TacoCat's TrEats #164: Choppy Noodles in a Comfy Cafe? 🍜

Hey Hive!

Now that a lot of people here have already gotten vaccinated, I'm very happy to hear that Singapore is now allowing in-house dining again but obviously you have to be vaccinated. But since there aren't any restrictions this allows us to try out different food places again!

So back in October, we decided to finally use some vouchers we got ages ago but never found the time to actually use them. The places that we could actually use the vouchers were quite a ways away and tbh weren't all that appealing either. Then one day after Deepavali, we wanted to check out something in the area of the one of the restaurants so it was perfect timing to finally use our vouchers!

If you're familiar with Dota 2, the TI 2022 was held here in Singapore at the indoor stadium, and Sean is not only a huge dota fan and player but was also involved in the organisation of this event! So we wanted to check out the setup they had there although it was still in progress.

Anyway, our voucher was valid for use at a restaurant in the mall beside the stadium so we headed there first to get some food.

Thankfully the mall and restaurant was pretty empty since it was a weekday after a public holiday so we didn't have any problems with crowds.

The restaurant is called Typhoon Taiwanese Cafe and initially it seemed like they only had desserts but we did look up their menu beforehand and saw that they had regular entrees as well.

It seemed like a very bright and open but cozy place with some comfortable looking leather chairs. There were some tables in the middle under this huge blue overhanging piece as well as some tables along the sides. There were also a couple of tables in a small back area beside the kitchen.

The overall aesthetic was quite nice, and I did like the colour scheme quite a bit. Most of the tables along the side walls were taken though so we sat at one of the tables in the middle.

It did feel a little warm though like there wasn't enough ventilation but thankfully there was a standing fan close by. I think maybe the air-conditioning was lacking that day; luckily it wasn't a warm day so it was alright.

Even the menu was that bright cyan colour which I liked, with the gold logo emblazoned on it. They also had some weekday lunch specials that looked quite appealing.

We took a look at their menu which included a whole range of dishes from Taiwanese cuisine.

Some of their signatures included Taiwan Lu Rou Rice or Noodles, which is Taiwanese Braised Pork rice or noodles. But they also had Panko Canadian Pork Chop with Egg Fried Rice, which confused me. I assume the pork is what makes it Canadian but it was still a little weird.

They also had quite a dessert menu of course, as eluded by their cake display in front. But they also had souffle pancakes and waffles that looked really good!

I forget how much the vouchers were worth but we had enough for 2 entrees and a couple of sides. We ended up ordering one of the lunch specials, which came with a drink and we chose a taro milk drink with grass jelly.

The only kind of taro I've had is taro balls in Taiwanese desserts that look like this, so this drink was a little surprising.

Source: onehappybite

The taro made the milk quite thick, and it had similar taste and texture to oatmeal but slightly smoother, if that makes sense. It felt a little like a smoothie.

We decided to try one of the appetisers - the chili oil dumpling which looked pretty good from the menu and is apparently a new item! Initially it looked like it would be a cold dish but I was thankfully wrong in my assumption because it was warm.

We thought it would be spicy but it actually wasn't. There was just a small hint of chili but the sauce that came with it wasn't really chili oil like we thought. It was mainly soy sauce with just a little bit of chili oil.

The inside had pork and chives so it was still delicious, but I felt like the chili oil could've been stronger. Or I would prefer it if they gave us more chili oil to add in if we so choose.

We also ordered a serving of the daily vegetables, which we were happy to since it was stir fried broccoli with garlic - one of our favourites!

For the lunch special Sean chose the Panko Canadian Pork Chop La Mian, which is hand-pulled noodles. We found it strange when our pork chop was the first item to be served though.

It was a pretty good pork chop ngl; crispy on the outside and not too dry inside. It came with some mustard for you to dip the pork chop in but we found that it was wasabi mustard and not being fans of wasabi we passed on it.

We had to restrain ourselves from eating too much of the pork chop so we could pair it with the noodles. And after a while our noodles were served!

Tbh the noodles were really plain. It did have minimal seasoning but felt like it could use a lot more. The soup was also very plain with not much taste. The pork chop felt like it didn't really pair well with a noodle soup though since it would be soggy to eat them together.

We did mix in some of the sesame oil from the dumplings and that helped it a little but the soup was really quite plain. It wasn't bad, but it was a little disappointing.

Sean wanted to try the rice so he ordered a plate of just the egg fried rice since we were thinking of either the fried rice or la mian with pork chop.

The rice was a lot better than the noodles that's for sure! It had more taste and seasoning and while I still preferred my own fried rice, it was still pretty good. It paired well with the pork chop although I can see it being a little dry together.

The Canadian pork chop was still pretty good; nice and crispy but we probably should've gone with the fried rice on the lunch set instead of the noodles.

Oh well, it was still a nice meal overall and more importantly, it was free! I'm not sure if I would come back but Sean said he would. It is still a nice comfy place though, with some average food. Maybe we could try the desserts next time?