what to eat in katong Archives - 2bearbear Singapore Travel Blog: Travel | Stay

Before we visited Chin Mee Chin Confectionery, we checked out the things to do in Katong posts available on the web. Many recommended visiting this kopitiam for their traditional toasts. During our recent staycation at Village Hotel Katong, we decided to drop by for breakfast before checking-in and this is what we thought…

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery at the corner of Chapel Road and East Coast Road

Entrance to Chin Mee Chin Confectionery - Notice the old-school tiles on the pillar — Entrance to Chin Mee Chin Confectionery – Notice the old-school tiles on the pillar

The first thing we noticed was the traditional setting of CMC Confectionery…

Traditional setting in Chin Mee Chin Confectionary

It seems as though time has stood still in this coffee shop. It continues to retain its old world charm and we think that the decorations has not changed much since inception. The clock is so old school!

As the number of seats in Chin Mee Chin Confectionery is limited, you may have to wait a while before being seated. We waited for about 5 minutes before someone else finished their breakfast. In this kopitiam, you’ll just wait for someone to finish and “take over” their table. Once seated, the table will be cleared and you will be asked for the drinks as well as the number of toasts and eggs that you would like. For the rest of the confectionery, you will have to go to the displays and get them like so…

Custard puffs and cream horns at Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

Opening up the display to get the confectionery that you like

We decided to go for kopi-see (coffee with evaporated milk) and kopi-peng (iced coffee) along with its famous toasted buns with kaya and butter. After ordering, we proceeded to take the custard puff and cream horn from the display…

Custard puff cream horn and coffee from Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

Breakfast at Chin Mee Chin Confectionary

There a few things that we enjoyed about the breakfast. True to being a confectionery, the famous toast lived up to its reputation. The home-made kaya was not too sweet and had the traditional eggy taste. The cool thing was that the toast was a bun and not the usual slices of bread. So it was lightly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Our other favourite was the cream horn! Really liked the texture of the cream (slight salty) which went well with the crispy outer layer.

The coffee by itself was nothing to rave about. Quite plain actually. But the confectionery which had their various tastes gave a pretty good balance to the coffee.

Prices and Menu of Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

Opening Hours of Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

The Verdict

To be honest, what really attracted us was not the food or the coffee. So what’s the biggest draw?

Tradition and heritage.

Traditional tastes abound especially in the kaya toast. The kaya is unique in that it is more eggy and less sweet unlike the usual kaya you’ll taste these days. In terms of heritage, CMC Confectionery is really part of our Singapore identity, retaining how it operates and even how it looks – maintaining the traditional kopitiam feel.

Great place for parents to say “When I was young, this was the kind of coffee shop that papa went to, no Starbucks last time…”

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And the answer? Yes. We will be back not really because of the food but because of its simple old world charms.

Marine Parade Food Centre is one of the highly rated hawker centres in Singapore and many will ask “What to eat at Marine Parade Food Centre ah?”. So during our recent staycation at Village Hotel Katong, we decided to check out the food centre and tell you what are some of the recommended stalls here…

Recommended foods at Marine Parade Food Centre

Xing Long Cooked Food

Netizens have been recommending this stall for its otah,fried potato balls, curry chicken, lemon chicken among others. This time, we tried the stir fried chicken, potato balls,otah and because we saw many going for the fried fish, we had it as well. Our choices was also fuelled by Uncle’s incessant “来” (meaning “come” – what else?)

The total damage? $6.30!! The most we’ve ever paid for economical rice!!

$6.30 economic rice at Xing Long Cooked Food

Truth be told, we’re just too greedy and wanted to try all the recommended dishes here. Therefore the price became quite ridiculous (it’s actually a 4-meat rice). This is because even in the potato balls, there’s some beef rolled into it. To be fair, the food was not bad. The otah otah had a firm texture (not the soft slimy kind) while the fish bits stood out from the curry flavour (unlike some with curry and no fish). The stir fried chicken has some kind of satay sauce fried into it which tasted quite unique. There was nothing too special about the potato balls and fried fish though. Fish was fresh and there was a slight crisp on the outside. But that was it.

So for $6.30? It’s definitely on the high side.

Hup Lee Fried Bee Hoon Nasi Lemak

The special thing about Hup Lee is that usually you’ll find $2 nasi lemak but this stall offers the same ingredients with Bee Hoon instead. Definitely an excellent price for a hearty breakfast meal.

Neptune Dim Sum

We did not manage to (or have the stomach to) try out this stall. However, many netizens have recommended the dim sum here. Have you tried it? Do let us know in the comments section below!

Apollo Fresh Cockle Fried Kway Teow

Another recommended stall at Marine Parade Food Centre. We were contemplating whether to go for this or give the hokkien mee a few stalls down a try. We decided to go for the latter. But according to the queues (and the look of Uncle Apollo), it seems that this is must-try as well.

Seremban Beef Noodles

We’ve tried the beef noodles during our last visit here and thought that the taste was indeed good. It reminded us of the same traditional (dry version) of the beef noodles we had when we were young. Nowadays, the dried version of the gravy seems to be either too sweet or too salty. Seremban got it just right. There’s just one gripe that we have and we would just like to remind our readers to request the Aunty to cook the beef just a tad bit more (ensure that the colour changes!) If you know what we mean…

Hokkien Fried Noodles

There are usually 2 versions of the Hokkien Fried Noodles. The dry and sticky version with all the taste infused into the noodles or this, the slightly wet version. Of course, we prefer the dry version. So it was with some prejudice that we tried this version at Marine Parade Food Centre. We also noticed that the uncle did not really “fry” the noodles but more of “stirring” the noodles into the soup. As a result, as expected, the noodles did not turn out as good as other versions we’ve tried. For the slightly wet version, Tiong Bahru and Clementi still tastes better. But as a consolation, as you work towards the end of the plate, you’ll taste the gravy and its quite sweet and delicious. Perhaps frying a little longer (and harder) would have made the difference.

Katong Chicken Curry Puffs

Again, many have raved about the chicken curry puff at Marine Parade Food Centre. And it did not disappoint. The outer layer was puffy and crispy (bits dropped off as we went in for our first bite). The puff was still piping hot – an indication of fresh ingredients and regular crowd. Last but most importantly, the curry inside oozed out as you bite into it. This is in stark contrast to the usual “dry on the inside” versions that you would have.

So a thumbs up for the Katong Chicken Curry Puff!

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To enjoy these foods, why not do a staycation at Village Hotel Katong as well? Do try out the foods at Marine Parade Food Centre and let us know what you think thereafter!

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