HERE are five themed food courts that have opened this year:

Kopitiam (main head picture)

The Central, 6 Eu Tong Sen Street
Opened: January
Theme: Its cosy dining room concept is meant to complement the small office home office or Soho units within the building. The chic urban theme comes through in the designer lighting, whose sophistication is meant to remind one of hand-picked home furnishings.

White Sands, 1 Pasir Ris Central Street 3
Opened: April
Theme: The surfing theme fits in with the mall's name and location, and is evident from the giant surfboard at the entrance of the foodcourt. The staff wear uniforms with a colourful surfboard design.

90 Hougang Avenue 10, Hougang Mall
Opened: July
Theme: Chinese dialect groups inspired this outlet. Traditional children's rhymes from dialect groups such as Hokkien, Cantonese and Teochew are featured on a glass wall in Chinese calligraphy. The food stalls here dish up traditional Chinese favourites such as Hokkien mee hoon kueh, hand-made noodles and Hainanese rice dumplings (right) wrapped in coconut leaf.

Koufu

Anchorpoint, 370 Alexandra Road
Opened: September
Theme: Its sunflower-yellow walls and wooden wall ornaments are meant to evoke the warmth of an English countryside on a summer's day. The Chinese dumpling and noodle stall Xin Tao Yuan is an outlet of its similarly named restaurant in Tanjong Pagar while the Old Hongkong Roast and BBQ stall is a franchise that gets its supply of roast meats and smoked chicken from the  popular Cantonese restaurant Village Wok in Telok Ayer Street.

Food Republic (right)

Suntec Convention Centre, 1 Raffles Boulevard
Opened: May
Theme: This 19th-century European library-style food atrium cost about $3 million. It features designer furniture imported from Shanghai and Germany, gothic chandeliers and, yes, real antique books. There is also a $2-million odour-diffusing system that is also installed at Food Republic's two other outlets in VivoCity and Wisma Atria.