Long notes from Singapore

Wow, what a lovely, diverse little country! My friend was a great tour guide to me as I ate like a local. First, we had a late lunch/afternoon snack at the Maxwell Food Centre where there are 2-3 aisles of Hawkers (stalls). Most Hawkers show off their specialties through photographs or actual displays.

I had roti prata made with egg and onions. The egg made the roti fluffy, and the onions were oh so sweet, and made it even more delicious. We had 3 different kinds of curry for dipping. (I have some pictures here. Let me apologize for the camera shake in some pictures as I couldn't hold back the laughter at times.) It was fun to watch the man make the roti out of such a small dough ball - it was similar to flipping pizza dough.

We also had Hokkien noodles. I didn't really like it b/c there was so much gravy/sauce. It was good at first and in small portions, but I just couldn't handle a lot of it.

Finally, we had Char Kway Teow. It's similar to "dry" chow fun (the kind w/o the gravy & Chinese broccoli) but cooked in pork lard. It was very tasty and addicting, but greasy as well.

After the Night Safari, we went to the Newton District's Hawker Centre. This time we had chicken and mutton satay, carrot cake, and fishballs in soup. The chicken satay and peanut dipping sauce were nothing special and not as good as the one I had in Hong Kong (notes still in the works). The mutton satay was very good and flavorful - it takes on the marinade very well. The carrot cake was very interesting, and the name was quite deceiving to the carrot cake that we have here in the States. It was described to me as being scrambled eggs with rice flour and white carrots (radish, but different from daikon). My friend ordered it "dark" which uses sweet soy sauce, hence the dark coloring in my photo.

Between the two Hawker markets, I drank sugar cane juice (yummy), sour melon juice, and juice from two different kinds of coconuts. I was surprised that the sour melon juice was actually kind of sour! There was flesh from the fruit in our glass, and the fruit has interesting little edible black seeds. I can't recall if the seeds had much taste. The sugar cane juice was my favorite.

The next morning, we had a very late start to our day. We had lunch at Apollo Banana Leaf Cafe in Little India. This was the place to be for lunch. Rather than being served on plates or bowls, each patron is given a placemat sized banana leaf (hence the restaurant name). Everyone gets white rice with three different sauces. I have no idea what they were! We ordered fish head curry and chicken tikka. To cool down the heat in our mouths we had lime juice and mango lassi. The lime juice was kind of tart but really a refreshing chaser to the spicy curry. The mango lassi was awesome - so fresh, light, and yet creamy. The fish head curry was so good - the meat on the fish was tender and moist. The curry was SPICY and different from the curries that I've had in the past. The chicken tikka was tender and also a good balance to the spicy curry. We also ordered flatbreads to accompany our curry - one plain and one garlic. Oh how I loved the garlic version.

At the Raffles City Mall, I finally tasted Kaya at Ya Kun's. Kaya is a coconut spread for toast. It's light brown in color, and most similar to jam. Here at Ya Kun, they toast the bread on the griddle and put thin slices of butter on top of the Kaya. Yummmy......melts in your mouth. The set also came with runny eggs similar to being poached but sunny side up. It was too runny and salty (I drizzled some dark, soylike sauce)for my taste.

It was fun and delicious to try so many different kinds of food that are so unique to the diverse country.

Pucca wrote:It was fun and delicious to try so many different kinds of food that are so unique to the diverse country.

Pucca,

Thanks for the interesting write-up and pictures, though I just got bit by the 'let's go to Singapore' bug.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

To further entice you, here are some brief notes on the desserts in Singapore (as if I hadn't already written up enough!). Thanks to another post, I have posted the pics directly in my msg! I hope I did it correctly!

I ended my trip with lunch at Sushi Don (sushi on conveyor belts). We decided to end our meal with a very interesting peach dessert. Encased in white chocolate that greatly resembles a real peach fruit is peach ice cream and a piece of Ferrero Rocher for the "pit." I must say it was as delicious as it is beautiful. (Please excuse the quality of the picture since my friend used her camera phone)

At the grocery store, I brought home some signature desserts that are from "My Mum's." Most of their products include marinades and sauces. I chose the desserts that were being sampled:

Bobo Chacha - a soup of coconut milk and soft chunks of sweet potato and sago.


Pulot Hitam - a soup of black glutinous rice in coconut milk.


Tau Suan - a soup of greenbeans typically served w/the deep fried dough (often served w/congee)


These desserts may sound kind of strange or look kind of strange, but they are very good. The desserts from "My Mum's" are so easy - just heat and serve!

Pucca,

Those desserts in pouches are really good. I finally finished my last one from my trip in Feb. The Tau Suan one is actually not as good as the real stuff, but close enough. Let me know if you like the black rice one, that way, the next time I make a big batch, I know who to call... =)

I only bought 2 pouches of each variety. My parents went through one of the sets, and I am trying to ration the last 3 pouches! Unfortunately I didn't get to taste the real thing during my short stay so I don't really know how the pouches compare to the real thing. I only had a tablespoon sized sample at the store. From what I recall, I liked the bobo chacha the most and wasn't overwhelmingly impressed with the Tau Suan. I will let you know my thoughts on the black one after I give in and open the pouch. Thank you for the offer!

oh me oh my! i actually grew up in singapore and spent about 8 years there. i haven't been back in three years and i miss the food scene there so much! this message post has made me nostalgic and "home"-sick, if you will. if anyone of you goes to singapore, be sure to visit the geylang district for their hawkers. although it also has the dubious reputation of being singapore's red-light district, geylang restaurants serve cheap and delicious food! make sure to try a durian or two! although it may smell like the toilet to some, it sure tastes like heaven!

Pucca wrote: We had lunch at Apollo Banana Leaf Cafe in Little India. This was the place to be for lunch. Rather than being served on plates or bowls, each patron is given a placemat sized banana leaf (hence the restaurant name). Everyone gets white rice with three different sauces. I have no idea what they were! We ordered fish head curry and chicken tikka. To cool down the heat in our mouths we had lime juice and mango lassi. The lime juice was kind of tart but really a refreshing chaser to the spicy curry. The mango lassi was awesome - so fresh, light, and yet creamy. The fish head curry was so good - the meat on the fish was tender and moist. The curry was SPICY and different from the curries that I've had in the past. The chicken tikka was tender and also a good balance to the spicy curry. We also ordered flatbreads to accompany our curry - one plain and one garlic. Oh how I loved the garlic version.

I like Apollo but prefer Muthu's which is a couple doors away. Both these places are very easy to get to via MRT.

Recently at Muthu's had fish head curry, fish tikka, and stir fried mutton, also garlic and regular naan.

Fish head curry was good. I agree, different than most curries I've had (more oily for one)

Fish Tikka (rubbed with mustard oil) was outstanding, very moist and full flavored. This was a terrific dish!!!

Stir fried mutton w/chilies was great as well.

garlic naan was not needed, regular naan was good.

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