EStation Café: Otak With Blue Pearl Rice & More Fusion Dishes At Hidden Gem In Ang Mo Kio

EStation Café is a relatively new addition to the few cafes hidden within the Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood. Opened in early 2019, this cosy space exudes warmth and homeliness.

The handwritten menu, heart shaped Post-It’s on the wall, and subtle decorations were all little finishing touches that made EStation Café reminiscent of a Taiwanese café transplanted into the Singaporean heartlands.

The food here at EStation Café is primarily Western, however, there are very pronounced Asian influences to the cooking. There’s even a local twist to some of the items on the menu, and I was very excited to try them.

I started off with the Chilli Crab Crayfish Spaghetti (S$17.90) which might not be the cheapest item on the menu, but it’s certainly worth the money. The generous serving of crayfish plated beautifully and the meat was succulent and fresh.

The spaghetti was cooked al dente and had a firm bite. Subtly sweet, the spaghetti paired nicely with the chilli crab sauce, which was pretty authentic.

The sauce was tangy and savoury with a faint sweetness and was supremely satisfying. Prepared with a blend of crab and crayfish meat, this full-bodied sauce also went pretty well with the crayfish.

If I had a few mantous to go with the chilli crab sauce, this would have been a clear winner for me. The pairing of chilli crab sauce with spaghetti was executed fairly well here.

However, the chilli crab sauce was on the spicy side, so you might want to get a drink to go with it.

I grabbed the Tri-Colour Coffee (S$6.90) which features a sweet, perfectly pulled espresso shot mixed with full-cream milk. The espresso shot was not too bitter, resulting in a nutty and slightly sweet drink that was delectably creamy. It really helped to douse the flames from the Chilli Crab Crayfish Spaghetti.

I simply had to try out the ES Café Otak with Pearl Rice (S$11.90) which is one of the best-selling items here. The concept of the dish is rather intriguing, as it blends Peranakan and Japanese cuisines.

There was a generous portion of thick fish otak which was amazing. The chefs at EStation Café make it from scratch in-house rather than going the easy route and using a commercially-available, processed otak, and I could taste the difference.

I loved how the soft fish and complex chilli spice blend went well together, rounded off with the fragrance of burnt attap leaves. It’s definitely not an easy dish to prepare from scratch, and I have to commend EStation Café for a job well done.

The chicken satay could use some improvements though. It lacked that authentic char characteristic of most good satay. Luckily, the peanut sauce used was fairly decent.

The achar (pickled vegetables) was tangy and possessed a nice crunch, but might be a little on the intense side in terms of sourness.

The star of the dish would be the pearl rice, which was a deep cobalt blue due to an infusion of butterfly pea flower. The grains of rice themselves were soft, fluffy and chewy.

There was also a delicate, subtle floral flavour to it which I felt went well with every other item in this dish.

I would come back to EStation Café again simply to have their ES Café Otak with Pearl Rice. At this price point and amount of effort put into each ingredient, I’d say you’ll be getting your money’s worth with this dish.

I also had the Teriyaki Chicken Steak (S$12.90) which is a hit with the secondary school students who frequent this café. I can understand why; the chicken steak was massive and absolutely delicious.

The thick teriyaki sauce glaze also added a thin gelatinous layer on the skin of the chicken, which gave every bite a slightly different mouthfeel from other chicken cutlets.

The meat was super flavourful, soft and tender, and was infused with the sweetness of the teriyaki sauce.

The dish comes with a serving of house salad as well as shoestring fries, which were perfectly salted and seasoned. I would definitely come back to have this again!

EStation Café is one of the hidden gems in Ang Mo Kio that surprised me with the quality of food served. The Teriyaki Chicken Steak absolutely blew my mind with the perfectly grilled meat and flavourful teriyaki sauce.

I also appreciated the local twist in the ES Café Otak with Pearl Rice, which is also a winner for me.

I would definitely want to come back to this café before the crowds do – given the quality and relative affordability of the food served, I can see long queues forming up here in no time.

Expected Damage: S$10 – S$20 per pax