KennethT

OK, as promised, here's some more info for anyone potentially traveling to S'pore... We thought this was a very interesting Buddhist temple, conveniently located a few blocks from the Chinatown MRT station. Conveniently, it is enroute to: The Maxwell Food Centre - home of the very famous Tian Tian Chicken Rice (written about at the top of this thread). There are actually several chicken rice stalls in this center - one of them supposedly run by an ex Tian Tian employee.

They are certainly going strong - they were packed the night we were there. Every table full. And both the sambal pomfret and chili crab were fantastic. I just wish we had more people with us so that we could have ordered more dishes.

That's really funny, we actually went (and I posted about it above) to the place linked above - Old Lai Huat...

At the current time, comparing apples to apples, HK is definitely more expensive than S'pore. When we were in S'pore, we got a great deal on a fantastic hotel - 3 nights for the price of 2... which applied to our 6 nights for the price of 4. That deal is going on for the next several months, and other hotels have similar ones like it. Also, in general food is much cheaper in S'pore, especially if focusing on local foods like hawker centers and cze char. Hong Kong has doesn't have near the variety of inexpensive foods, although to be honest, we didn't really focus on that type of food when we were there. I wanted to focus on dim sum and Cantonese cuisine - neither of which are inexpensive. Transportation is about equal - subway (I think it's called MTR in HK) is great - cheap, efficient, clean, safe... I'd say about equal to S'pore. Same with taxis...

Huiray - I definitely agree. Those dishes were for the entire table (there were 3 of us), and there was plenty of rice to be had. While it didn't seem like a lot of food, the 3 of us were definitely sated at the end. I understand the differences between SHCR and MHCR, but personally, the chicken itself is the least important to me. First is the chili sauce, and then the rice. I have made it at home with a very chicken=y chicken, and it is different, but again, the sauce and the rice come first for me. I don't know why I feel the need to defend myself for deciding to return to S'pore for the second time. Although we've technically been there 3 times, I don't really count the first time since we were only there for 1 day - and we were getting over jetlag. In any case, we typically haven't made the habit of returning to a place since there are so many other places we want to see and experience, and we only usually get 1 trip per year. However, when we were planning this trip, I had just finished an extremely stressful 1.5 years working 7 days/week, 12 hours/day.... I usually like a bit of adventure to our trips - going to places that don't speak much English, a bit off the beaten track (for Americans) - but this time, i really just needed time to decompress and relax. While I love trips to 'challenging' places, I really just wanted somewhere interesting, but not that challenging... and S'pore fit the bill perfectly. It is a totally different experience than going to other places... definitely much more civilized. 2 years ago, we went to Bangkok for about a week, and while it is certainly not off the beaten track for western tourists, it is a much more stressful trip than S'pore. Yes, English is widely spoken, and I can get by with rudimentary Thai, the infrastructure is terrible - it takes forever just to get anywhere unless you're coming from and going to areas right near the skytrain. Plus, no matter where you go, there are tons of 'helpful' people looking to steer you in the wrong direction for some sort of financial gain. No, it is not a dangerous place (no violent crime), but there are people looking to rip you off at every turn, so you must be constantly wary of this, which is in itself a little exhausting. Plus, just walking around there is very frustrating as the sidewalks are like 3 feet wide, and 2.5 feet of it are taken up with vendors selling things. So it's difficult to leisurely walk down the street. S'pore is the polar opposite of this, which is what I really needed lately. Another good trip was Hong Kong - which, like S'pore, is orderly, clean and efficient, but also a nice contrast from most places in the west... and while I loved HK, personally, I like S'pore more because of the garden-feeling you get there (I love seeing/growing plants), it's a bit more laid back, and it is more ethnically diverse. Hopefully, as my stress levels decrease, I'll redevelop an interest into more 'challenging' locations, like Central Vietnam (we've already been to Hanoi), Malaysia, Indonesia, and of course, many upcoming trips to mainland China. Oh, and by the way, I'd say that S'pore does more than resemble a 'First World city'... it truly is one. Most of what many would consider the attributes to distinguish 1st and 3rd would clearly put S'pore in the 1st, and NY in the 3rd, except that NY's water quality is excellent and disease is not an issue.

Since some people have expressed an interest in going there, I'm going to post some photos of some other good food experiences we had when we were there 3 years ago... It may take a day or 2 to go through the pics, but I'll find some!

Thanks for all this! No, the cabbage dish did not have glass noodles... and the black blob was wood ear fungus.

I haven't seen online guides, but there are some blogs devoted to it... just beware that many blogs get free food or drinks in response to articles written about a particular restaurant or stall... but a good one (that seems legit) is ieatishootipost.sg Also, there is an app adn website by S'pore guru KF Seetoh called Makansutra (makansutra.com) but I've heard spotty results with it.

Is the 'sticky rice' dressed with anything, or is it naked?

Wow, Anna.... Thank you so much.... that really meant a lot ot us..... Ken

Closing thoughts.... As you can probably tell, my wife and I love travelling to S'pore. There are very few places we have taken the time to return to - since there are so many places we want to see and experience, and so little time to do so. For those considering travelling to Asia, Singapore is a great place to start. Contrary to what you may hear or read, there is tons to do there - aside from what I have already mentioned, there are tons of cultural things to see as well - Chinese Buddhist temples, Hindu temples, Arabic Mosques, etc. S'pore is nothing if not diverse - that's one of things that makes it great. In a few days, you can experience Chinese, Malay, Indian and Arabic cultures, and have some really great food while you do it. All in a beautiful setting with tons of flowering, tropical plants everywhere. It is ridiculously safe, clean and convenient with great (and cheap) transportation options, and English is spoken practically by all - and with a very friendly population. I can't tell you how many times random people struck up conversations with us - very nice and friendly. I'll leave you with a few shots of the Singapore airport - which is a great place to kill time between flights. There are free leg massaging machines all over the place, a free movie theatre, and probably most unique:

So our flight from Thailand returned around 4:30PM, and we were checked back into our hotel by 5:30 or so... what to do for our last dinner (and actually last non-hotel meal)? We had a lot of discussion in the cab on the way back... we discussed taking a taxi out to the east coast seafood centre, but the idea of getting back into a cab for another 15-20minutes after being on the plane and taxi from the airport didn't seem so appealing - plus, it was Friday evening, and if there is ever traffic in S'pore, it's Friday evening! Still isn't terrible, but a 20 minute trip can become 27 minutes... As a NYer, this so called traffic is almost laughable... So, in the end, we decided for our last dinner to go back to Wee Nam Kee for chicken rice. It was just as good as a few days before, but I didn't take any pics because they would have looked the same as the last set... we did not order the stir fried lettuce though, just the baby kailan. So, before I wrap up, let's go back in time a few days to the family style Peranakan restaurant we went to in the Joo Chiat neighborhood. Let me preface this by saying that on our last trip to S'pore, we went to the Peranakan place that is recommended in every tourist guide book, Blue Ginger. I thought it was pretty good, but my wife wasn't a huge fan of it, so I was a little nervous when her friend recommended for us to go to a Peranakan restaurant. He is a major foodie (and teaches at a culinary institute there) so I figured that I'd trust his judgement. He took us here: Unfortunately, he's been really busy and hasn't been able to get me a writeup of the details of what we had, so I'll just have to rely on my memory... maybe if others reading this have comments, that could be helpful! Overview of most of the savory dishes... Otak - a classic Peranakan preparation - it is a paste made from fish and aromatics (like a curry paste) then wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled. Pork belly - I don't remember the details of this dish, but I remember it was quite tasty (come on, it's pork belly!) Chicken in a slightly spicy sauce. This was my favorite dish of the night. It had an amazing depth of flavor. The black things are the shells of some kind of nut - I never got confirmation of it, but I believe they're candlenuts. He did discuss that the preparation of the nuts is extremely lengthy otherwise they are toxic - they must be soaked for a week, and then cooked in a particular way. Typically, they remove the nut from the shell, grind it and mix it with minced pork before returning it to the shell for cooking in the sauce. Pickles - reminded me of kim chi a bit. I thought they were slightly spicy - but they were too spicy for my wife. I liked them - it was really good to cleanse the palate in between all the savory foods. Stir fried vegetables - mostly cabbage. Tasty, but it's no baby kailan!!! haha.... After those dishes, but before dessert, we had a clear soup (which I understand to be the traditional Chinese sequence) Coconut soup with taro, yam and some kind of red fruit that I don't remember. Coconut with grass jelly Crushed ice with longan syrup?? Not sure about this... All in all, everything was really good, and we found it much better than the place we went to a few years ago. The flavors were deeper, and more complex... then again, maybe it was the dishes we selected since we didn't have a Peranakan person with us helping us order??? This restaurant is definitely less tourist friendly than the Blue Ginger though - BG is very pretty, with beautiful presentations... this place is a much more down home kind of restaurant.

Sawtooth coriander definitely has a different flavor from regular coriander, but I find it hard to describe... it's supposed to taste similar to cilantro, but stronger, but I don't necessarily feel that way. It is possible you've had it before - it is also called Culantro, or Mexican Coriander in the US.

The last time we were in S'pore, I had a long conversation with a taxi driver about the whole 'no gum' thing. Nowadays, it is something that practically every American gripes about when they talk about the place... "oh, they're so strict there, you're not even allowed to chew gum!" But it's more complex than that - they're not just fanatical about rules and regulations. The story goes that many years ago, gum chewing was allowed, but people would put their used gum on benches or under tables at hawker stalls, etc. The government put out information asking people to throw out the gum rather than sticking it to something, because it's disgusting to have to deal with someone else's gum... but people didn't listen and continued to do it anyway... so then the gov't decided to start fining people who stuck their gum on things... but still, it didn't solve the problem, so they finally banned it. You are not allowed to sell it, and it would be confiscated if you are caught trying to smuggle it in. This whole process took years, and several rounds of raising fines, penalties for not throwing it away - it was not just a snap decision to ban gum because somebody felt like it... Personally, I actually agree, and wish we could ban it in NY also - how many times I have stepped in gum on the sidewalk and then it's impossible to get off your shoe... disgusting! Edit for clarity

I just saw this video on Bloomberg - and while you can't dispute the data, I think the reporter is not giving the place a fair shake. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-07-23/singapore-s-tourism-woes-why-isn-t-anyone-going- The short version is that they say Singapore is boring, and that there is nothing to do there but eat and shop. I whole heartedly disagree... Granted, there are not lots of natural wonders like in Indonesia, parts of Thailand, etc., but there is definitely plenty of things to do for several days - like the Gardens by the Bay, the Botanical Gardens, the excellent Night Safari (which is basically a zoo of nocturnal creatures that's only open at night - really unique), taking a boat ride through the river and marina area which discusses the history of S'pore, nature hikes through rain forest areas, not to mention Sentosa which basically a huge resort area accessible by MRT (subway) - which we still haven't made it to because we've been so busy doing other things! PLUS, there's the eating and the shopping! Arrgghhh.......

huitlacoche?

Koh Samui, Thailand....... We woke up ridiculously early to make our 8AM flight to Koh Samui on Silk Air. Even though the flight was only 1.5 hours, we were still fed a full meal (hainanese chicken rice with bok choi or a spanish omlette). We were only going to be spending 2 days on the island, and we had been there 2 years ago (part of a trip to Bangkok), so we really just wanted to take this time to relax and enjoy the beautiful resort. So, there is no local food on this portion of the trip. The thai food at the resort is very good - they use super fresh ingredients, prepared perfectly - and the spicing was actually very good - but I don't know if that's how they always did it, or because I liked to practice speaking/butchering the little bit of Thai I learned 2 years ago with the staff. They always got a kick out of it and told me I spoke like a local.... I smiled and thanked them, but I knew the truth!!! So I photographed the 2 meals (lunch and dinner) the first day... I didn't bring my phone with me to shoot the second day... Lunch: Feast overview Fried fish with sweet chili sauce and sawtooth coriander - many times in Thailand, sawtooth coriander is served with fried fish. You typically eat bites of it in between bites of the fish. Tom Kha Talay - coconut soup with seafood. This was an excellent version of a tom kha... in the soup were chunks of fresh turmeric and galangal, and the seafood was all perfectly cooked. Green mango salad with soft shell crab. One of the reasons I love green mango salad in thailand is that you never see it here in NY. Green papaya salad is everywhere, but I've never seen a green mango version, although they're very common in Thailand. I find the green mango to be a little more tannic and bitter than the green papaya, but still nice and crunchy. The dressing matched it perfectly, and the soft shell crab was cooked just right. Dinner: Amuse: puffed rice cakes with peanut/chile relish. The relish was great... the puffed rice cakes were ok, but a little hard in the center. The second night, the amuse was much better - raw wing beans, and other assorted raw/blanched veggies with funky fish dip... sorry, no pics from the second night though... Sour soup with pork knuckle. This was great - a really nice sourness to the soup coming from some kind of leaf - it was sour, but not acidic like from lime juice. I had a similar soup in Bangkok a few years ago and couldn't wait to have it again when I saw it on the menu. Steamed fish with garlic, lime and chiles. Fish was steamed perfectly - I love the simplicity of this dish. You can't tell by the photo, but the fish was actually deboned from the inside... the only bones left were in the head! Sorry for the poor picture quality... this is a fish paste mixed with curry paste, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled. It was very similar (although the spicing was a little different) to a Peranakan dish called Otak (which we had at the Peranakan restaurant, photos still to come (hopefully soon)). Phak Boong - stir fried morning glory with garlic. This was done in the traditional style with oyster sauce, thin soy sauce and a little sugar. Fried garlic on top. Mango with sticky rice, and a side of coconut ice cream. To me, mango with sticky rice is the quintessential thai dessert and one of my favorites in the whole world. Especially during mango season... especially with these crazy good thai mangoes. These mangoes are very different from the Tommy Atkins mango in the US. They are not fibrous at all - you can put a piece in your mouth, press your tongue against the roof of your mouth and it just.. squishes.. and it's sweet! The sticky rice is steamed naked and then mixed with coconut cream, some palm sugar and salt - so it is a little sweet, and a little salty. To me, the ice cream was superfluous - I actually would have preferred no ice cream and extra mango and sticky rice! Tomorrow, back to Singapore....

Exactly. There are many attractions that charge more for tourists than residents, such as Gardens by the Bay, Night Safari, etc... but, this is clearly and fully disclosed on the big sign displaying the prices. I was under the impression that Smithy was asking about more nefarious or covert over-charging of tourists - which does not happen in S'pore (there are many gov't fines for getting caught doing so), but is widely done in Thailand. Many prices there are not fixed - other than restaurants and hotels, most prices in Thailand are subject to 'negotiation'... but you just know that as a tourist you won't be able to negotiate as far as a local would.

Not at all. Prices in Singapore are fixed, as far as I could tell. Prices are displayed on signs out front in English, or, like at Wee Nam Kee, on the menu. Not only that, but it seemed like many people didn't really know we were tourists. Many people asked how long we had been living there and were surprised when we told them we were tourists and (unfortunately) only there for a week. I think the figure was 3% of the population was 'other', many of which are western expats (mostly Australian), so it's not entirely unlikely that we could have been residents - especially given the places we went to which do not see very many tourists. One thing that happens (but they do this to everyone, so I'm told by our S'porean friend) is that some restaurants put out a dish of peanuts and 'wet naps'.. you don't realize they charge for them until you get the bill... not that they charge much - SGD0.40 or something like that. One comment on your Egypt experience. I don't know about there, but many countries have a culture of bargaining. Prices are just not fixed. Thailand is this way - it is basically expected that you are to haggle for most things, other than restaurants. If you're a tourist, you just have to come to grips with the idea that you won't be able to negotiate down like a local would. So maybe you can get 15% off, not 30%... all in all, usually things are still pretty good deals.

Dinner was at our favorite Hainanese Chicken Rice place - Wee Nam Kee. We had been there 3 years ago, back when they were in a storefront restaurant - but the area they were in was closed and torn down, so they moved to the United Sqare Mall (very close to the Novena MRT)... Now, it's even better because it's air conditiioned!!! Usually we'd reserve chicken rice for lunch, but we needed to have an early dinner since we had to wake up ridiculously early to check out and get to the airport to make our 8AM flight to Koh Samui, Thailand, so we wanted to go somewhere close by and that wouldn't have a long line. One of the things I like so much about WNK is their chili sauce. It has a great chili flavor, but doesn't blow your head off. Plus, there is a big jar of it on every table. Right next to the jar of chili sauce, is a big jar of grated ginger so you can add however much you like, and a squeeze bottle with sweet soy sauce... When you order their chicken rice (SGD4.60 btw), they first serve their extremely chicken-y consomme: Then, the main event comes: Stir fried baby kailan: And, we tried it since it was on their menu, stir fried lettuce: It tastes exactly as it sounds.... Next stop, Thailand!!!!!

So, for lunch the next day, we were going to go to the Hill Street Tai Hua Pork Noodle shop, which is a little bit outside the center of the city, near the Lavender MRT station. This place supposedly has the best Bak Chor Mee in Singapore... we were there 3 years ago, and it was awesome - but we had nothing to compare it to... but, as a measure of quality, the line to get it was over an hour long! Meanwhile, the stalls next to it had no lines at all. So, since the last time was so good, we were all set to go out there and wait in line again... but they were closed!!!! I had even checked online beforehand which days they were closed, and specifically went on other days... there was a handwritten sign in the window, but it was written in Chinese, so I had no idea what it said... and I was so disappointed, I didn't think to take a picture of it. So, what to do when the best laid plans go haywire? Well, first I went on the internet looking for other well known Bak Chor Mee places, but nothing really came up except for articles talking about Hill St... But I remembered there was a Bak Chor Mee stall in the Hong Lim Centre - not far from the Outram Park Char Kway Teow stall.... so back there we went... You can see the minced pork, the springy meatballs, wontons, etc., but really, I thought it was a poor facsimile to my memory of the Hill St. version. Yes, memory (especially after 3 years) is not very accurate, but I do remember that the Hill St. one was definitely worth waiting for on such a long line, and I told myself then that if we were ever back in S'pore that we had to go again... I would not go back for this version, and I didn't have to wait in line at all. Then again, maybe it was my fault. When I ordered, the lady asked if I wanted the noodles dry or in soup. I couldnt' for the life of me remember how the HIll St. version was, so I ordered it in soup... I wonder how different the flavors would be dry. In hindsight, since it's so cheap, I really should have gone back and ordered another one dry, just to see the difference.... oh well, a good excuse for another trip!

There are tons of rooftop gardens, plantings, etc... check out: according to this: https://www.skyrisegreenery.com/index.php - the gov't funds up to 50% of the cost of installation of green roofs in an effort to get more buildings to participate. Here is a photo of one of my favorite buildings (from the ground) - it's right near the Hong Lim Food Centre: Regarding the bread - I haven't actually began a search yet - last weekend, I cheated and put kaya and butter on an english muffin... terrible, I know, but I had no bread in the house at all, so I guess it was better than nothing.... I imagine any fresh, relatively closed crumb, soft white bread would work - just make sure it's sliced thickly... I think the toasting would be the most difficult part - rotuts, I think the CSB would be up to the task..... ETA link ETAA I actually remember this building being built when I was there 3 years ago! The construction made it a bit difficult to findthe Hong Lim Center at the time....

huiray, thanks for the extra detail... fantastic! I can't say that I had many different versions of kaya, but the Killiney's version is a brownish/yellowish/faint greenish color and is pretty thick. I didn't take a picture of the inside, but the 'pat' of butter was about 3/16" thick (maybe 4mm?) and was definitely cold. We saw most people having their bread toast with the soft-boiled eggs, as you mention, but we enjoyed it without it. Killiney's also made a french toast where they dipped their bread slices in egg mixture (I don't know if they just used beated egg or a true custard), then grilled, and served with butter and kaya on the side so you can add as much as you'd like. We didn't get to try that option either.

Killiney's has jarred ones to take home as well... we actually did get a jar, and when they learned that we were not local, they wrapped it with foam and taped it up for us. Edit: spelling

Sorry I didn't get to post anything last night - work wound up later than expected, and I was feeling a bit under the weather, so I wanted to go to bed early to try to knock it out before I actually came down with something.... There should be another installment tonight...