A Sensory Preview of Three Must-Try Stalls at Suntec’s Festive Bazaar
27 February–1 March 2026 | Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre
The familiar hum of anticipation fills the air weeks before Celebfest Ramadan’s return to Suntec. With over 40 F&B stalls promising to transform halls 403 to 406 into a culinary theatre, three vendors stand poised to deliver experiences that transcend mere sustenance. Drawing from their established reputations and signature offerings, here’s what awaits the senses at this year’s festival.
Chulop!: The Pandan Churros Revelation
Visual Theatre
Before you even reach the stall, the verdant hue catches your eye—an almost luminous jade green that defies the conventional cinnamon-dusted churros landscape. The Pandan Churros arrive in their takeaway container like edible emeralds, each piece measuring a generous finger’s length and width. The exterior bristles with toasted coconut flakes that cling to the ridged surface like snow on mountain peaks, their pale ivory contrasting dramatically with the pandan’s deep chlorophyll tones.
The accompanying gula melaka dip sits in its separate compartment, a viscous pool of mahogany-amber that catches the overhead bazaar lights. Its surface tension creates a mirror-like sheen, occasionally broken by slow, syrupy ripples when the container shifts.
Textural Symphony
Based on Chulop!’s established reputation for “crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside” execution, the first bite should deliver a satisfying architectural collapse. The exterior shatters with an audible crack—that essential churros crunch that speaks to proper frying temperature and technique. Reviewers consistently describe this outer layer as having a crystalline quality, where the sugar granules have melded with the fried dough to create something approaching caramelization at the ridges.
But it’s the interior that transforms this from street snack to crafted dessert. The pandan-infused dough maintains an almost cloud-like airiness, a delicate crumb structure that yields without resistance. This isn’t the dense, doughy center that plagues inferior churros; rather, it’s the result of proper proofing and frying technique that allows steam to create internal pockets while the exterior sets.
The toasted coconut adds another textural dimension entirely—those flakes provide intermittent crunch-points that contrast with both the crisp shell and pillowy interior, creating what food scientists call “textural complexity.” Each piece becomes a study in contrasts: shatter, yield, crunch, dissolve.
Aromatic Profile
The pandan aroma announces itself before the churros reach your lips. It’s that distinctive Southeast Asian fragrance—simultaneously grassy, nutty, and sweet, with subtle vanilla-like undertones that register somewhere between fresh-cut grass and toasted rice. The scent intensifies with warmth; freshly fried churros release these volatile compounds in waves.
The toasted coconut contributes its own olfactory signature: a deeper, more roasted character with hints of caramel and butter. When these two aromatic profiles merge, they create something quintessentially regional—a dessert that could only exist in Singapore’s culinary imagination.
Flavor Architecture
The pandan itself delivers a gentle, almost delicate sweetness that never overwhelms. It’s botanical without being medicinal, sweet without cloying. The toasted coconut provides savory depth and a subtle bitterness that balances the sugar coating’s directness.
But the gula melaka dip transforms the experience entirely. Palm sugar brings molasses-like depth, caramel notes, and a mineral complexity absent in refined sugars. The consistency—neither too thin nor too thick—allows for perfect coating without drowning the churros. Each dip introduces brown butter notes, hints of toffee, and that distinctive smokiness that comes from boiling down palm sap.
The interplay is carefully calibrated: the churros’ base sweetness plus coconut’s earthiness plus gula melaka’s complex caramelization creates layers that evolve across each bite. It’s the ondeh-ondeh concept reimagined through Spanish street food architecture.
The Frites & Co.: Loaded Beef Fries as Indulgent Architecture
Visual Composition
The Loaded Beef Fries arrive as organized chaos in a takeaway container. The foundation: thick-cut fries, each piece maintaining geometric integrity despite their supporting role. These aren’t the thin, crispy matchsticks of fast-food chains; based on reviews describing them as “chunky” and “thick-cut,” expect fries with substantial heft—perhaps 10-12mm in cross-section, with visible potato texture through the golden-bronze crust.
Atop this foundation: shabu-style beef slices arranged in overlapping layers. The thin-sliced beef—likely brisket or ribeye given The Frites & Co.’s reputation—drapes across the fries like textile, each slice tender enough to fold yet substantial enough to maintain presence. The meat’s mahogany-pink interior peeks through where slices overlap, creating visual depth.
Then comes the sauce—and “copious amounts” is no exaggeration. Whether Truffle, Mentaiko, Cheesy, or Creamy Onion, the sauce doesn’t merely garnish; it floods, pools, and cascades down the sides of the container. Previous reviewers note it “spills over,” creating that Instagram-worthy excess that signals unrestrained indulgence.
Textural Complexity
The fries themselves should deliver that crucial dichotomy: a shattering exterior giving way to fluffy, steaming potato interior. The thick-cut format is essential here—it provides structural integrity under the weight of toppings while maintaining internal moisture. The best specimens will have developed a true crust through double-frying: the first fry at lower temperature to cook through, the second at high heat to develop color and texture.
The shabu-style beef introduces an entirely different mouthfeel. Sliced paper-thin and cooked briefly, it should offer tender, almost silky resistance—what Koreans call “saesaek,” that particular texture of perfectly cooked thin-sliced beef that’s neither rare nor well-done but somewhere transcendent between. The meat should shred easily between teeth, its fibers breaking down almost on contact.
Sauce Dynamics: Four Flavor Profiles
Mentaiko: Likely the most texturally complex. Mentaiko (pollock roe) provides tiny burst-able capsules that pop between teeth, releasing brine and umami. The base sauce—probably mayo-based given mentaiko preparation traditions—adds creaminess that coats the palate. Expect a slight graininess from the roe itself, creating what’s sometimes called a “caviar texture” despite the more humble origins.
Truffle: Oil-based emulsion, probably using truffle oil or black truffle pieces. The sauce should have a glossy, slightly separated appearance (oil and water phases just barely held together), coating each fry strand like lacquer. Mouthfeel: slippery, rich, coating.
Cheesy: Anticipate a cheese sauce with body—perhaps a mornay or similar béchamel base enriched with cheddar or processed cheese for meltability. Proper cheese sauce creates that “stretch” when you pull fries apart, strings of molten dairy connecting each piece. Texture: viscous, clingy, substantial.
Creamy Onion: Based on reviews describing it as notably popular, this likely features caramelized onions blended into a cream base, creating a sauce with both smooth elements and intermittent textural surprises from onion pieces. Less coating than the cheese, more integrated than the truffle.
Aromatic Layering
The scent profile builds in waves. First: potato and beef, that fundamental, primal combination of starch and protein. The fries contribute roasted, slightly sweet notes from caramelized sugars; the beef brings iron-rich, savory depth.
Then the sauce aromatics hit: mentaiko’s oceanic brine and iodine notes; truffle’s earthy, almost gasoline-like pungency; aged cheese’s fermented tang; caramelized onion’s deep, sweet complexity.
Together, these create an olfactory experience that’s immediately appetite-stimulating, almost aggressively so. It’s not subtle—it’s the food equivalent of a maximalist painting, every element competing for attention while somehow achieving harmony.
Flavor Construction
The genius lies in the ratio. Too little sauce, and you’re just eating beef fries; too much (which reviewers suggest is never a problem here), and the sauce becomes not just topping but fundamental flavor component. Each bite should deliver:
- Initial crunch from the fry exterior
- Beef’s umami wash as the meat breaks down
- Sauce’s primary flavor (depending on choice) flooding the palate
- Potato’s starchy sweetness emerging as you chew
- Finish that lingers—probably creamy/rich from the sauce, with umami echoes from beef
The Creamy Onion variant likely offers the most complex flavor evolution: caramelized onions bring sweetness that transitions to savory, the cream provides richness that coats and extends the flavor, and the beef’s juice mingles with sauce to create something greater than component parts.
Teh-Ohh: Fruit Tea as Refreshment Poetry
Visual Presentation
Teh-Ohh’s signature fruit teas arrive in transparent cups—an essential design choice that makes the beverage itself the main attraction. The Laici (lychee tea) should present as layers: a darker base where the tea concentrates, transitioning to lighter tones as fruit syrup disperses, crowned by whole lychees suspended like planets in amber liquid.
The Nenas (pineapple tea) offers more chromatic drama. Pineapple’s natural yellow-gold mingles with tea’s tannin browns, creating honeyed tones that shift as the cup moves. Likely garnished with pineapple chunks or wedges, the fruit’s fibrous texture should be visible through the cup walls.
Both drinks probably feature visible tea leaves or remnants—those telltale dark specks that confirm fresh brewing rather than powder reconstitution. Ice cubes add their own geometric interest, creating refraction patterns that make the entire composition feel dynamic rather than static.
Textural Diversity
The joy of fruit tea lies in the drinking experience’s variability. The liquid component should be refreshingly light-bodied—tea provides tannin structure without thickness, unlike creamy beverages. Each sip delivers cooling from the ice, slight astringency from tea, and varying sweetness depending on how much syrup has dispersed.
But it’s the fruit pieces that transform drinking into eating. The whole lychees in Laici require either biting or sucking through the straw. Fresh lychee offers that distinctive texture: initial resistance from the thin skin, then a burst as the translucent flesh gives way, releasing floral-sweet juice. The flesh itself has a slight springiness—what food scientists call “mouthfeel resilience”—that distinguishes fresh lychee from canned variants.
Pineapple chunks provide fibrous resistance that requires actual chewing. Fresh pineapple has directionality—the fibers run vertically, creating a texture that shreds rather than crumbles. The combination of juicy and fibrous is unique in the fruit world, simultaneously yielding and resisting.
Aromatic Character
Laici: The lychee’s perfume is perhaps the most distinctive of any fruit—simultaneously floral, fruity, and slightly musky. It has compounds that overlap with rose and geranium, creating that “perfumed” quality that some find intoxicating and others overwhelming. Mixed with tea’s more earthy, astringent aromatics, the combination should balance lychee’s sweetness with tea’s grounding notes.
Nenas: Pineapple brings tropical brightness—those volatile compounds include esters that register as sweet-sharp, almost like a combination of citrus and melon. There’s an edge to pineapple’s aroma, a slight tang that comes from its acidity, which tea’s warmth (even when iced) helps soften and round out.
Both drinks should project aroma strongly at first approach—that initial nasal impression before the first sip—then continue releasing volatiles as you drink, evolving as fruit macerates further in the liquid.
Flavor Dynamics
The tea base is crucial. Based on Teh-Ohh’s positioning as offering “locally-inspired” beverages, expect a black tea base—probably a robust Ceylon or similar, chosen for its ability to stand up to fruit’s assertive flavors rather than disappearing beneath them.
Laici’s flavor progression: Initial sweetness from the syrup, followed by lychee’s distinctive rose-like floral notes, then tea’s tannic astringency cutting through to cleanse the palate. The whole lychees provide flavor bursts—when you bite into one, you get concentrated fruitiness that momentarily dominates before the tea reasserts itself. The interplay between sugared syrup, fresh fruit sweetness, and tea’s bitter-adjacent notes creates a push-pull that keeps each sip interesting.
Nenas’s complexity: Pineapple brings acidity that most fruits lack, creating a tangy-sweet duality. The tea’s tannins react with pineapple’s enzymes (bromelain), creating a slightly different mouthfeel than Laici—less smooth, more textured. The finish is brighter, more citrus-adjacent, with the tea’s earthiness providing ballast to pineapple’s tropical exuberance.
Both drinks serve similar functional purposes at a bazaar: palate cleansing between heavy foods, hydration in air-conditioned but crowded halls, and that essential Southeast Asian quality of being simultaneously sweet and refreshing rather than cloying.
Temperature and Time
The drinks will evolve as you consume them. Initially, ice-cold, the flavors are crisp and defined, tannins more pronounced, sweetness more restrained. As ice melts, dilution softens everything—flavors blur together pleasantly, sweetness increases as syrup disperses more fully, and the drink becomes easier to consume in larger gulps.
The fruit pieces macerate in the liquid, their flavors leaching out over time. Five minutes in, the lychees will have perfumed the entire drink more thoroughly; the pineapple will have mellowed slightly as enzymes denature.
The Celebfest Context
These three vendors don’t exist in isolation. At Celebfest Ramadan 2026, they’ll be part of a broader sensory landscape: celebrity performances providing audio backdrop, the visual spectacle of over 200 stalls, the mingled aromas of 40+ F&B operations competing for attention, and the tactile experience of navigating crowded halls.
The churros from Chulop! work as handheld indulgence—portable, shareable (four pieces per serving), and visually distinctive enough to become conversation pieces. The Loaded Beef Fries from The Frites & Co. demand more attention—they’re fork food, messy by design, requiring either dedicated eating time or strategic timing between activities. Teh-Ohh’s fruit teas serve as mobile refreshment, the cup a constant companion as you browse other stalls.
Together, they represent three archetypal bazaar experiences: the novelty snack (pandan churros), the indulgent main (loaded fries), and the palate cleanser (fruit tea). Whether experienced in that order or any other combination, they offer a microcosm of what makes Celebfest—and Ramadan bazaars generally—compelling: the marriage of tradition and innovation, the acceptable excess of festive eating, and the communal joy of discovering new iterations of familiar flavors.
Practical Considerations
Timing: These stalls will likely be busiest during peak evening hours (6-8pm). Early afternoon visits (1-3pm) may offer shorter queues and potentially fresher products as stalls are still managing their first batches.
Ordering strategy: Given the limited three-day window, consider a “sample everything” approach: split churros with companions, order a single serving of loaded fries to share, and alternate between Laici and Nenas across multiple visits to compare directly.
Temperature sensitivity: Churros are optimal within 10 minutes of frying—that’s when the exterior crispness peaks before humidity softens the shell. Loaded fries have a similar window before sauce soaks the fries completely and transforms texture. The fruit teas are most forgiving, actually improving slightly as flavors meld.
The Anticipation Itself
The beauty of food anticipation lies in imagination’s liberty to perfect reality. These descriptions, built from past reputation and established technique, paint an idealized picture. The actual experience—dependent on crowd pressure, vendor execution on specific days, ingredient quality, and personal taste preferences—will inevitably differ.
But that gap between expectation and reality is itself part of bazaar culture’s charm. The excitement isn’t just about perfection; it’s about discovery, surprise, and the shared experience of collective eating. Whether Chulop!’s churros exceed these projections or The Frites & Co.’s fries fall short, whether Teh-Ohh’s tea is revelation or merely refreshment—the value lies in the attempt, the exploration, the three short days when Suntec transforms into something beyond convention center.
Celebfest Ramadan 2026 opens 27 February. The countdown begins.