FAB Singapore Day 4 | Urban City

FAB is our travel blog series where we cover everything food and beyond during our travels

We spend most of the fourth day in Singapore catching up with a friend and hiding inside shopping malls from the rain.

Park Jae-sang

The first stop of the day was Korio - small cafe serving up artisanal doughnuts, sammies and coffees. A couple cute spots along the way.

On the way to Korio, the Grab driver was blasting a song we hadn't listened to in a long time. It's been 10 years since Gangnam Style came out!

Lunch @ Korio

We kicked off another day of eating with some gourmet toasted sandwiches. Both were delicious in their own way - but one can't go wrong with crispy spam though 🤤! Yes, we had sandwiches for lunch yesterday as well, but these ones were a bit lighter with more of a western fare, than the Japanese style sandwiches at PIPES by HATTENDO.

Paige wasn't feeling too hungry so she opted for a chocolate doughnut topped with chopped hazelnuts.

The sky is crying

We made our way towards a couple shopping malls as the sky started to cry (rain) 🌧.

We spent time catching up with a good friend of ours and exploring Daiso (nothing too blog worthy to note!). The type of friend you only see every couple of years, but when you do see them, you continue chatting like it was only yesterday when you were last together.

With a couple thousand steps down from walking, it wasn't long til we were ready for our next meal..

"Afternoon snack" @ Sukiya

We can't remember what made us decide on Sukiya for lunch #2 / an afternoon snack, as gyu-don has become part of our usual meal prep recipe list. It was a staple late night meal when we were holidaying in Japan so perhaps it made it feel nostalgic. Needless to say, I have a number of new gyu-don ideas for meal prep.

Sukiya's first Singaporean store opened in 2021, in Suntec City, the massive shopping mall we were currently at.

We ordered the XM size, which stands for extra meat. The rice level is 75% of what you'd find in a medium size, but advantageously, the meat level is 165% greater than what you'd find in the medium size.

I'm a sucker for spring onions, with the spring onion & half boiled egg gyudon being my go-to order when at gyudon establishments. The triple cheese also tickled my pickle, so I opted for both.

Paige opted for the kimchi gyudon, and thought that the kimchi was the perfect addition to the lightly charred beef.

Our friend suggested we try their dessert drinks - which were pretty good, reasonably priced (by our Perth standards anyway) and comparable to what you'd find at bubble tea stores.

Most of the drinks feature "purin" - Japanese custard pudding. If you're getting the Kyoto uji matcha latte, be sure to try 50% sugar, which I think would make the drink more enjoyable (I got 0% sugar).

The joys of Donki

With around 4 hours left til our dinner booking, we ventured into Donki, the Singaporean branded version of Don Quijote. For those who haven't been, Dom Quijote, is Japanese discount chain store that sells everything from dog treats to luxury watches. It's kind of like the Japanese equivalent of Costco, but in true Japanese fashion, condensed into a couple floors.

Wikipedia tells us that the name "Don Quijote" was already in use by a local restaurant in Singapore, Don Quijote is branded as "Don Don Donki" (Donki for short) in Singapore.

Stepping in here is reminiscent of actually being in Japan - if you lived in Singapore, you probably wouldn't even need to travel to Japan for food as Donki is incredibly well-stocked with everything you could possibly need.

We love the name of this chilli oil, and we regret that we didn't pick it up as it was highly endorsed by our friend!

Communal rooftop garden @ Funan Mall

Our last stop of the day before dinner, was Funan Mall. We somehow managed to navigate a labyrinth of underground walkways and got to Funan from Suntec.

For people who like to nerd out over all things consumer electronics (that's me!), you'll find plenty of tech stores here. You'll even find an indoor climbing wall and serviced apartments here too.

I quickly popped up to Nikon to pick up a Peak Design x Nikon strap for a friend. If you're into photography, you'll probably be familiar with Peak Design - a camera gear and bag manufacturer.

Another cool thing about Funan Mall is their communal rooftop garden. From memory, you can either catch the lift all the way to the top, or climb a couple flights of stairs from a lower floor (we did this).

Apparently students also stay in these apartments.

From the top, you'll find decent views of the massive skyscrapers in Singapore. There's also a futsal pitch on the rooftop.

I didn't end up snapping many photos of it, but you'll also find many plants thriving in the rooftop garden. A pretty cool space to hang out in too!

Dinner @ Tipsy Flamingo

By the time we were done exploring Funan, it was dinner time.

Dinner was at the nearby Tipsy Flamingo.

Interiors were super fun and bright, giving off beach club vibes. Makes for a cool place to hang out with friends. Tipsy Flamingo is part of a group of 10 or so venues under the Tipsy Collective.

Asian fusion meets western can probably be used to describe their menu. You'll find a fusion twist placed on local Singaporean and south east Asian favourites. Each menu under the Tipsy Collective varies with the location.

The tacos and fried ravioli made for a delicious start.

The XO carrot cake was probably the favourites between the group.

The least favourite however, was the cheese Hokkien mee. If it was a dryer (our preference) Hokkien mee, we could see how the cheese would work. This Hokkien mee was of the wetter variety which didn't do the cheese justice and felt a bit sloppy.

Dessert @ Tokyo Cheese Factory (Raffles City)

Despite a somewhat heavy dinner filled with cheese, I ended up getting a super milky dessert at Tokyo Cheese Factory. Given how rich and creamy the sundae was, we think you can probably share this between two.