”Beauty World, cha cha cha…”

Opened during 1984, Beauty World Centre is a privately-owned shopping complex and residential development located at Upper Bukit Timah Road.

Beauty World Food Centre is one of the unusual privately-owned opened-air hawker centres, located at the 4th level of this building, though it is sometimes overshadowed by Bukit Timah Food Centre nearby.

I noted that there is a good mix of some stalls which has been through the decades; alongside couple of new finds such as BIG BOYS Sizzling Hotplate (selling Cornflake Chicken and Mentaiko Fries), Burger House, Ye Tang Chendol and Kopifellas.

With about 40 stalls there, here are some of the 12 to check out:

Top One Handmade Noodles
Beauty World Food Centre #04-44, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 98576126
Opening Hours: 11am – 7pm (Mon – Tues, Thurs – Sun), Closed Wed

Around since 1989, this is one of the few Ban Mian stalls where you can have rather varied permutations, to have your own personalized bowl by picking out the type of noodles and soup with a choice from many delectable ingredients.

Noodles wise, choose from mee hoon kway, you mian (thin noodles), ban mian (flat noodles), mee suah, bee hoon, Hong Kong mee, and cintan mee (egg noodles).

Four choices of bases are available – soup, tom yum, hot & spicy, and dry; to be paired with ingredients of fresh prawn, meat balls, sliced fish, fish maw or abalone.

A bowl without the luxurious ingredients is priced at $4 or $5.

Most people would opt for the dry version which is dribbled with a generous serving of dark sauce.

I had the soup version, which I found to be in between – not too rich or mild, but still flavourful.

BUT, the real magic to me, is that killer chilli sauce which is very shiok to have. Just a little can make a whole lot of difference.

Penang Home Made Beef Ball 槟城自制牛肉丸
Beauty World Food Centre #04-43, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Opening Hours: 10am – 7pm (Fri – Wed), Closed Thurs

Interesting. While there are beef noodles stalls around Singapore, you don’t find something that is labelled with “Penang”.

What you get are springy homemade beef balls noodle soups.

On the menu are Beef Ball Noodle Soup, Mixed Beef Noodle Soup, Braised Brisket Noodle or Rice, Wet Beef Horfun, and Beef Fried Rice. Every item on the menu in this stall is priced at $5.

While I cannot tell for sure how “Penang” this was, the Beef Brisket Noodles was QQ-springy, matched with the brisket that was well-braised and in scrumptious brown sauce. Quite an under-rated stall.

Jin Li Satay Bee Hoon 锦利沙爹米粉
Beauty World Food Centre #04-04, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 91546406
Opening Hours: 11am – 8pm (Thurs – Tues), Closed Wed

Jin Li Satay Bee Hoon is one of the food legends in Beauty World Food Centre with over 35 years of experience of serving the finest Satay Bee Hoon.

And good Satay Bee Hoon is getting so much harder to find in Singapore due to the complexity in preparing the dish and demand.

There are three serving sizes of Satay Bee Hoon ($4, $5, $6, takeaway $5, $6, $8).

A plate comes with a variety of ingredients like lean pork slices, kang kong, tau pok, cuttlefish, prawn and cockles. (You can inform the stall person if you want to opt out of any ingredients.)

The secret of the irresistible Satay Bee Hoon at this stall lies in the satay gravy, with the bee hoon drenched in complex flavours with a rich and satisfying taste.

One thing you may note is that peanut sauce is nutty, yet smooth and creamy all at the same time, with a light fragrance.

Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Noodle Rice 香港玫瑰油鸡面饭
Beauty World Food Centre #04-51, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 6221 1668
Opening Hours: 8:30am – 6pm (Mon – Sun)

This stall has a relatively long queue, known for succulent Soya Sauce Chicken with hor fun, rice or noodles of your choice.

Operated by a mother-daughter team, be prepared to wait a while during peak hours.

They also serve Dumpling Noodles, Shredded Chicken with Mushroom Horfun, Wanton Noodle, Char Siew Rice and Beef Brisket Noodle. You will find Chee Cheong Fun, Yam Cake and Glutinous Rice too.

Each noodle or rice plate is priced from $3.00 to $5.50.

I got their Soya Sauce Chicken Noodles with drumstick ($4), with fleshy and tender chicken thigh with springy noodles in a slightly sweet and savoury sauce. If you have some stomach room, add some of those shui jiao dumplings.

Buta Kin
Beauty World Food Centre #04-28, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 8661 6028
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 8:30pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon

Buta Kin is one of those unusual stalls specialising in Japanese cuisine and tonkotsu ramen at a hawker centre.

There is a wide selection of dishes, with combinations of ramen/udon and other curry dishes, such as the Special Tonkotsu Ramen ($7.50), Tonkotsu Vegetable Udon ($5), Ebi Fry Curry Rice ($6), and Tonkatsu Chicken Curry Rice ($6.50).

Also look out for specials such as Black King Ramen and Curry Ramen. All affordably priced as ramen can get quite pricey if you order at eateries elsewhere.

Get the Special Tonkotsu Ramen ($7.50) included with char siu slice, nori, black fungus, boiled egg and more, piping hot with light milky pork-bone broth.

Feng Ji Shu Shi Char Kway Teow 豐記熟食炒粿條
Beauty World Food Centre #04-45, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Opening Hours: 12pm – 7:30pm (Mon – Sun)

Uncle Tan Lip Hong has over 30 years of experience in frying up Char Kway Teow.

A plate ($4, $5) contains wok-fried kway teow (flat rice noodles) are combined with mee (round yellow noodles) with bean sprouts, egg, fresh cockles, deep fried lard fried with dark soya sauce.

It had the old-school taste with wok-hei, but perhaps some would coming expect a more moist and eggy version.

Hong Wen Mutton Soup 红炆羊肉汤
Beauty World Food Centre #04-20, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 9889 8948
Opening Hours: 11am – 3:30pm (Mon – Sun)

Not many places sell Mutton Soup anymore, as customers may not like that gamey taste and particular smell.

There are four items here: Mutton Stomach Soup, Mutton Soup, Mutton Tendon Soup and Mixed Mutton Soup. Prices have risen considerably though, to $8, $10, or $15 per portion.

The main thing that sets this Teochew and Hainanese styles apart is the stronger herbal flavour and they do not include deep fried bean curd taupok.

You Peng Mian Jiao Zi Guan
Beauty World Food Centre #04-23, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 6463 5608
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 9pm (Mon – Sun)

You will find a great variety of Chinese Shanghainese delights at this stall. Fulfill your cravings for Xiao Long Bao, Dan Dan Noodles, Guo Tie and Jiao Zi, to even Egg & Tomato Noodles, Dan Dan Noodles, Sour & Spicy Soup and Fried Pancakes.

The queue is not that long during early hours, and everything is fresh and handmade at the stall.

However, prices are considered comparatively on the higher side (for hawker centres), with Fried Dumplings priced at $7.50 (for 10 pieces), Xiao Long Bao at $8, Dumpling Noodles at $5.

The Xiao Long Bao ($8) had skin that was slightly on the doughy and thicker side, though it was filled with sweet tasting broth.

Frozen dumplings are available for sale as well.

Burger House
Beauty World Food Centre #04-42, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 9753 7859
Opening Hours: 11am – 5pm (Mon – Sun)

Hambaobao may be closed, but there is a new burger stall called “Burger House” just opened in April 2020. Yes, during the challenging “Circuit Breaker” period.

Selection includes Beef Burger ($7.90), Chicken Burger ($6.20), Mushroom Burger ($6.90), Nuggets ($3 for 6 pieces), Truffle Fries ($4.50) and Cheese Fries ($3.90).

Add $2 for additional ala carte fries and lemonade drink ($2.00) to complete the set.

The burger patties are made from quality beef from New Zealand, all hand-made in store.

While the beef patty was rather tasty, I thought that it needed a less generic-tasting bun or sauce of some kind to better differentiate this with a number of burger stalls that are sprouting out in Singapore.

Still a value-for-money Western food stall.

Pink Candy
Beauty World Food Centre #04-60, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Opening Hours: 10:30am – 2:30pm, 5pm – 9pm (Mon, Wed – Sun), Closed Tues

Pink Candy which specialises in Korean dishes and kimchi, gained quite a sizable following after viral social media posts.

What is special is you can dine at the al fresco garden area, with a rooftop view across the nearby Bukit Timah area and can get quite cooling at night.

Opened by Helena Kim, the stall serves up home-style Korean dishes such as Bibimbap ($8.90), Ginseng Chicken ($8.90), Spicy Rice Cake ($8.90), Pancake ($14.90), Kimchi Fried Rice ($8.90), Cold Noodles ($9.90), Jjajang Noodles ($8.90) to Army Stew ($24.90).

Get the recommended Chicken Wings ($14.90 for 9 pieces) available in original, soy sauce or spicy sauce. For its price, I thought it was decently crispy and juicy, though I wished the meat was more marinated within.

I would suggest coming off peak because they can get short-handed (especially during the weekends) and wait can be long.

Big Boys Sizzling Hotplate
Beauty World Food Centre #04-25, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Opening Hours: 11:30am – 8:30pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon

This is a Western food stall unlike the usual, serving plates of big portions with interesting offerings.

Opened by an ex-chef from The Ritz Carlton, dishes included Air-Flown Australian Sirloin Steak ($13.90), Sizzle Mix Grilled Platter ($13.90), Black Pepper Chicken Chop ($6.90), Teriyaki Chicken Chop ($7.20), Mentaiko Grilled Salmon Fillet ($13.90), to Classic Batter Fish ($7.90).

The one special dish to try here is the Signature Cornflakes Chicken ($7.90). You read it right. The chicken came with crunchy cornflake crusted outer layer, while the meat remain succulent and juicy. Worthy to mention was its Mentaiko Fries.

Ye Tang Chendol
Beauty World Food Centre #04-26, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 9099 2289
Opening Hours: 11am – 8pm (Wed – Sun), Closed Mon, Tues

Ye Tang Chendol is a relatively new Cendol stall opened just before the challenging “Circuit Breaker period”. The stall has received quite positive online reviews so far.

The classic bowl with attap chee is priced at $2.00, while you can opt for other options such as Red Bean Chendol ($2.50), Corn Chendol ($2.50) and popular D24 Durian Chendol ($3.80).

What drew me was the fragrant, freshly-made green chendol jelly made with pandan leaves; while the red kidney beans (not the usual red bean used) were quite soft and sweet.

Kopifellas
Beauty World Food Centre #04-67, 144 Upper Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 588177
Tel: +65 8801 5209
Opening Hours: 8am – 6:30pm (Mon – Sun)

Kopifellas first opened at Timbre+ and has opened another stall at Beauty World, serving traditional and modern beverages at a hawker stall.

Its Kopi ($1.20 onwards) is made with coffee beans are grinded and brewed on the spot to bring out the best flavour; and they also serve up Black and White Cold Brew ($3.50, $4.50).

For coffee is not your think, under the “Caffeine Phobic” and “Teaholic” sections, there are other refreshing beverages of Honey Lemon, Earl Grey Milk Tea, Lychee Tea, Lime Tea, Honey Milk Tea, Honey Oolong Tea and even Thai Milk Tea.

Hip drinks at inexpensive prices (compared to the usual BBT stores).

Other Related Entries
10 Bukit Timah Food Centre Hawker Stalls
10 Must Try Stalls At Chomp Chomp Food Centre
10 Sembawang Hills Food Centre Stalls
10 Commonwealth Crescent Food Centre Stalls
10 Ghim Moh Food Centre Hawker Stalls

* Follow @DanielFoodDiary on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube for more food news, food videos and travel highlights. DFD paid for food reviewed unless otherwise stated.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here