When I crave robust Thai cuisine at down to earth prices, I head to Porn's. The restaurant has a cheerful laidback vibe and the staff here are always smiling and eager to please. I deliberately refrained from ordering the Thai staples that Porn's does so well - the papaya salad, prawn cakes, tom yum soup, green curry and phad thai noodles - opting instead for the less common dishes to go with rice. These were the eggplant salad, tom kha gai and orange curry. The egglant salad is actually a 2 in 1 dish of eggplant tempura and 'larb' - a Thai homestyle dish of minced pork with chopped basil, kaffir leaf and onions. I loved the contrasting textures and flavours of the creamy eggplant that was crisp on the outside, and the pleasantly piquant taste of the 'larb'. The tom kha gai, a milky, tangy lemongrass chicken soup that goes perfectly with piping hot plain rice. Perhaps the only disappointment w a ras the orange curry; I had expected a rich coconut milk-based curry gravy but was served a non-spicy broth resembling tom yum with chunks of white fish and assorted vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage and long beans. I'll definitely revisit Porn's at Star Vista whenever I crave affordable Thai food but will skip the orange curry and revert to my usual favourite green curry.

Don probably serves the best chicken pie in Singapore - it tastes of homemade goodness with light flaky puff pastry that is not oily at all and is chockful of chicken chunks. The NEX outlet unfortunately has no seating area - only a takeaway kiosk. A whole pie costs $19.00 and can be cut into six generously sized wedges, each filled with a scrumptious filling of half a hard boiled egg, lean chicken chunks and diced mixed vegetables. A wedge is a meal in itself, though those with big appetites would want some fries and salad to go with it. The signature chicken pie is seasoned with white pepper whick adds a hint of spice to it; there is Don's Kkids Pie (same price) withput any pepper at all to cater for those who just want a creamy chicken pie filling. The black pepper chicken pie packs a punch and is not for those with low chilli/spice thresholds.

Visit Raffles City B1 for your Gyoza fix as Osaka Ohsho certainly lives up to its Gyoka King reputation of serving the most delicious and most economical Gyoza - only $7.80 per dozen. Here the Gyoza are handmade daily and they have the thinnest pastry skin you'll ever find locally. Th Gyoza are fried till crispy brown on one side while the ample filling inside remains juicy. Despite the wallet friendly price the restaurant does not stint on quality - filling the Gyoza with minced premium pork neck, finely chopped cabbage which adds sweetness and moisture and finely minced garlic and ginger for added flavor. Superb!

The property agent raved about Soon Heng Rojak at the HDB's basement foodcourt and the Xing Zhou Beef Noodles at the Kim Keat Palm hawker centre so we ditched our plan to eat at Astons at the recently reopened new Safra. There was a snaking Q in front of the stall & we waited nearly half hour for our rojak. Let's just say this is the Rojak worth waiting for. The $3 portion we bought Came smothered with fragrant ground roasted peanuts (see photo). It was worth every cent as the hawker was generous with th
ingredients and used good quality thick & rich shrimp paste. The taupok & yew char guay were toasted in a mini electric oven till they were delightfully crispy and the $3 portion had 1.5 cm length pcs of cuttlefish tails on top of the usual turnip, pineapple, cucumber, kangkong & bean sprouts. Shaved banana flower added a subtle but distinctive fragrance to the rojak. Someone once said property agents' recommendations cannot be 100% trusted but I guess an exception can be made for their food recommendations - the beef noodle stall he urged us to try also dished out excellent fare (see other review).

If you can't find O'ma Spoon in Marina Square, just ask any passerby where the infamous Hotpot Culture buffet restaurant (publicized recently for a dead cockroach in its salted veg dish) is located and you'll get directions to the cafe. 

Owned by a Korean lady, O'ma Spoon is famous for its injeolmi bingsu or shaved ice with rice cakes and roasted soy powder. Not soya fans, my dining companion  and I opted for the signature 'OMG bingsu' instead. This is a heavenly combo of mango cubes, berries, almond slivers, cheesecake and shaved ice. 'OMG bingsu' comes in a slightly smaller, lower priced version which goes by the name of 'Mango Cheese  Bingsu' or if you're alone, you can order this item in a takeaway cup 'Petit Bingsu' but the mini version does not have almonds, berries and cheesecake. So it's better to visit Oma Spoon in a group so you can order the regular portion to share or try different flavours at one go.

We've visited both Nunsaram and MOF Snowman for their bingsu but our vote goes to Oma Spoon for the best mango bingsu  in town, in terms of texture and quality of ingredients used. The ajuma owner certainly doesn't stinge on quality as we spied cartons of Paul's brand UHT milk in a corner of the shop. This is the milk that goes into the making of the shaved ice at Oma Spoon. The bingsu's texture here is finer, and the fresh mango topping for the bingsu is of better quality, compared with the desserts served at both Nunsaram and MOF Snowman. At Nunsaram, fake tasting dried mango strips are mixed with the fresh mango in the bingsu, while at MOF Snowman we were served acidic, unripe mango cubes in our bingsu.  The cafe environment at Oma Spoon is more pleasant and relaxed than both Nunsaram and MOF Snowman too (the latter is like a school tuck shop dining area located next to a busy corridor right in front of a table BBQ restaurant).

Besides the injeolmi bingsu and mango cheese bingsu, the other item that is popular among customers at this Oma Spoon Cafe is the banana chocolate brownie bingsu. We will be revisiting this cafe soon to try this item.