Where celebrities eat: DJ Yasminne Cheng
Have you ever wondered what celebrities in Singapore eat? With their busy schedules and bustling social lives, it’s hard to tell what celebrities love consuming, especially with the amount of F&B establishments they visit worldwide. Hence, our monthly feature on the eating habits of celebrities continues, this month, featuring Yasminne Cheng.
If you’re a frequent radio listener, you’ll probably recognise Yasminne Cheng’s beautiful and striking voice. The Class 95 DJ has been working in Singapore’s radio scene since 1998, starting out at Passion 995 before moving to 987FM, then Class 95.
Yasminne hosts Class 95’s lunchtime show, Lunchbreak, every weekday from 10am to 2pm. Prior to that, she anchored Class 95’s highly rated night show, Love Songs, for 7 years, and was even the station’s Assistant Music Director for a period of time.
Aside from being a well-known DJ, Yasminne is also famously a huge foodie — she even runs her own food Instagram account where she shares all sorts of dishes that she has enjoyed!
Here’s what Yasminne shared about her favourite food spots in Singapore:
What are your favourite hawker stalls and why? What are your favourite dishes there?
618 Sim Carrot Cake – It’s the best!!! When you’re near the stall, you can just revel in the amazing smells already. The carrot cake is so nice and soft, fried golden brown with lots of egg with a hint of char and an insane amount of caipo. And if that’s not enough, there’s a heaping amount of extra caipo at the side. The chilli is pretty good too! White carrot cake ftw!
Lim’s Fried Oyster – It’s been around for more than 40 years for good reason. It’s super generous with the ingredients and you get the fattest juiciest plump fresh oysters from Korea. The thing is they have 2 kinds of oyster omelette: Wet and dry. Definitely go for the dry oyster omelette where the egg is fried till it’s super duper crispy. There is good balance with the amount of starch used and they are very generous with the number of oysters. Insanely good!
Sungei Road Laksa – The best laksa!!! The original one that’s at 27 Jalan Berseh is now run by a second generation of 3 sisters that I call the Laksa Angels. The soup is the bomb dot com, very umami and intense in flavour and lemak (coconutty), yet not heavy. They’re pretty generous with the ingredients and the chilli has enough kick. Laksa is my number one favourite food of all time and this hits the spot every single time.
What is your favourite restaurant or cafe and why?
Oh dear… too many! How can I narrow it down to just 1, but I’d say Fook Kin at Killiney. Good value, simple delicious food.
The char siew is a must here. Ask for the fattier cuts so it’s more juicy. I love the sticky caramelisation and char on the meat which is nice and tender with good flavour. A must also would be the meepok, super delish on it’s own but add some of their house made chilli for even more umami-ness! And definitely order the Caipo Omelette— it just hits the spot.
For something that’s higher end, it would have to be Lolla at Ann Siang Hill! Helmed by Chef Johanne Siy (who recently won Asia’s Best Female Chef at Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants), she’s doing such amazing things right now.
They serve Mediterranean food with a Filipino touch and it’s just so damn good! I would highly recommend going for the tasting menu only available on Friday and Saturday for dinner to truly enjoy her culinary magic. It’s very thoughtful, and I love how it slowly builds in intensity. Robust with full on flavour, there isn’t a dish that’s a throwaway or meh. In fact, many dishes will probably make you stop to go OH WOW, I didn’t expect that. Simply amazing.
What are some hidden food spots that you love?
Donatzu – Apple pies disguised as donuts. Light puff pastry in the shape of donuts with a beautiful sticky sugar glaze hiding different fillings in the middle. They have a couple of flavours but the OG Apple flavour is my favourite — it’s a good balance of tangy and sweet. They keep well too, just freeze them and then pop into the air fryer for a bit so they get extra crispy.
Swish Rolls – Their croons are so good. They’re round croissants (pretending to be Swiss rolls, basically) with a cream filling. The pastry is buttery and flaky and the cream is lush, rich and decadent. All the flavours are good! This is modelled after the original, which came out of a bakery in NYC called Lafayette, which I tried recently. Surprisingly, I feel that ones at Swish Rolls are better.
Whiskit Cafe – Their Ondeh Ondeh Tart is amazing — Small balls of ondeh ondeh with a fairly thin skin so when you bite into them, the gula melaka bursts in your mouth, sitting on top of orh nee (yam paste) which is not overly sweet, so there’s good balance. It’s my go to birthday cake at the moment!
What do you usually eat on a daily basis or during your work breaks?
Because I do a fair bit of tastings and put on weight easily, I usually eat light, like steamed barramundi with some mala chilli or a simple salad. I also practice water fasts and intermittent fasting. On weeks with heavy meals, I would do 36 hour fasts where I only drink water to give my system a break. Life is about balance!
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