Good Bites Café Restaurant - A Hidden Gem @ Bishan Sports Centre [Singapore] #hiddengem

Bishan is a town in Singapore that I would visit every working day as it has an essential train interchange for me to get from home to my workplace in Clementi. The train would ride past Bishan Sports Centre yet it's a place I have never walked in to; until three weeks ago.

Nestled at a corner not facing the main entrance, here's the star for our topic today; Good Bites Café Restaurant! With neon lighted logos and old school rubber string chairs, the one thing that came to my mind was that this is a happy place! 

There's even a traditional fire truck for the little kid buried deep at the back of your brain. p.s. note that we didn't attempt to squeeze in to relive our childhood memory.

While the outside screams of retro, fun charm, the interior of the café exudes a classic, colonial era feel. It's like going into a different world but I was okay; I needed my dinner and food matters a lot more than anything else! 

It was a coincidence that we decided to check out the place. The initial plan was actually to have dinner in another eatery at midview city but its last order was at 8.30pm which was a tad early. Hence, my friend suggested Good Bites as he was curious about it when he was captivated by the hanging light bulbs while jogging along the stadium track. 

As usual, I ran a check on Google and it had a startling score of 4.9 with over 1,500 reviewers! That's so impressive; we half expected a large crowd on a Friday evening and decided to make reservation, just in case. Turned out it wasn't that bad; you may need to wait if there's no reservation but the queue wasn't snaking long. Heard that Saturdays and Sundays are a different story though.

How we know? Thanks to Mindy, the Maître D of Good Bites (nope, she isn't in the photo)! I seldom talked about the human aspect when it comes to food reviews; however, Mindy was an obvious people-person and so persuasive that we were tempted to order whatever she recommended! Grateful that our rationality returned to our brains as we only had that much of a stomach space.

For such a popular restaurant, I was surprised to find their all day set lunch that starts from S$9.99 and includes salad and hot tea / coffee! Unlike places which are quite unrelenting in not allowing options, you are free to exercise top-ups to a mushroom soup, or even an A&W float! 

Best of all, complimentary plain water! 

  

Iced Peach Tea - Didn't regret having this thirst quenching beverage that wasn't overly sweet. On second thought, maybe I should have opted for A&W float for a top-up of just S$1.99! 

Mushroom Soup - again, another S$1.49 top-up from a salad. First thing that came to mind, it was a kid's portion! Other than the serving size, the soup was creamy, thick and flavourful with chunky bits of mushroom; totally the kind I enjoy.

Tom Yum Seafood Pasta - even though I love thai food, I am not big on tom yum and decided not to go for this in spite of Mindy's strong endorsement! My friend did and kindly passed a mouthful for me to at least try.

I regretted; it was literally like 'eating' tom yum soup and yummy would be how I described the feeling. The thick sauce that gave us the flavour was so slurpy; I almost wanted to forcefully change my order with my friend. Seafood was fresh and extra credit for the soft sotong! 

Teriyaki Chicken Tomato Pasta - mine was this visually unexciting plate of linguine; ordered as I wanted to play safe. I think that's a serious problem with me; I would like to try but more often than not, the fact that I am paying means I prefer to play safe rather than try something novel that has a relatively higher chance of 'failure'.

Taste wise; it was pretty good; a nice, tomato flavour suitable for kids and super aromatic with a lot of well-cooked minced garlic. Argh, I still prefer the Tom Yum Seafood Pasta in front of my friend! 

Chicken was nice; not the best teriyaki chicken I had but definitely above average. If you are keen to try exotic flavours, you can also choose to have pad thai pasta, sambal goreng pasta or even chilli crab pasta.

Truffle Fries - a meetup with tons of talking would never be sufficient with just mains. The truffle fries had parmesan cheese sprinkled on them which was really a flavour booster. I would love them crispier though.

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake - another endorsement by Mindy, said to be a huge favourite among customers! Well, guess dessert is a must to complete the meal.

Middle was molten chocolate lava, as promised! Health conscious individuals would be pleased that it wasn't sweet which means it's a perfect companion for the sweet, vanilla ice cream. The only thing that nagged me at the back of my head was the texture of the cake; it had a thin crisp on the outside but inside was strangely, mushy.

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Nonetheless, my friend and I had a great time at Good Bites and I couldn't wait to be back once again! I would definitely have the tom yum seafood pasta the next time and maybe consider another popular dessert; their signature waffle!  

Address

5 Bishan Street 14, #03-01, 

Bishan Sports Centre,

Singapore 579783

Map

As above.

Opening Hours

Mondays to Fridays - 11.00 am to 9.30 pm

Saturdays and Sundays - 11.00 am to 10.30 pm

Public Holidays - 11.00 am to 10.30 pm

Website

https://www.goodbites.com.sg/

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Teriyaki Chicken Tomato Pasta Set - S$9.99

Top up to Mushroom Soup - S$1.49 each

Ice Peach Tea - Complimentary as Part of Set

Tom Yum Seafood Pasta Set - S$12.98

Truffle Fries - S$7.00

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake - S$10.90

(Subject to GST and Service Charge)

Additional Information

Get a free scoop of ice cream when you upload a photo with location check in to your social media account (which I presume to be Facebook / Instagram)