Restaurants

Understated is the word for this vast 80-seater with its bare floorboards, bare wooden tables and bare walls devoid of decoration. But you can always look at the chefs at work in the open kitchen (which runs down one wall) and pretend youre at home watching Iron Chef on the telly. While South-east Asian dishes such as beef rendang, singapore laksa and chicken satay dominate, theres some pretty adventurous Chinese cooking to be sampled as well, including an unexpected nod to Hakkasan (sea bass with champagne sauce). Traditionalists tend to stick with the likes of aromatic crispy duck, or sweet and sour chicken. We particularly liked the verdant, lightly crunchy gai lan (chinese broccoli) in ginger sauce, and the scorchy, character-laden char kway teow (rice noodles with chicken and prawns), although a little crisped lup cheong sausage wouldnt have gone astray. Gado gado (beansprout salad with sweet peanut sauce) was a bit grim, with a hard-boiled egg showing a distinct grey ring from overcooking.

Time Out Eating & Drinking Guide 2008