Fatboy's The Burger Bar

Just some time ago the Hungrygowhere food forum called for votes on the “Best Burger” in Singapore and being the avid burger fan that I am I naturally kept a close eye on how that went. Interestingly, a relatively new burger joint in Upper Thomson Road came out as one of the top voted burger places (if I remember correctly it topped the chart!) and barely a fortnight later I was right there with my buddies.


Maybe it was because of its new found fame from Hungrygowhere. Or maybe it already had its own loyal following. Whatever it was, Fatboy’s The Burger Bar was packed on a Friday night, and it was only after an agonising twenty minutes wait (can you imagine standing there seeing plate after plate of handsome burgers being served) that we finally got a table. By then, it was already a little past nine.

Sunny Basterd Burger


Ok fine, I made that name up, inspired by Fatboy’s larger specialty burger Fat Basterd. I basically DIY-ed my own burger, Fatboy's is one of the rare burger joints here that actually encourages you to do that, and got myself a Fatboy beef patty (200g), a sunny side up egg and some caramelised onions, all topped with Fatboys’ specialty homemade barbecue sauce.

I liked the taste and texture of the honey oat bun (which actually is of a darker shade then the picture above; for a closer resemblance, see the preceding picture) as well as the doneness of my beef patty. I know some burger purists have commented that the patty here is of the frozen variation, and if that is so then this would probably be one of the better pre-frozen ones haha. It wasn't crumbly, it wasn't overly dry and it didn't have that thawed juice/water that some have spotted. So it's quite alright, even if it's not the most impressive.

Porkie Salami Burger


John liked the doneness of his pork patty too, medium well with that pinkish hue inside. He was not satisfied however with the portions of his salami and sautéed mushroom add-ons, commenting that there were just about three small pieces of each. On overall, he definitely wasn't very impressed as well.

Burger of the Day


Darren’s order of the Burger of the Day came in the form of a Curry Lamb Burger, which sadly didn’t impress him much because the curry flavour was not that discernible. He also had the same complaint that his pickles and jalapeno add-ons were just far too little.

Service
Although it was a long wait for the table, the wait staff continually checked back on us with kind words and that made the wait somewhat bearable. Still, the wait for our burgers came up to close to forty minutes, and that’s a bit too long even if restaurant is running on full-house. If you think about it, I only started dinner at ten!

Much thanks to the boys for agreeing to try Fatboy's out with me, though apologies that it didn't turn out as great as Hungrygowhere voters made it out to be!

Price
$14.30 for the sunny basterd burger (fried egg, caramelised onions & cheddar cheese)
$13.30 for the porkie salami burger (salami & sautéed mushrooms)
$13.50 for the curry lamb burger (pickles & jalapenos)

Place
187 Upper Thomson Road, beside Longhouse and Shell Petrol Station

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.

Icekimo II

I found myself back at Icekimo and I realised that the ice-cream flavours here have not changed much. I meant to try out the ice-cream sundaes at Ice3 (pronounced Ice-Cube; at the recommendation of a reader) with the family but parking turned out to be a problem and we ended up at the far quieter carpark beside Hooked On Heads instead. Next time for Ice3 then!

My little sister chose the Horlicks with Maltesers flavour (pictured there in the cup) while I decided to try a scoop of Snickers ice-cream. The latter turned out a tad disappointing and couldn't compare to the much more delicious and innovative Snickers Mars Honeycomb Vanilla (TM) flavour from Udders Ice-Cream. Well, at least the ice-cream from Icekimo is a teeny weeny bit cheaper.

Price
$2.80 for a single scoop of ice-cream
$0.50 for a plain waffle bowl.

Place
8 Sin Ming Road #01-03 Sin Ming Centre.

Icekimo

Yes, I find it amazing too. Me and Daphne's third ice-cream dessert in three days. Udders, Pluck, and now Icekimo. I was driving towards Hooked on Heads when she spotted this, and I put on a (very) weak and fleeting objection about us eating ice-cream again. Ice-cream (and chocolate) is something I don't think I can ever say no to.


Pretty girly layout of the stall if you ask me, but somehow or another it does exude a type of lively and cosy feeling at the same time. Business is good too, with a lot of youths coming in for takeways.


There's banana splits, waffle bowls, waffles, fondue, as well as a large but most enticing looking 6 (or 8)-scoop and 4 (or 6)-topping tub called the Iceberg. If I had a high metabolic rate, I would have had the large Iceberg I'm sure.

Dino Milo and Horlicks (with Maltesers) Ice-Cream on Waffles: 8/10


Ah, sinful looking indeed, but it was heavenly. I liked the thick chocolatey taste of the milo ice-cream, and the horlicks one wasn't too bad as well, but would have done better if there were more maltesers bits in it! We counted only around four broken parts, which would add up to a single one haha. We would have preferred the waffles a tad more crisp though, but otherwise it was alright.

Service
Friendly, they serve the ice-cream to your table if you're eating in.

Price
$4.20 for double scoops,
$2.00 for the waffles.

A bit pricey on the waffle bit actually, since the waffle bowl would only cost $0.50. I wonder if they got the amount right.

Place

Hooked on Heads II

Me and Daphne meant to have roti prata at Casuarina Curry, but the car park was full and I made a U-turn back down to Upper Thomson Road. Since we realised that we have been going to Roti Prata House far too often, we decided to have dinner at Hooked on Heads instead. While known for their curry fish head, part of their menu is also dedicated to Thai specialties, which explains the "Thai" label that I'm using for this post. If you have room for dessert, please try their Banana Fritters Special, it's awesome.

Thai Fried Rice: 7.7/10


I don't know what part of this dish is "Thai", but it's still tasty, that's all that matters I guess. The general portion is just nice, and if I may add, generous serving of squids too.

Phad Thai: 7.2/10


Daphne had this (again) but like in the past, it could really do with less tomato sauce. Adequately moist without being too wet, and pleasantly fragrant. The next time we return, we will order the curry fish head!

Service
Good.

Price
$6.00 for the thai fried rice
$7.00 for the phad thai

*Prices subject to 10% service charge.

Place
6 Sin Ming Road #01-01/02, Sin Ming Plaza Tower 2
Website: http://www.hookedonheads.com/

Additional Comment
All dishes are pork and lard free.

The Roti Prata House II

A food blogger once mentioned that the roti prata here is as crispy as a frisbee, and I couldn't agree more. The Roti Prata House is popular throughout the night from dinner to late suppers, where even at 3am you can find (mostly) youths and (especially) clubbers still tucking in to their now nationwide famous crispy pratas. I remember a time when such crispy pratas were such a hit that almost every neighbourhood stall started imitating it, then the trend died down and almost everyone reverted back to the softer pratas, the usual ones we have today. Lucky for those who still have a penchant for crispy frisbee pratas, they have Roti Prata House at Thomson.

Plain Roti Prata: 8.3/10


As me and my friend agreed, when you're tasting pratas, you've always got to go back to basics to see if it's really good. These pictures are taken with my Nokia N85, I'm still trying to see how I can make the pictures better, but so far I've been very impressed already. Harris is a happy man, a happy foodie blogger heh.

On taste, this is how I always remember it to be, crispy yet still with the flour taste characteristic of roti pratas. Good stuff.

Egg Prata: 8/10


Very yummy too, it's crispy but you can still taste the smooth eggs inside.

Mushroom and Egg Prata: 4/10


Whoops! This one received a flat thumbs-down from my buddies. They disliked the taste of the mushrooms, which I reckon would be straight out of a cheap can of button mushrooms. At $4 (!!), it's certainly not worth the money at all.

Mutton Soup: 7.7/10


You must be wondering, for something that looks like an oil bomb, why am I giving it a 7.7? Thing is, as much as I like the crispy pratas here, I don't really like the curry that the serve with it, because it's too thick and not that spicy. Furthermore, I think I have a preference for Indian fish curries to accompany my pratas. As you can see where I am going here, I think the "kambing" (mutton) soup went very well with the roti pratas! It's not like many of the other mutton soups that I've tried because the spices used and the way it's cooked makes it a bit closer to a curry. So, just nice to go with my pratas. They're pretty generous with the mutton bits too.

Service
The place is always packed, so I kind of accept that they can't exactly be giving every single customer their fullest attention. Don't lose the little slip of paper they give to you after you order, that's your bill.

Price
Around $0.80 for the plain prata
Around $1.40 for the egg prata
$4 for the mushroom and egg prata
$3.50 for the mutton soup

Place
246K & M, Upper Thomson Road

Additional Comment
Open 24 Hours.

Hooked on Heads

After reading a more than favourable review of this place by a famous foodie, I decided to bring Daphne here for dinner. We initially wanted to have our crispy prata fix at Thomson, but eventually felt Hooked on Heads deserved a try.

The "famous foodie" that I mentioned is none other than Dr Leslie Tay, whose IeatIshootIpost food blog has one of the highest hit rates here in Singapore. It tells how good the review was, since Hooked on Heads has it placed as a large poster inside the restaurant itself.

Fried Beef Kway Teow: 7.8/10



The photos are before and afters, the latter of which was after I took away the garnishing haha. Pretty good stuff, very generous portion of beef and the black sauce used was sweet and tasty. For those who are not exactly sure, "kway teow" is a type of flat rice noodles.

Phad Thai: 7.4/10


Daphne had this, but felt that the one at Joe's Kitchen was better because it was nuttier (more crushed peanuts) and has her favourite "chai poh" (something close to pickled radish). Overall the one here at Hooked on Head's is good too, but could do less with the tomato like sauce that they used. Adequately moist without being too wet, and pleasantly fragrant and sweet.

Banana Fritters Special: 9/10



A splendid choice for dessert really. Yes, I'm gonna say it again, delightfully crisp on the outside, yet still soft and smooth bananas on the inside. The addition of chocolate ice-cream was great too, and having it with the hot banana fritters was just lovely. In fact, we ordered another scoop too =)

Service
Very good.

Price
$5.80+ for the fried beef kway teow
$7.00+ for the phad thai
$5.80+ for the banana fritters special
$1.50+ for a single scoop of ice-cream

Prices subject to 10% service charge

The menu can be found here.

Place
6 Sin Ming Road #01-01/02, Sin Ming Plaza Tower 2
Website: http://www.hookedonheads.com/

Additional Comment
All dishes are pork and lard free.

The Roti Prata House

I was driving Daphne home when the thought of supper struck me. Never mind that I'm tipping the weighing scales a bit but I just needed to munch on something - hot and cold, I couldn't make up my mind. We dropped by The Railway Mall but it was too crowded, and it was only then that I decided to head for The Roti Prata House along Thomson Road.

Crispy Plain Roti Prata: 8.5/10


If you like your roti prata hot and crispy, this is THE prata for you. It was a very long time ago when crispy prata was the craze, and then it died out and most of the stalls reverted back to the soft and oily fluffy ones. The curry is sufficiently spicy and goes very very well with the tasty prata! Yums!

This place is a hit with people pigging the night away, and it's a favourite too with club-goers who, after blowing money on drinks, now come back to something easier on the pockets. I'm not entirely sure if it is 24hours, but we've been here at 4am before and it still is open, so I would guess that it is.

The Pengs


Always the favourite Iced Milo and Teas (Milo Peng / Teh Peng) to wash it smoothly and oh so cool down =)

Service
Can be very slow at times, especially when it's crowded, but you've got to be patient here. The staff do try their best, but some to get frustrated if customers get to irritating.

Price
$0.80 each for the prata
$1.40 each for the drinks

Place
246K & M, Upper Thomson Road