Ah Bong's Italian

Tiong Bahru is a very interesting place nowadays. Home to the old school Tiong Bahru Market and small Chinese restaurants and the famed Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh. Here in Tiong Bahru you still can find small eateries known as 小吃店, which are dying off in Singapore because the government have limited granting licenses for these eateries due to hygiene reasons. This small shops supposedly don't have the piping systems in place for food processes.

In the midst of all these old shop houses, Tiong Bahru also boast many hipster cafes such as Tiong Bahru Bakery and Dripz. And one particular 小吃店 goes through a transformation. Small eating house with a few hawker stalls by day, it transforms into a pizza parlour by night known as Two-Face Pizza. But today I'm not talking about the transformation nor the pizza. I'm focusing on one of the hawker stalls. In the face of dying traditions, a young fella stepped in and went to set up a hawker business. What's more interesting is, he is not selling traditional hawker food. He is selling Italian food, in a hawker fashion.

For Italian food, the prices weren't expensive. $6-7 for a plate of pasta. The menu changes daily, so check back often, or check their facebook. On the day I went, I had the Chorizo bolognaise. It was served in a traditional 'chicken' plate. Cute. The serving isn't huge, but with the minced chorizo and peas, it was good enough for me. Our intern had the aglio olio which only had some mushrooms. She's, um, still growing I presume, and found the portion not quite enough. The young chef came over and chatted with us and asked how the food is. When we feedback on the portion, he said that was 150g pasta each. I'm presuming he meant cooked weight. For me, I liked my bolognaise. The pasta was perfectly al dente, the sauce rich and delicious. Maaaybe a little more will be nice.

Chorizo bolognaise

Because those who had the aglio olio were so unsatisfied, we ordered the Expresso creme brulee. It's actually not bad. The coffee flavor wasn't overpowering, and the sugar crust was beautifully crunchy. Although I did find the custard not quite rich enough. It felt a little... thin...

Expresso Creme brulee

Broke through the beautiful sugar crust

I do admire the guy for braving the hawker industry with real 'ang moh' food. Not the usual 'western food' you see in kopitiams that serves asian flavored chicken chops with fries and call that western. And to do all that in his tiny stall area, I'm impressed. To tell the truth, we haven't really gone back there for lunch. The portion is probably one deterrent. The space constraint is another. The eating house doesn't have a whole lot of seats and can get quite warm in the afternoon.

Ah Bong's Italian

56 Eng Hoon St, #01-46
Singapore
Tel: 9650 6194