COCONUTS HOT SPOT — At Taiwanese street food-inspired restaurant/bar Five Ten, everything on the menu (including booze) goes for either $5 or $10. Not bad for a weekday lunch or a fuss-free dinner — plus, it sure makes splitting the bill a whole lot easier.
The dimly-lit space with an industrial setting is located opposite Sri Mariamman Temple on South Bridge Road — a place that has seen concepts like co-working space 237 and restaurant/bar Cato come and go. Here’s hoping Five Ten sticks around this time.
With a menu created by chef Shawn Koh, formerly of Pizzeria Mozza and Salted & Hung, the small selection of street food makes it easy for indecisive eaters to order. At lunchtime, it’s basically all about the rice bowls ($10) — must-tries include the Lu Rou Fan, which comes with a wobbly sous vide egg, crunchy kai lan and a large, glistening slab of braised fatty pork belly; as well as the steak option, served with generous slices of sirloin steak, pickled cabbage and the sous vide egg. The bowls may not be the biggest ones around, but they’re filled with a massive mound of rice that’ll fill you up in no time.
If you’d like something a little extra, pad your meal with a couple of sides ($5) such as fried chicken with seaweed mayo, deep fried tau kwa with century egg, or fried smashed potatoes with plum seasoning and chilli pepper spice.
Sure, some dishes are more value-for-money than others — for example, we’d pick the $10 steak rice bowl over the $5 fried potatoes any day (although we must admit the spuds were really good) — but if you’re watching your budget, it’s pretty easy to have an affordable meal here.
Similar items and prices appear on the dinner menu — including the fried potatoes, fried chicken, braised pork and steak — alongside dishes like soy-glazed sautéed chicken hearts, grilled squid, fried brussels sprouts and braised pig intestines.
Oh, and if you’re not greased out by too much fried chicken, go for the chewy-on-the-inside-crunchy-on-the-outside fried milk ($5) dessert — be sure to dip each crumb-coated cube into condensed milk for maximum flavor (and calories).
As for drinks, you can wash down your meal with $5 beverages like cold brews, lemonade, iced chocolate, iced teas, half-pint beers and even an interesting-sounding gummy bear juice. If you’re feeling generous, go for the $10 option of full print beers or a glass of house wine.
Basically, everything’s very casual and unpretentious here, which makes it an ideal hangout for quick lunches or after-work drinks.
Five Ten is at 237 South Bridge Rd, 6924-9752. Tues-Sat 10am-3pm, 6pm-10pm; Sun 10am-2.30pm.
