Colbar

Colbar, short for Colonial Bar, I guess as all the expatriates used to hang out there for beers and western food? Tucked away along the quiet Portsdown Road, this is simply old-school nostalgia that is real charming. You gotta love the idyllic and bucolic feel of the place, a rarity in super-urbanised Singapore. The rickety folding tables, the wooden chairs, bottles of chilli and ketchup and HP sauce on the table, ginger ale and cider, just magically transports one back into the good ol' days of the 70s.

The food is decent Hainanese cooking with a large range of local dishes (fried rice, chicken curry, hor fun) and western dishes (steak, sandwiches, omelettes, sausages). Also serves wonderful drinks that seemed to have passed out of fashion with the ravages of time, like ginger ale, sinalco, gunner. My most recent order of chicken curry had a very "mum's home-cooking" feel to it, and I also like the steak with mushrooms and chips - the food is nothing to shout about, but it gives you a warm fuzzy heartwarming feeling. Not as cheap as your regular coffeeshops but who cares when you get a free time travel experience?

Whitchurch Road, Wessex Estate (Closed on Mondays)