Malaysia
Singapore
Thailand
My job involves visiting several food fairs and pasar malams, but most of them offer more or less the same old stuff (yawns). We headed down to the first day of Food Fiesta 2025 over at Takashimaya Square, basement 2, with no high expectations. But oh boy, I haven’t been that excited in a while!
With over 60 stalls offering a smorgasbord of food and products, the 19-day Food Fiesta will run until 7 July 2025 — and it even stretches all the way inside, right up to where Cold Storage is located.
With so much to see and decide on, where do we even begin? Don’t worry — my colleague Rachel and I scouted the grounds to see what interesting bites were on offer.
At this stall called BANANA, we spotted a lady frying various Thai-style fritters just like the ones sold at the now-defunct Golden Mile complex. But with Talad Thai already holding court in AMK Hub’s basement, the question is: what sets this place apart?
That was when I spotted Pineapple Rings and Pineapple Pop (S$7.50 each). We ended up going for the latter — battered clusters of pineapple cubes. Each bite was a taste of summer, with savoury-sweet notes and a crispy, sesame seed-laden batter. Although the pineapple was probably the canned kind, it was still a very satisfying snack.
A couple of small bites that blew me away were the Lemper Otah (S$2.20) and Lemper Ayam Rendang (S$2.80) from Makan House By Ollella.
For the uninitiated, they are glutinous rice rolls stuffed with various fillings, with the most common being hae bee hiam and chicken. The glutinous rice here was so fragrant and moist — probably one of the best I’ve eaten! I highly recommend the Gula Jawa Kueh Dadar (S$2.20) as well.
They also have Kueh Salat (S$1.80), Durian Kueh Dadar (S$5.80 for 2 pieces) and Coco Ubi (S$3.20).
If you have a penchant for Taiwanese food, why not swing by Good Meet Fishball for some warm and hearty Taiwan Oden (S$8.80)? This brand is from Kaohsiung and has been around for 60 years. I absolutely loved the sotong ball, white radish and fishcake.
If you’re craving for breakfast food, there’s Cheese Scallion Egg Pancake (S$10.50) with luncheon meat or chicken floss at Xi Men Jie.
You can also savour Taiwan Garlic Pork Sausage (S$3.50) from Sausage Family and desserts like Purple Rice with QQ Balls & Grass Jelly (S$4.50) from Sister Wei.
Another gem we unintentionally chanced upon while buying a drink at Cold Storage was The Flour Dept. They are a bakery that resides at Everton Park, and specialises in shio pan and pistachio bakes.
We tried the Aburi Mentaiko Tamago (S$4.20) and Pure Pistachio (S$4.20) shio pans. The former was tangy and umami at the top, filled with chunky egg salad with crunchy onion bits.
The Pure Pistachio was divine with its nutty and earthy pistachio lava centre, and finely-chopped pistachio bits combined with a little salty peanut butter. My only minor gripe is that the bread could’ve been a touch chewier.
You don’t have to travel all the way to Katong Shopping Centre for a slice of the Original Banana Pie (S$5.50) — Dona Manis Cake Shop has a booth here. Each whole pie is cut into 8 slices instead of the usual 10, making each piece bigger — and naturally, a little pricier.
For something a little boozy and shiok all at once, give the Rum Balls (S$5 for 2 pieces) a try.
At Keong Saik Bakery, we checked out the mini Clairssants (probably an eclair–croissant hybrid) with various sweet and savoury varieties. We took 4 for S$16.50: Truffle Potato, Black Sesame Muah Chee, Lemon Pistachio and Mentaiko. They were all lip-smackingly delish!
You could hear several girls (including Rachel) swooning over how cute the macarons were from Sugar Smith. Pick from over 10 designs such as the Biscoff cheesecake Cookie Kitty (S$6), cookie cheesecake Cinnamoroll (S$6.50) and Creme Brulee (S$4).
Head over to Basement 2 at Ngee Ann City and soak in the vibrant vibes of Food Fiesta 2025 for yourself!
Banana pie showdown: Dona Manis Cake Shop vs Auntie Peng Banana Pie
