Start hunting for jobs in the near-West. Live music behemoth Timbre tunes into the food court game, and its new spot in close proximity to the '-polises' in Buona Vista gathers some of the city's hottest F&B names to set up shop between artfully stacked containers and in imported trailers. Here are the spreads we surveyed at this food joint.
The World is Flat (#01-04/05)
Mon-Sat 11am-9.30pm
It's hard to believe that the Tanuki Raw crew managed to hide a pizza oven in their offshoot in a cat bus – swoon, Totoro fans – but they have. And damn, does it churn out some good pie. The Fat Samurai ($9/slice, $49/pie) pays homage to Chicago deep dish with plenty of sturdy charcoal-black dough holding up a satisfying mess of confit duck, beef, cabbage, prawns, bacon, burnt onions, generous lashings of balsamic okonomiyaki sauce, and flutters of bonito flakes.
Kush (#01-36)
Mon-Sat 11.30am-10.30pm
Get your head out of that 4/20 haze. The Quarters' chef Chung Deming's second effort serves skewer bowls ($8.80-$12) filled with coal-fired kushiyaki sticks with South-East Asian flavours, served in dons of Japanese rice with sambal kangkong and an oozing yolk. The familiar flavours in the chicken and pork ball sticks could be more pronounced, but the cook time on them is spot on.
Also on the menu at Kush: Angus ($42/250g) and wagyu rib-eyes ($58/250g) to ball out when boss drops the news on your annual bonus. Served to us on a grey slate, each slice of wagyu beef (marble score 6) wears a thin, smoky crust that sandwiches perfectly medium rare meat between. Few hawker-style steaks can really compare.
Iskina Cebu Singapore (#01-27)
Mon-Sat 11.30am-10.30pm
Despite the long line for its coal-cooked meats, Iskina Cebu doesn't live up to the hype. The plate of the triple sampler ($15) is slicked all over in oil – and the dry, sinewy roasted manok chicken and the biscuity, sticky crunch on the squares of pork belly liempo don’t make things any better.
Teppei Daidokoro (#01-21)
Mon-Sat 11am-10pm
Yamashita Teppei – he of the affordably priced omakases, kaisen dons and kushiyaki sticks – replicates his Daidokoro ('Japanese kitchen') concept at the new Timbre+. Staples such as katsus, meaty Japanese curries and teppanyaki dishes are all served in bowls, but we say go for the yakitori don ($8.80) – sticks of meat brushed in a smoke-infused glossy lacquer of sauce and served over rice.
Portico Platos (#01-32)
Mon-Sat 11am-3pm, 5-10pm
Available in two sizes – $9 and $16 – this never-mind-the-food-coma dish comes loaded with clams, mussels, prawns, octopuses and snapper, piled atop briny, paprika-spiked rice. Unlike in his flagship, Portico Prime, chef Nixon Low has no plans yet to feature on the menu here the seafood sourced from the waters off Ubin, but with this dish, we’re not complaining.
D's Joint (#01-28) [Note: This outlet has closed.]
Mon-Sat 11am-11pm
Score one, Westside. East-sider chef Damian D'Silva ditches Joo Chiat for a stall here, which serves up laboriously put together Eurasian, Peranakan and forgotten hawker fare, such as the comforting bowl of kai fun ($8). It's a soupy rice dish topped with lap cheong sausages, chicken shreds and char siew that his team barbecues at the back. We even spotted chef Tetsuya Wakuda digging into D's curries. Plus, you needn't chase D'Silva's flaky South East Sliders pop-ups around town any longer – it's here to stay on the menu.