It’s been quite a year for food stories in Singapore, from really top-notch new restaurants to some disgusting revelations of rat-infused vegetable soup. Here we’ve compiled some of the most notable pieces we’ve published related to all of our favourite hobbies — eating, drinking and being merry.

Coconuts Hot Spot: Joo Bar

Singapore has its share of great microbreweries but when it comes to producing anything other than beer, we haven’t made much headway. That is, until the arrival of Joo Bar. This classy Korean joint still remains as one of our favourite finds of the year — and rightfully so.

Hotpot Culture’s dead rat stew

Who could ever forget this travesty? Nobody expected (nor should you ever) some Essence of Rodent steaming silently in your vegetable stew, but Marina Square’s Hotpot Culture delivered. After photos emerged online, it caused a rightful storm and naturally the authorities came a-crackin’ down on the whole mall, which had a bit of a rat problem for some time.

Anthony Bourdain looks for Singapore hawkers to join him in New York

Diehard Singapore cuisine fan Anthony Bourdain believes in our food so much that he felt the need to have some really good chicken rice available in New York City. Enter Bourdain Market, where about 100 food vendors from around the world will gather in a “Singapore-style hawker market” complete with communal eating spaces and all that heartland jazz.

Coconuts Critic’s Table: Artichoke

There are a whole lot of restaurants serving technically competent meals here in Singapore. But Artichoke has something different: personality. The place just oozes character and independent spirit. Punchy, innovative Middle Eastern recipes too.

Le Cheap Gourmand series

With Singapore being the most expensive city in the world and all, it’s actually not that hard to find decent food that are actually gracious to your wallets. So we gave economical meals the atas, aristocratic attention it deserves — reviewing 7Eleven’s microwaved food, Ramly burgers and even McDonald’s truffle fries. The fan favourite however still remains to be our very first edition of Le Cheap Gourmand, where we gave an uppity thumbs up to Ananas Café.

Coconuts Critic’s Table: Long Chim

Irony alert: Some of Singapore’s tastiest Thai street food can be found at… Marina Bay Sands? In a peculiar twist of fate emblematic of modern Singapore, one of the best places to get your Thai food fix right now – outside of the Golden Mile Complex – is a celebrity chef restaurant in a sparkling new casino.

Dessert queen Janice Wong pressure-tests MasterChef Australia contestants

Singapore’s dessert queen Janice Wong actually appeared on MasterChef Australia this year, where contestants had to recreate her signature dish: the Cassis plum (always available a her Holland Village bar). What did the contestants think about it? “It’s beautiful.” “It’s spectacular.” Also, hella complicated.

Coconuts Critic’s Table: Super Loco

What distinguishes Super Loco’s fare from other second-rate players around the Little Red Dot? A commitment to corn. With tacos and quesadillas this sabroso, the best Mexican food in Asia can be found on the banks of the Singapore River.

Milo van Milo concoction released to public

Our prayers to the God of Icy Sweet Drinks have finally been heard — Milo finally launched an official concoction that should replicate the elusive taste of cold Milo dispensed from their Milo Vans. We bought some Milo Ice Energy for ourselves, and we’re sad to say that it didn’t live up to our already lofty expectations. Oh well.

Kopitiam worker caught on video scraping off dead skin using knife

An employee of a Kopitiam food stall got fired right after a customer captures a 19-second video of her scraping dead skin off her fingers using what appears to be a fruit knife. It was clarified that the knife was for the staff’s personal use, but she lost her job anyway.

BreadTalk lied to you about their soya bean milk

Oh the horror! A BreadTalk staff was caught on camera filling up plastic bottles (marked freshly prepared, mind you) with regular ol’ Yeo’s soya bean milk. The revelation left a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouth.

Komala Vilas gets prime ministerial stamps of approval

We’ve always known that Little India’s Komala Vilas is one of the best vegetarian joints in town, but it was confirmed when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself ate there with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi. Also, they took a selfie there.

Man in coma after eating raw fish porridge

Fans of Yusheng-style raw fish porridge nationwide were scared off the dish when rumours started circulating that eating contaminated raw fish will land you in hospital. After the various ministries and agencies told citizens not to worry, a man fell into coma after he was infected by Group B Streptococcus bacteria acquired from eating raw fish porridge. Whoops.

McDonald’s launch their own truffle fries

McDonalds went all out atas this Christmas when they introducing gourmand specialties like clubhouse burgers, a red velvet McFlurry as well as their own truffle fries. Folks lost their minds of course, but as we’ve learnt, the hype is not real.

EwF vs Crchard Central

Beloved local burger joint EwF were given the unceremonious boot out of Orchard Central to make way for the debut of an unknown international retail brand who wants their space. EwF, who’ve been there since over five years ago, were of course bitter, and weren’t going down without giving one final “fuck you” to their former landlords. Talk about a sick burn.