So it has literally been years since I updated this blog. I keep taking photos and some notes of food places I've visited, but that seems to never translate to a blog post. Well, today I found out that the long awaited 8 Street Hawker Market in the renovated and extended eastern arm of Westfield Garden City has finally opened! As it turns out, I had a work-related reason to be in the centre, so took the opportunity to have a walk through this new food court area and pick up a few menus.
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| The second/side(?) entrance to 8 Street. |
What follows is a roughly ordered list of the outlets and associated menus, going from the main entrance (I consider it main because that's the one flanked by a pair of lions), through the right hand turn and out the other side/second entrance. Click on the photos to see them in higher resolution. Oh there's a drinks outlet in the corner which I didn't check out. I think they serve alcohol (beer) too.
First up is Gong Cha. There's one in the city but I rarely find myself in that part of town, so have little familiarity with this joint. They seem to have a wider range of drinks than a typical Asian drinks store, and going by their prices seem to be a more upmarket too. They were doing a buy 1 get 1 free promotion, so I asked wifey what she wanted and returned after work to queue for drinks. It took about half an hour all up - queueing to order, then waiting for the drinks to be made. The shop lost power twice while I was waiting - I think some circuit breaker tripped. The staff seemed pretty calm about it all so presumably has been happening earlier in the day.
grill n bao deal mainly in gua bao burgers, traditionally a Taiwanese pork belly bun, but here available with a choice of various proteins. This is pretty much along the lines of what The Bun Mobile offers. I think I'm a higher chance of eating these than chasing down the food truck when it happens to be near me. There's mention of sliders, but not much information on them - possibly smaller versions of the gua bao burgers??
Crazy Wings here offers a limited version of the menu from their Sunnybank Hills restaurant. The menu depicted above is the restaurant version. From what I understand, pretty much everything skewer related is available, and none of the rice/noodle dishes are. It can be a bit hit and miss trying to communicate in English with some of the staff... My previous experiences with Crazy Wings is that the food is probably a bit overpriced for my wallet and the flavour a less enjoyable sort of spicy for my tastebuds, so there's not really much more to say.
BBQ by Burlington - haven't eaten very often at their Market Square store but did get some roast meat takeaway the last time my mother in law was in town, so that's a vote of confidence for their main attractions. The prices seem reasonable and I would've gotten some takeaway meat after getting my Gong Cha drink, however by this time the store had its lights out, with no sign of life and a handwritten note stuck on the POS terminal saying "no eftpos". Were they not geared up to handle cash?? Oh well, lost sale for them.
Bun Vietnamese Street Food - keen to try some of these.
Congee Master - I don't know of (too m)any places that do/focus on congee, so I'm not sure how successful this place will be. Nevertheless I'm keen to sample their offerings. Pricing wise if you're going to buy a congee and a marinade, you may as well spend another 20c to get the combo deal and add a side, which seem a bit steep at $2.80 on their own. Given that BBQ by Burlington was closed, I ended up getting some salt steam chicken to contribute to an impromptu dinner at my parents' place. It was generally well received, and reasonable value for $6.80.
Rice Town - I reckon this would be an awesome option if you're feeling hungry - all meals are under $10, and you get one free refill of rice. This is probably ideal for a "rice bucket" like me. Not sure how big a portion you get, but you could conceivably share between two not so hungry people if you're willing to go halves on the meat. Definitely on the to try list.
Won Ton Ton - this doesn't excite me as much, but I'll probably still try some of the fare just because.
The fifth Madtongsan and third within easy access for me. I feel the menu design is a bit too try hard, but have generally enjoyed my previous visits to the other Madtongsan outlets so will likely give this a go at some stage too.
Noodle 8 - not sure if this is meant to be Malaysian... it does offer laksa and there's a picture of the Petronas Twin Towers in the menu... I'm a little put off by the fact that there are no meal options for/under $10. Certainly puts them lower on my to try list.
Okonomi House - these guys didn't have a paper menu, so I took a photo of the store (including menu board, which could have turned out better). Someone was paying attention and posed for the shot. I remember seeing them at the Night Noodle Markets in July, but didn't try their food. According to their facebook page, they usually do markets and this is their first permanent store, which means I'll be back at some stage when I'm looking for an okonomiyaki fix. Would have gotten some today but I was in a bit of a rush and didn't think I could afford another ~8 minute wait for it to cook.
Dim Sum by Taste Gallery. I've been hearing some not-so-positive things about the parent store of late, so am not feeling so enthused about this. In any case I think generally if I'm after dim sum fare I'll go the whole yum cha experience, whether for lunch, dinner, or supper (given all those options are readily available in my 'hood).
Teppanyaki Lovers, a chain/branch of the one already in the city. Looks like the upgrade option for when Hanaichi nearby just ain't cutting it.
Well, that's my take on the new stores. There's good amount of seating inside 8 Street, though I'm sure it would get full quickly during peak meal periods. Thankfully there's plenty more seating available just outside the front entrance, so I'm looking forward to making my way through some of these stores. They should all be open for dinner (until 9pm) 6/7 days of the week, and I can see the benefit of this as a regular dining option - free parking (3 hours during the day, free after 6pm), which should be plentiful after business hours, and undercover. Let me know your verdict if/when you try any of these places :)
