Cuisine: Taiwanese
Address: 1 Selegie Rd, #01-01, Singapore 188306
Nearest MRT: Dhoby Gaut MRT (North-South line, North-east line)

Craving for a taste of Taiwan while we are still stuck in Singapore? Look no further, as you can whet your appetite at Isshin Machi. The name sounds like a Japanese restaurant, but it is actually a Taiwanese one, with the Chinese translation as 一心一町。

Talking about Taiwanese Cuisine, drinks such as winter melon and pearl milk tea are ubiquitious. For us, we tried the cold Assam milk tea $2.90 (Indian assam black tea with a strong milk flavour). The milk tea was on the sweet side and only after the ice had melted, then the taste was better. For the tea connoisseurs, you can take note that there is an extensive tea menu containing various types of tea from oolong to pu er, which are hand picked from the tea plantations in Taiwan. However, when we tried to order the specialty tea, the staff told us that it was not available at that moment.

Hakka-Style Braised Meat Rice | $9.00
This miniature bowl comes with white pearl rice, braised pork, pickled vegetables, sliced cucumber and a whole braised egg. The sauce for the braised meat was delicious and we scooped up every grain rice in the bowl. While some people do not enjoy the meat because it is mostly fats, I think that the ones used in this dish do contain a fair portion of meat as well.

Pork wantons with fiery chilli oil | $6.00

There were about 10 pieces of wanton in this dish, which makes a good appetiser as it can be shared among friends easily. I would not say that this is the best wanton in chilli oil that I have tried, because the pork seems to be made from frozen meat. I believe that your local wanton mee stall would serve much better wantons, especially for those that are handmade.

Another side dish that we ordered is the Golden Fried tempura | $6.50

I remember fondly of this dish during my time in Taiwan, as it can be easily bought from the street-side stalls for about $1-2. It is a light snack made from white fish fillet, eggs and tapioca flour, after which it would be deep fried.

Moving on to the noodle dishes, we had the Noodles with specially marinated pork chop soup | $11.20. Changing the noodles to Guan miao mian (台南關廟麵) would be an additional $1. We chose the Guan miao noodles because it was hand cut and also the thicker strands seemed to be able to absorb the broth better. However, we were disappointed as the server gave us the noodle soup without the accompanying pork chop. It was only after asking for the third time, that they finally served us the meat, but by then we had almost finished eating the bowl of noodles. I like the springy taste of the noodles and the rich beef taste in the broth. It was rich but not too overwhelming.

Fried Rice with Specially Marinated Pork Chop | $12.30 — some may affectionately call it as the Din Tai Fung fried rice, being the Taiwanese-style egg fried rice that is served with pork chop on the side. Digging into the dish, this item was a clear winner — the fried rice using short-grain rice which was pearly and distinguishable by-the-grain; nicely lacquered with just enough oil without being ever greasy.

Three cups chicken with mushroom | $18.00

It has a taste of home because of the soya sauce, ginger slices and a dash of Chinese rice wine. The portion of chicken given was very generous, and the use of mushrooms helped to soak up the sauce. It can be eaten on its own or accompanied with the fried rice. It was a simple homecooked dish that turned out wonderfully, bringing out the flavours of Taiwanese cuisine.

Overall, we had an enjoyable time at Isshin Machi. We managed to dine out under the then restrictions of 5 people, so we were really lucky as we had not met each other for a long time. The vibes of the restaurant were pleasant, with many youngsters as patrons. The tables are spaced out nicely so that we would not eavesdrop on other people’s conversations. It was a place to catch up with friends and also to order a variety of dishes that were good for sharing.

This is the live band area, but unfortunately due to the government restrictions, we have not been able to enjoy live band music for more than a year. If only there was a live band, this would make the atmosphere in the restaurant more happening as people groove to the music and also sip on craft beer.

As I did not manage to try out the craft beer, I hope to be back the next time. Apparently, the craft beer scene in Taiwan has been booming as more small scale brewing companies start to develop their own craft beer and sell it at stores or restaurants.

Do check out this place if you want to reminiscence about the traveling times spent in Taiwan. Food prices here are reasonable, just do not compare to the price that you would pay in Taiwan, as the standards of living in both places are different.