as long as before. Managed to get my bowls but by just past 11am only fishballs were left. Their mee kia was thinner and curly, springy without the strong alkaline taste, tossed in dark sauce with shallot oil, fried shallot and plenty of lard for that shiok and sinful flavour. The handmade fishballs were firm yet bouncy, clean in texture and paired best with the belacan chilli which gave a spicy lift. The flavours remain familiar and satisfying, something I would go for if I am already around the hood though I would reconsider making a special trip just for the queue 》$5 (Regular) / $6.50 (Large)

($7.90) its quite filling tbh but giving a lot of bee hoon and also self service their sauce.