What to eat at Beauty World Station, Downtown Line, Singapore.

(Photo of Beauty World Station during the Open House)

The Downtown Line 2 has opened and people are all stopping at Beauty World (DT5) station to have their meals.

We the residents living around Beauty World welcome you to have a meal or two here. Please take the train here, as the parking attendants are quite active here and you don't want your meal to cost much more than it should. You have already been warned.

There are a few listings you can follow that has been published by fellow food bloggers I know personally. The local residents welcome these lists because those are places we don't go often. Hehe... Come and help our local restaurants and cafes.

Some people have asked me, and it's too much to tell or write. I have rounded them up into 8 clusters or areas you can visit to have your meals here.

The main eating clusters of eateries at DT5 Beauty World Station are:
Exit A / B:
1) Bukit Timah Shopping Centre
2) Beauty World Centre
3) Bukit Timah Plaza
4) Cheong Chin Nam Road food outlets.
5) Lorong Kilat

Exit C:
6) Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre.
7) Toh Yi Estate Coffeeshops
8) Eng Kong Terrace

The most popular cluster:
The most popular place to eat would be the Bukit Timah Food Centre. However be warned that many hawkers don't open everyday, especially the popular ones. They open 4 or 5 out of 7 days. Recently in the newspaper we have a hawker that was featured having their satay recipe passed down from generations. The stall has been in the same family for more than 70 years. Be warned also that different family member / employees cooked in the same stall. The father might cook in the day and the son at night, so there's a different in taste and quality! So we only order certain food when certain people are cooking.


(The local residents are very proud of this station. Many woke up at 5am in the morning to catch the first train that arrives at this station.)

Some other interesting facts:

The Malay food stalls never seem to survive at the Hawker Centre, the stalls always close down. You know why? Everyone goes to the Indian Muslim stalls at Cheong Chin Nam Road. There are 2 very famous shops. It's like everyone has their own favourites. You go and try and pick your side! One has recently been renovated and one is like so old school stuck in 80s mamak but inside a shop.

Chicken seems to be the most popular meat as there are quite a few places that sells chicken here. One of them does the most delicious fried chicken ever. When you order it, they will unwrap a packet of 'salt baked chicken' and deep fry it. It's so addicitive! You can try your luck at finding where that place is. They have like probably 15 or so chicken a day only from our observation. So it's a secret for now. Hints are in my instagram account.

There used to be 12 ice cream places within a 2 km radius, but most of them have closed down. A neighbour who lives in the same block as me has an ice cream shop actually opens his ice cream shop all the way in the East because he said the rent in this area is too high. We found out we were neighbours when I ate ice cream in the east!

We also have many Korean restaurants in the area. There are 5-6 of them and 3 of them have been around for some time. We have a community of Koreans living in this area. We even have a 'chap chai peng' style Korean stall! (The 'point point' this and that style of food)

Talking about Cafes, there's a whole long list of it too. Not all are popular though to tell the truth. We need more people to come fill up the places.



(A recreation of what Beauty World Town looked like long ago. This was at the Bukit Timah Community Club recently.)

More interesting non food related facts:

People always say folks staying here are 'atas'. We beg to differ. They probably forgot this area has the most 'atas' (highest) pile of earth in Singapore, Bukit Timah Hill. Residents in this area can see Swissôtel The Stamford, Marina Bay Sands from our flats.

Beauty World is also the name of a Singapore Musical! It's a musical that tells of a story of a young Malaysian girl from Batu Pahat to the 1960s Singapore in search of her father.

Our local MP is quite popular with the residents because she lives in the area! The older folks in the area watched her grow up. We have seen her do her own groceries in the local supermarket before too. While friends say their MP never visit, our MP does and she does it at least 2 times a year. We avoid being at home because we are shy, our photos might end up on her Facebook page. LOL!

It's a Beautiful World out here with lots of food. Welcome to Beauty World MRT Station. Maybe when I am free, I will list out the 100 over places to eat here and our personal favourites. For now, just walk around the 8 areas listed above and you will find a place or two to have a nice meal.

Here's the first train that arrived at Beauty World Station at 5:57 am!

First 'open to public' train that arrived at Beauty World station.

A video posted by Philip Lim (@keropokman) on Dec 26, 2015 at 2:00pm PST

Liu San @ Bukit Timah Plaza

It has been a few months since we ate here. We are back again and we are pleasantly surprised that they got proper menu now. It used to be an order chit with words and price.

My sis and her colleagues were eating there and I gatecrashed.

***

One of sis' colleagues will be going home for dinner, so she just ordered a little starter to fill her tummy first. I can't remember the name, but I think it was Mi Tong Kueh or something like that. I was too shy to ask what it is inside (hey, remember I gatecrashed), only asked if I can take a photo of her food. LOL

***

I had the Braised Minced Pork Rice. A very simple dish, but I like it.
Minced Pork with rice makes me happy.

I was going to try the Taiwan Curry Rice, but it was sold out. Sigh... Next time.

***

Another of sis' colleague had the Oyster Mee Suah. She said she has been here 10 times and this is the first time she got to eat it. "Finally!",  she announced to the lady taking the orders. It was the last bowl for the day too! She was seen enjoying her mee suah.

***

Sis wanted to order something else and it was sold out, so she had the Mince Pork Noodles instead. It's almost similar to what I had. She had the noodles version of it. ;-)



The noodles are a little spicy compared to my rice version. She enjoyed it.
She was too hungry and was digging in right after I took the first photo. Looks good eh?

***

We all shared this "power" (I think, can't remember the name) chicken.  Meat from a drumstick cut into small pieces and deep fried. A bit like KFC's pop corn. I think KFC's version is nicer though. ;-p




It was a quick dinner. Sis and her colleagues are teachers. After dinner, they went to sit at a coffee place and do the usual marking, marking and more marking!


Liu San Taiwanese Delicacies
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
#01-09
Bukit Timah Plaza
Singapore 588996

Liu San @ Bukit Timah Plaza

Sis and I always do our grocery shopping at Fairprice Finest at Bukit Timah Plaza. Before doing our weekly 'walk' in the supermarket, we would usually grab dinner first. Dinner is usually a quick bite at Ming Jia Korean or Subway. It all depends on which is less crowded.

I have always wanted to try Liu San but sis says it's not nice. She tried it once with our cousin. But I think her tastebuds must be something wrong the day she tried it. Why? Everytime we walk past, there's always people eating and I told her, I want to try it.



We asked what's their best sellers, the service staff said it's always sold out by lunch. If we want to try them, come during lunch time. So, I had the Taiwan Braised Chicken with Rice. ($5.60) It's not too bad. I like the taste of the braise sauce.





It comes with a bowl of pickles which I like. If you think the chicken is a salty, eat it with the pickles, it blends well.





Sis had the Taiwan Beef Noodles Soup. ($6.80) The soup is very different. It is very "herby". Definitely not what you will think it would taste like. Lots of fresh and / or dried herbs must have been used.





Sis and I shared this. Tako Wasabi (Wasabi Octopus Salad) ($6.50). It's cold and very very wasabi hot! Be very careful when you eat this. It shoots right through your head. (Note: this costs more than my rice and it's not that big. But its nice.)




The food here is not too bad. But what impressed us more than the food is their excellent service here. The moment we got seated, the service staff comes to you with hand sanitizers. She asked if we wanted to sanitize our hands before dinner! Wow..
 The service staff also makes sure that you know what you will be eating. When I ordered the chicken, she asked if I eat chicken skin. I was like "huh"? No one has asked me that before. I think it's because the chicken has skin and some people don't eat skin.

When we ordered the wasabi octopus, she stressed that it is very very 'qiang4' and asked if we used to eating wasabi. We said no problem!

We only had warm water and it was filled up very frequently too. The next table had a lady who was suddenly sniffing. (I thought she was crying, but sis said no lah) The service staff came with a box of tissue. Sis happen to also cough a bit (not on purpose) when eating the wasabi octopus and the service staff came with a box for her to pull out tissue too!

Sis said it was quite different from the last time she was here. So it was right for us to try it.

We would go back and try the other dishes, another choice for a quick meal before grocery shopping ;-)


Liu San Taiwanese Delicacies
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
#01-09
Bukit Timah Plaza
Singapore 588996

Ming Jia Korean Food @ Bukit Timah Plaza

This was a quick dinner on the way home from work. Met sis on the way home, we sat in the same bus and we were sms-ing each other, what to eat. Shy to talk in the bus loudly. LOL...

We suddenly thought of the very "home-style" Korean food stall. So we got off the bus and walked a short walk to Bukit Timah Plaza.

We had the set meal, which is to choose 1 meat and 2 vegetables. Sis had the beef with fried chilli anchovies and kimchi.



I had the chicken, long beans and kimchi.



We kinda like the kimchi here because it's cold. ;-)
Straight from the fridge when you order it.



The set meal comes with rice and seaweed soup, both in steel bowls.
Oh yes, the flat and heavy chopsticks which I find kinda difficult to use. (Is it only me, or do you all think that flat korean chopsticks are difficult to use as well?)



It's $9.50 for the above. Very reasonable and very home style cooking. Food's prepared by a Korean lady and it is quite tasty.


Ming Jia Korean Food
Bukit Timah Plaza
B1-07
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
Singapore 588996

Ming Jia Korean Food @ Bukit Timah Plaza

Colleague wanted to go try the same Korean food after reading what I posted.

2 colleagues order the bibimbap to try. 2 ordered the Korean instant noodles. They said although it is instant noodles, it was done so nicely. I laughed. Instant noodles, cooked by someone else still taste better. Maybe I should cook for them and they pay me instead. LOL

Anyway, this is the 'shared' food. The rice cakes. Mixed reviews. Some liked it, some did not.



Well for me, I wanted to try the Kimchi soup. I think it was $5.50
Another colleague also wanted to try it too. Well, I like it. Like it a lot (because I like kimchi haha). It's very very appetizing, in fact the more you taste it, the more hungry we became. It is kimchi with some tofu, with two pieces of almost invisible piece of pork.



It came with white rice.



We could choose one of the veggies that they have. I took the seaweed.



Dpuk took the bean sprouts.



Will try the other stall the next time we visit Bukit Timah Plaza.
(The Korean show on Channel U, Couple or Trouble ends Monday nite)

Ming Jia Korean Food
Bukit Timah Plaza
B1-07
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
Singapore 588996

Ming Jia Korean Food @ Bukit Timah Plaza

Last nite, sis and I wanted a quick and fast dinner so we can then proceed to do some groceries. We were at Bukit Timah Plaza and wondering what to eat. There's only 13 places to eat in this place, (counted from the mall directory) and most of it is closed for dinner.

We saw a shop lot that has the sign board Ming Jia Korean Food. We walked nearer and saw that there's people eating here. We thought why not? Let's try it.

If you watch Korean dramas, this place looks like those little shops, where in the dramas people come in for a quick and cheap meal. (not restaurant looking, but more street side stall look) We saw that the lady boss is Korean too. We know she's Korean because when she speaks she sounded like how the speak in Korean dramas. (i.e. when you turn on the Dual Sound mode on TV, switch to the Korean mode and listen to the actors and actresses begin to speak English.) We were getting excited. (LOL... like mad Korean drama fans)



Sis ordered the bibimbap. $5.

It does not come in hot stone plates like in other fanciful restaurants. It comes in a steel bowl, just like how they eat at home in Korean dramas. (You know in the dramas they will always mix their rice in steel bowls and always say how delicious it is. LOL)

Looks plain right? But surprisingly it taste good. It comes with a bowl of seaweed soup too. Sis loves the soup that taste like how mum cooks it. The egg is only fried when we ordered the rice too.



I had the "Black Noodles". (That's how it is named on the board) $4.50
Looks so instant noodles right? But it is kinda addictive. The more you eat it, the more you like it. Think its the sauce. ;-)



It comes with a small saucer of Kimchi. It's definitely made there, because when we were there, the Korean lady was mixing the Kimchi in a huge container. I guess it's for either tomorrow's or day after's. The one I had was taken from the fridge. Nice and cold. Yums. This kimchi goes well with the noodles. Makes it more addictive!



Sis said, we shall come back again to try other things on the menu. The meals taste very homely and it is cheap too. Two persons meal for less than $10. Anyone been here and can recommend what is good here so we can try next time?

OK. Just found a newspaper article that has this place mentioned. Upper Bukit Timah Road is a mini Koreatown. There's 4 korean outlets in this area, plus a Korean Supermarket too.

Ming Jia Korean Food
Bukit Timah Plaza
B1-07
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
Singapore 588996