Hi

We were in Singapore at New Year. We spent New Years Eve at Clarks Quay which was fabulous. The area has had lots of work done on it and now its complete. Didn't notice the Satay restaurant you mention but there were lots and lots of other great ones to choose from and good prices too.

it will be nice to see it all finished

anyone with further recommendations?

I visited Singapore a couple of times in the early 2000's and met up with a friend who lived there, he picked me up on his Harley Davidson one evening and took me for a couple of hours ride round the Island, we ended up at Holland Village where there was a large selection of cafes, restaurants, hawker stalls and ice cream cafes. There was a great atmosphere and the area seemed very popular. Another night we went down to Marina South where the locals seemed to gather and there were a lot of different ethnic places to eat.
I can't give you names of individual restaurants but at both places we had good food. Neither of these places had classy restaurants like Raffles but were more where locals and expats eat on a regular basis.

I had some amazing food a few times in some of the street & hawker cafes in and around Bencoolen Street, can't name anything specific, but some of the vegetarian food really sticks in the mind, and i'm a massive carnivore.

Marina South- we had chilli crab there- very messy but a must do. It did have a good atmosphere.
Bencoolen Street- where about is that?

Bencoolen St is where the old backpacker haunts use to be (and still might be?).

It borders Orchard Rd and is very central so you'll find it no problem on the maps when you are out there.

Great- our hotel is just off Orchard Road so this might be worth a try
edit
just found out that OH knows it well from his merchant navy days!