I love this!! My third time at Esquina, my third time eating this. I really like the fine herbs yogurt sauce + cider vinegar - it’s tangy and acidic and really tasty. The lettuce itself is nicely charred, giving some smoky flavours. I think the first lettuce I had was the best, this time it was a little less cooked than I expected. But still a nice vehicle for that sauce.

These milk buns had a v sticky surface. Q soft and milky, slightly sweet - thought it was quite pleasant. Bread is rather fluffy but a bit too squishable. There’s a nice bite to it tho. Idm buying again!

Bun is also the cheap bread type, but a bit more oily than usual. The bun is really not my thing. But I liked the filling! The red bean paste has no skin, just pure paste, and was the dense type unlike the lighter tasting Japanese anko, but I liked that it wasn’t very sweet and it didn’t feel too heavy. Actually thinking about it, I feel like it may just come from a supplier. But okay la it’s nice, unlike the low quality bread.

Bun is the typical cheap bread type, but a bit more oily than usual. It’s too “wet” for my liking. Not a fan. Filling was a bssm paste, like a red bean bao filling in terms of texture; flavour-wise it was q salty, like a tausarpiah. For some reason it wasn’t very black sesame-ish despite the colour. I didn’t hate it, but I thought the flavour was a bit strange to me.

What a SATISFYING lunch!! Maybe I was rly cold and hungry after a draining work day but this bowl of hot noodles rly just warmed up my core and I rly enjoyed it. Look at how THICC the noodles are!! So chewy and qq without feeling too doughy. Highly rec to eat in-store tho, I’ve had this dapao-ed and it does get a bit doughy. Tbh nam kee’s banmian is q similar also, the thicker (not as flat) type of noodles.

Ingredients were yummy too. Ikan bilis was crunchy, minced meat was flavourful. Sauce was good! It looks like it’s just dark sauce but it’s not as flat as some others I’ve tried; it’s v tasty esp w the added richness from the yolk of the onsen egg mixed into the sauce.
Braised mushrooms are fragrant and juicy and v tasty. They give a decent amount of spinach for some greens.
Soup was alright, not salty and had a mild anchovy taste.

So yummy! I loved it.

Salmon was inconsistent - half of it was overcooked, but the other half was nicely done, quite tender and didn’t have that firm stringy texture typical of over cooked salmon. I liked the honey soy sauce it came with!
Shiitake was rather big and juicy. Corn was reasonably juicy, but can be more naturally sweet. It isn’t canned (yay!) so it does have enough ~corn~ flavour and not dry/fibrous. Liked the garlic chips which gave some fragrance! It’s so much better than the msg-laden types some places use. French bean was crunchy and juicy but otherwise q average, I prefer them stir fried. The red rice was actually v nice - tasted a bit like pulut hitam (black glutinous rice) and I enjoyed it! Sous vide egg was properly done with a runny egg. They give pickled ginger too!

Overall I think this is alright - it’s not as flavourful compared to daily cut / the salad shop, it felt healthier and more clean-tasting which I don’t mind! But it’s not something I’ll crave for, just that if someone were to suggest this for lunch I wouldn’t be opposed to it.

What a glorious KBBQ meal i had at 8korean a while ago! Finally visited and saw what the hype was all about!! We got their signature 8 colours set (which was pork belly set of 8 different flavours - original, garlic, herb, red pepper, wine, curry and miso). Honestly, halfway into the meal i couldn’t tell which flavour was what - there wasnt any explanation by the staff too so all based on feels and guesses!! Certain flavours shone more than the others like garlic and red pepper. While the rest did taste different from each other, I couldn’t really recognise the flavours too. BUT was an experience!! Portion was rather little though - each row (as pictured) = one flavour! Special shoutout to the BANCHAN especially the freeflow kimchi that was grilled :”) Also, the staff helped with all the cooking which was LOVELY.

I loved the kimchi pancake so much!!!!!!!! The edges were EXTRA crispy and the pancake itself was chewy with the crunchiness of the kimchi itself :9 One of the best pancakes… really… (apologies for kimchi pancake photo - too eager to eat anyhow take photo)

We ordered army stew too, which i remembered it to be really good as well (perhaps didn’t stand out as much as the pork and pancake) but the broth was comforting with a kick, coupled with the chewy ramen noodles to accompany our meal.

I was SO pleasantly surprised by this hidden find. It looks like a regular themed cafe (bike-themed in this case) so I was expecting their stuff to be average at best. But to my amazement their coffee was pretty solid (I didn’t try, but all my friends thought the coffee was good) and the gelato was amazing. The roasted pistachio was roasty and nutty and thick, didn’t melt v quickly and wasn’t very sweet - it ticks all the boxes of good pistachio gelato. In fact I would place this as top 3 or 5 pistachio gelatos I’ve tried! The yuzu mint sorbet was great too, very refreshing, and the mint was a nice sidekick, not too strong - yuzu was the main flavour. The texture was also a bit sticky/stretchy, not really icy.

I was very blown away at the quality of the items this cafe offered, it’s a pity they’re located rather inconveniently for me, in the depths of Changi Village. But I think I would still make a trip there bc I want to bring others to try this amazing find.

I loooove ah yi! I usually get their meehoonkueh but I wanted to try their other menu options. The youmian is slurpy and has a bite to it, tossed in a black sauce. It’s quite similar to prince noodles, except that the sauce ends up a wee bit starchier when mixed with the noodles - prince’s sauce is more thin. Comes with minced meat and spinach, plus crunchy fragrant shallots and ikan bilis. Very satisfied! I also like that it’s filling but doesn’t make me SUPER full compared to when eating the mhk.

Was good! Cabbage was soft but mildly crunchy, tofu was decent and the fried fish was rather crunchy and flavourful. Queue is long but moves rather quickly! Rather satisfied with this for lunch.

I dapaoed the French toast previously and wasn't very impressed, despite me eating it about 5 mins later (I didn't leave it out for too long). I’m so glad I gave it another try, in-store this time! Fluffy steamy toast that with some egginess - it was delish! A little oily but I guess it's fine, it's not like you're eating copious amounts of this. Would repurchase!! But not for dapao, it’s a must to eat in-store!

Crispy noodles! Gave me wedding dinner (Chinese restaurant/menu) vibes. The prawn and clams were decently fresh, and properly cooked, not mushy or over cooked. Some of the fish slices were a little fishy tho. But the sauce was very flavourful without coming off too strong/heavy, I liked it! Not too starchy/goopy as well. A nice lunch option.