It’s not a secret that I love Taiwanese food. I live near Kallang, and I’m happy to see more and more good Taiwanese joints opening up around this area.
As both my husband and I work from home, we’re always on the lookout for good lunch places near the house. One day, I was canvassing Google Maps for beef noodles and noticed a name I hadn’t seen before: Twin Island Noodle House at CT Hub. It has a strong 4.8 star with 34 reviews, which sounds pretty promising to me. To top it off, it can be reached from our house in less than 10 minutes. I didn’t need any more convincing, so off we went!
We’re familiar with CT Hub, but I have to say I hadn’t explored the building much. There is a climbing gym on the first floor, but I didn’t even realize it has a second floor. Twin Island is located on the second floor.
I was initially confused when we entered the restaurant. It looked like this:
Completely empty, with no cashier or even any human in sight (we arrived early before the lunch crowd started), I thought there was another part of the restaurant we missed. But right outside the door, we spotted it: The ordering machine.
The ordering machine is easy enough to figure out. There are noodles, side dishes and rice dishes.
The place seemed to be famous for its beef noodles so that’s what we went for: my husband ordered the regular beef noodles (S$13.80), while I went for tomato beef noodles (S$14.50). You can also customize the noodles you want: knife-shaved or regular noodles. I chose knife-shaved because I love that uneven chewy texture.
Once you’ve placed your order, simply take a seat and your order will be served from the small Collection Point window inside the restaurant. Next to it, you’ll find utensils and napkins.
It does take them some time to prepare the order, approximately 10 minutes, which we didn’t mind. But if the restaurant is busy, and it did get packed really fast as soon as noon rolled around, it could take awhile before you get your order.
And the beef noodles? I loved my Tomato Beef Noodles. It was definitely one of my favorites I’ve had in Singapore. The tomato broth is slightly thicker and sweeter than the regular beef noodles, but they both have that rich beef flavor that I was craving for.
And remember the empty restaurant photo I posted above? Well, they seem very popular with office workers nearby. As soon as the clock struck noon, patrons began streaming in and all the seats were fully taken soon after. We wrapped up our meal quickly to help free up space for the next set of patrons.
This week, after our amazing experience with the beef noodles, we returned to try their rice dishes. I ordered the Braised Pork Rice ($10.50) and my husband ordered the Braised Beef Rice ($12). But sadly, I cannot recommend these dishes as much as their noodles. They’re both tasteless and the portion was really small.
Needless to say, this place has been added to our lunch rotation, but only for the beef noodles.