Bincho at Hua Bee

Interrupting the Japan: Kyushu posts for a local restaurant review. Haven't been writing such reviews on the blog for quite a while. Since there's a place I enjoyed, it seemed like a pretty good time for one.

Bincho at Hua Bee

Bincho at Hua Bee probably needs no introduction. When I checked in with my best friend Google, there was a whole slew of reviews done about it and mostly positive. Many established bloggers have also already written sonnets about it. I'm probably just being repetitive and I'm nowhere as established as some of these people are. (But Heck It!)

So you probably already know that Bincho is located in hipster Tiong Bahru area, at Moh Guan Terrace. It's a pretty short walk from Tiong Bahru MRT and near other cafés such as Forty Hands, where you could drop by for a cuppa.

 

 

 

 

Bincho is hidden inside a nostalgic "kopitiam" (coffeeshop), near a road junction. In the day, Hua Bee Restaurant still sells their bah chor mee (minced meat noodles), coffee and toast. This was also the venue where they filmed Eric Khoo's "Mee Pok Man". In the day, you can still reach Bincho through Hua Bee. However, by night, Hua Bee becomes closed and you'll have to get to Bincho through their back door. Back door's via the carpark, just watch for the sign.
 

But then again, you probably knew this already. I'm just being repetitive.

 

 

 

 

Once in, Bincho impresses with its exposed pipes and metal wire hipster café/bistro feel. Unfortunately, the place is pretty small and doesn't hold many people. We were a party of six and had to squash ourselves at the long table you see in the photo above.

My advice to you: Call ahead for reservations and go in a smaller party. Four should just be cozy enough.
Oh and if you can, ask to sit on this end of the restaurant. Apparently the other side's warmer with all the cooking going on.

Again, perhaps you already know this...

 

 

Anyway, my party of six was the office bunch, hence we were there for lunch. The lunch deals were also a lot more affordable than their dinner menu. For example, the yakitori don is 25 bucks and comes with a salad, appetizer, side dish and dessert.

 

Let's just say the reason for this blog post was because I fell in love with the nosh. At the very least, I felt like I was almost back in Japan. Damn good food. And deserving of the online accolades I've read.

 

But of course, you guys already know that.

 

Photo above was that of my appetizer and salad that day. A couple of my friends didn't take beef, and when their replacement appetizer came, they didn't take roe either. So happy me ended up with both versions of appetizers. It was the start of a very happy introduction to Bincho. That's fried chicken skin on the salad by the way. Cholesterol and diet be damned.

Actually, I was quite surprised when they put the chicken drumlets in front of us. I honestly thought that the salad was the side dish until then. But hey! Who am I to reject damn good drumlets? Cleaned them to the bone.

 

 

Friends ordered the tsukune don (chicken patty bowl in front) and the yakitori don (grilled chicken meat bowl at the back).

 

My bird-eater cum scavenger-eater of a friend (basically she just eats tiny portions) finished that entire bowl of tsukune don. Yup, inhaled it. A feat for someone who can be full on apples only. That's the power of that tsukune don. Impressive magic.

My Kurobuta Aburi Pork Don.

That egg was simply divine, I could go back just for that. The aburi pork itself was generally ok. Yummy but there were some parts that I personally felt were too charred.

 

 

Another friend's oyako don (chicken with onions and egg bowl). According to her, it was good. And she had a mini taste of the tsukune don, and still prefers her oyako don. This time, its power of the egg.

 

 

By the time we hit dessert, it was a choice between matcha ice-cream, or fresh strawberries. No prizes for guessing which one we went for. Actually, don't even need to guess if you have eyes for the pic below.

 

 



In all, great food that's within walking distance of my not-so-new-anymore office. Which means, I'm definitely going back there to try their other dons. I'm also excited to bring my other foodie friends there for lunch if they ever drop by.


Bincho at Hua Bee
Address: 78 Moh Guan Terrace, #01-19 S(162078)
DID: +65 64384567