Food Republic - Wisma Atria Level 4

Wisma Atria revamped its food court and the new concept food court finally opened late last year. It is a huge food court, taking up almost the entire 4th level, with an escalator outside the building leading to it. Do not use that if you suffer from vertigo as it is quite high up, plus you are out in the open.

Besides serving the usual hawker fare, there are tiny restaurants nestled within. There is a variety of food ranging from Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Thai to Korean. There are pushcarts with people selling dim sum or drinks. There is even a guy walking around selling papadums, trying to re-create the days of old.

I have only tried the food there a few times as it is close to impossible to get a table, especially during peak hours. The dim sum is very expensive though, at $4 a dish. My cousin was outraged by the price of the egg tarts. $3 for a plate of 3 tiny tarts. I am not that familiar with the usual price of dim sum, but I would assume that is about the price. $2.50 to $4 for a plate.

The fried hokkien mee is not as good as the one at the esplanade though they looked similar and could be a franchaise. But alas, the taste is just different. However, you still see a long line at the stall daily. I like the Indian stall. The prata is crispy and the curry is slightly tangy with generous serving of veggies in it. I like that. The murtabak is great too, very huge serving. The fish bryani is nice though the fish is a tad dry. Best of all, it serves Teh Tarik and Teh Halia. Wonderful drinks. Forget about the drinks stall, the "teh peng" is not that fantastic at all.

At my recent trip there, I found out Pow Sing is there. I like Pow Sing Restaurant which is at Serangoon Gardens. It has very good chicken rice and peranakan food. I will always order the ayam buah keluak when there. At the Food Republic outlet, Pow Sing set up a small stall, besides the mini kitchen, which sells ayam panggang style rice set.

The service was wonderful. The lady was very polite and was also very generous with the servings of veggies, and sauces. I ordered the grilled fish set. It comes with rice, lightly deep fried fish fillet which is grilled before dipping into the Indonesian styled bbq sauce, plus veggies and a piece of omelette and a bowl of soup. Delicious. The other popular ayam panggang stall is at Plaza Singapura food court, operated by Riverside Indonesian BBQ Restaurant, which always sees long line too. But the best one I ever tried was at the old Starhub Center food court. The fish was not deep fried but truly grilled.

Stepping into the food court from the outside escalator, you will see the kopitiam styled stall, selling toast and coffee and tea, plus some other stuff. We decided to try the "kon lo bun" (I think that is how it is spelt or called). It is a plain bun with a slice of butter in the center. Served that with a cup of "teh si", it is just so good. I think the butter made the difference. Conversely the otah toast was a disappointment. It was more bread than otah, making it dry and unpalatable.

The thai restaurant Waan Waan is not too bad. The tom yam soup is fiery spicy but the olive rice is not that great. The Indian restaurant, Chutney's, is pretty good. I like the butter chicken and the naan. Wonderful.