Sebastian Fusion Cuisine, a kopitiam stall, has moved into its own space and rebranded to At the Myo, which has gained a devoted following in the hipster neighborhood of Everton Park. Myo means 妙 “wonderful” in Japanese, and the name of the cafe is now apparent: have a wonderful time.

The SHATEC-trained chef-owner Sebastian Ho has previously worked in Italian restaurants and hotels like Grand Hyatt and Ritz Carlton Milennia. Here, At the Myo, he serves pastas and rice with a local twist.

For a small cafe, they have quite a number of interesting items such as uni, tiger prawns, tobiko cream linguine ($18) and lychee salsa brown rice ($10, sold out when we were there).

The food here can be heavy-handed. For example, the hae bee hiam bacon garlic rice ($12) is a tad too salty and a tad too spicy but Mr Fitness loves the bold flavors and says he will come back for it. Although I can’t taste the hae bee, which is overpowered by the strong flavors, it is very addictive with the aroma of garlic.

I prefer the salmon pink linguine ($12). The pink sauce (tomato and cream) has a myo proportion that it gives the umami of the tomato without the acidity, and the milkiness of the cream without the heaviness. The linguine is soft, done slightly past al dente, which is the way I like it. Come on, we are Asians, we like nuah noodles. Don’t pretend to be kantang. 

The only dish we didn’t like was the side, karaage chicken with sirracha mayo ($7). Karaage chicken needs to have the sweetness of sake but this one is a tad too salty with its soy sauce marinade. It is also too hard.

It is absolutely worth spending $9 for the ondeh ondeh creme brulee, one of the best desserts I’ve eaten this year. The pandan creme brulee is topped with gula melaka jelly, ondeh ondeh, salted caramel ice cream, and a crispy feuilletine. Very lovely flavors that dance in the mouth. Again, like the other dishes, it may be heavy-handed (this time, it’s with sugar), but we adore it. Mr Fitness, who can live without sugar, said, “you finish it,” and then he took his spoon and finished it. I think he needs to check the meaning of “finish.”

At the Myo is an absolute delight. The food is great, the service is excellent, and there is a kampong neighborly atmosphere. One area for improvement is that they currently don’t serve water and all cafes should serve water. We paid about $42 for two persons and we will definitely be back.

Price: 6.5/10
Decor/Ambience: 7/10
Food: 7.25/10
Service: 7.5/10

You may be interested in…
–The Daily Press, Toa Payoh
–Pasta J, Thomson
–The Pasta Stop, Hougang
–Pasta Inc, Outram

Written by A. Nathanael Ho.