KennethT

Dinner was here: This is a seafood 'cze char' made famous by Singaporean food authority KF Seetoh, and St. Bourdain. The seafood they get here is ridiculously fresh. This restaurant made a name for itself by having great relationships with local fishermen, a slightly ornery chef/owner, and a crab dish - but that comes later.... This is scallops in an oyster sauce based sauce. I'm not usually a huge fan of scallops, but these were excellent. Chef Danny said they're so good because he gets them live and keeps them that way until ordered. They were sweet and briny and just perfectly cooked. Prawns with garlic. Not much to say... great flavor, perfectly cooked, and came with a nice chili sauce for dipping. Obligatory stir-fried baby kailan. Very similar to the others - which is to say very tasty. And, the star of the show, the crab bee hoon: This is a large Sri Lankan crab, perfectly cooked. The bee hoon (thin rice noodles) are cooked in crab stock, and has mixed in some chilis, green onion, and of course crab row, for good measure. This dish is awesome...Also in the top 5... Huge chunks of crab meat, for very little effort... great sauce and noodles that are like essence of crab.

Tea break!!! This is one of the TWG tea restaurants in the Marina Bay Sands mall at the bottom of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. This is a pretty upscale mall, as evidenced by this shot of the entrance to the tea place - just take a look at some of the surrounding stores! Here's another shot showing the display case of some of the desserts: As a snack we got: Green tea sorbet infused with ginger Selection of macaron. Matcha; lemon bush tea; vanilla bourbon tea & kaya We also had two different teas - one was Secret Needles: (from their menu) From the prestigious region of Simao, this marvellous TWG green tea boasts leaves with delicate white tips which yield a full-bodied infusion, a sweet distinctive flavour, a fresh aroma and a rich and nutty aftertaste. and Imperial TiKuanYin: (from their menu) Produced on rolling, verdant slopes, this exceptional quality TWG harvest is the perfect finale to a meal, producing a well-balanced cup with a lingering fragrance of fresh, dewy flower blossoms. Here is a shot of the bounty: and yes, that is Yoda on my wife's cell phone case... she IS that cool.... This 'snack' was quite expensive - probably more than the cost of several meals combined... but the service was excellent, as was the refined atmosphere, albeit inside the mall... and the teas were exceptional - so much so that we had to get some of each to bring home. The sorbet was awesome as well with an intense ginger flavor. The macarons were ok - the flavors were very good, but not as crisp and light as they could have been... hard to ask for that so close to the equator though, so under the circumstances, very good. But this is not just any mall.... it also has this on the ground floor: How many malls can you think of that have gondola rides?

OK, breakfast the next day was here: This is the original location of Killiney's Kopitiam. They are now a chain across S'pore, but all of the reviews I read say that the original is still the best and most consistent. Conveniently, it was about a 20 minute walk from our hotel (or a 5 minute ride on their wonderful MRT (subway) system). We wound up going there every morning after for the rest of the trip - that's how much we enjoyed it! They are known for a few things: On the right is kopi (like coffee). It is basically extremely strong and bitter coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk. It is everywhere in S'pore, and much of the rest of SE Asia. I, unfortunately, don't drink coffee as I feel like my heart is going to beat through my chest shortly afterwards... but I love the smell... and I can tolerate small amounts - like as a flavoring in a dessert, or a sip of regular coffee.... for me, on the left, I got teh (tea). It's basically an extremely strong black tea mixed with sweetened condensed milk. This is another item they are known for: bread toast. Yes, I think the name is redundant... but it is delicious. You can't tell from the photo (sorry, I didn't shoot the inside), but it is a sandwich made from fluffy white bread that has been toasted over charcoal. Inside each quarter is a pat of butter and a smear of kaya, which is an egg custard made with coconut jam. It is sweet, and slightly eggy, and with the butter and charcoal toasted bread, fantastic. And filling. And cheap. Like maybe SGD1 (I think, I don't remember exactly but I remember it was cheap). Last but not least, we would have: Curry chicken with roti prata. Just like it sounds - it is an Indian curry with chunks of chicken and potato. They typically serve it with french bread for dunking, but they also offer it with roti prata, which personally, given the choice, I'll take the prata!! Roti prata is a fried laminated bread that is crispy on the outside, and a little chewy and flaky on the inside. It is made by stretching the dough on an oiled surface until it is paper thin, then rolled into a snake and then coiled into a disk. The disk is then typically fried on a flat-top to order, but I think Killiney's actually grills theirs over the charcoal as well. Most of the other prata we had on this trip were significantly greasier on the outside. This dish could have been my absolute favorite dish of the trip.... it's hard to say for sure because there are so many great ones, but this is definitely in the top 5 if not the top 3. And cheap... like SGD3-4 or something like that (I think they charged an extra 0.50 for the prata).

What about the Malaysian Roti Canai, and similarly Singaporeah Roti Prata - stretched breads....

Beebs, do you remember the names of the stalls you particularly enjoyed? As of this last trip, S'pore has quickly become one of my favorite places on Earth. I love how it is a modern, metropolitan city, dropped into a beautiful tropical garden. I love how clean, orderly and safe it is without compromising ethnic diversity or personality. But, I am concerned for the future... most of the younger generation are highly educated, and do not want to follow in running shophouse restaurants or hawker stalls. I can't say I blame them, either. It is hard work - 6-7 days/week, with long, hard, hot days on your feet. And it definitely doesn't pay nearly as well as finance or other industries where the younger people are trending to... I mean, how much income can a person make selling food for $3 a plate? So, according to locals, it is getting harder and harder to find the really good food that is not made in a central kitchen and reheated onsite, or part of a chain with 30 locations. I hope they're able to find a middle ground somewhere.

Well, I say, if it ain't broke..... I don't know how long Canadians have been dealing with milk in bags, but no one seems to complain... and it certainly reduces the cost of packaging! Plus, it's created a whole new industry of companies making pitchers to put the bags in for pouring. As they say... sleeping dogs...

I assumed there was a spigot of some kind, like in the boxed wine.

I've never seen that before! How do you keep it from being punctured, or spilling, or store in the refrigerator?

Is that a bag at the bottom of the photo - the one that says 4 liters, 1%... is that a bag of milk?

Nowadays, absolutely. In terms of health and sanitation, S'pore is just like the west... unlike countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. which still have many diseases contaminating the water supply, you can actually drink the tap water in S'pore, and all food services have access to electricity (for refrigeration) and plumbing. They also have a government health inspection system similar to what is in NYC, and a letter based grading system. Many years ago, this was not the case (my friend was living/working there 30 years ago, got terrible food poisoning and had to be airlifted to Hong Kong) - but times have changed dramatically. Back then, the food sellers were in carts on the street with no electricity or refrigeration (like many places in the aforementioned countries, currently). I don't know when (help, someone?) but the government created the hawker centers which are now everywhere and forced all food sellers 'indoors' so to speak. S'pore's drinking water is on par with any city in the west. In fact, I routinely get a little stomach issues when travelling in Europe and drink the water, but had no issues on all 3 of the times I've been in S'pore. I don't go out of my way to drink the tap water, but I don't avoid it like the plague either (like I would in other countries). They have actually gone to great lengths to purify their drinking water - most of it comes from rainwater catchments, but some of it is from desalinated sea water, and highly purified reclaimed water - called NEWater... check out this website for more info: http://www.pub.gov.sg/water/Pages/singaporewaterstory.aspx

I know I just covered this in my last post, but I want to reply to everything... I don't know if I'd called kailan 'readily' available... I'd say it is available, but you must seek it out. In most of Manhattan, I can't think of one supermarket, small market, or bodega that carries it, outside of chinatown, where it is indeed readily available and on every corner. Broccoli is readily available here. It is in every store. So is lettuce. And zucchini. And corn, even when not in season. Cucumber... ok, sorry to beat a dead horse... my rant is over. Also, I would like to clarify that what is available here is the standard thick stemmed kailan (which I also enjoy) but is different from the 'baby kailan' that I found ubiquitous in S'pore. I would consider that to be completely unavailable here. Kang kong in any form, aka morning glory, has limited availability, and I enjoy it when I can. The belachan kang kong is even more rarely available. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear before - I have no issue with ketchup. It is a fine condiment. My opinion is that Heinz makes the best (and if you will) definitive version. But, I think it adds a sweetness that I don't care for very much in chili crab. I'd rather taste chilis, and a hint of tomato, rather than having ketchup crab with a hint of chilis. Just my $0.02... please feel free to disagree.

I'm sorry I wasn't specific enough... What I meant to say is that I usually do not like non-Asian style vegetables when in the US or elsewhere. It's not the preparations I don't enjoy (well, sometimes it is if they're overcooked), but I don't know why I've just never enjoyed western broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, or many other vegetables that others hold dear. I don't know why I don't care so much for them. And, it's not that I won't eat them, I just don't seek them out like I would a good chinese stir-fry. The other problem is not necessarily of availability, but I can't think of any restaurant in NYC (maybe I'm not going to the right places) that will serve a plate of stir fried kailan for less than $12. The issue is that the restaurants consider stir-fried greens to be a main course, and price it accordingly. There may be a couple of restaurants in Chinatown that price and size an order of kailan as a side dish, but unfortunately, I can't make it down there as often as I'd wish. The last problem is that of availability. It's not that you can't find a nice stir-fried greens dish here - it's just that it's not readily available outside of select restaurants or areas like Chinatown. In my neighborhood, I can only think of one restaurant that actually has kailan (it's a thai place), but for some reason, they have an issue with washing it, so it is routinely sandy and gritty... yet I order it anyway... ho hum... And yes, I can make it myself at home - but the issue is availability (again). I cannot think of one store (supermarket, bodega or other) within 20 minutes walking distance that carries it. I'd have to go down to (you guessed it) Chinatown for a regular supply. There have been times I have actually considered moving to Chinatown to be in closer proximity to such things, but the idea of being constantly surrounded by tons of tourists, and crammed elbow to elbow with people is not very appealing. So, I get it while I'm down there on occasion, but it can't be a regular thing.

This looks awesome... please, somebody!!!!

Next dinner was here: This place is completely off the tourist radar - most taxi drivers didn't even know where it was! This place was recommended to me a few years ago by an eGullet member who lives in Singapore. He said he used to go to this restaurant all the time, and I can see why. They are known for this dish: This is sambal pomfret. A pomfret is coated in their heavenly sambal paste, which is a combination of fermented shrimp paste, chili, and who knows what else, and is then fried. The result is shrimpy, slightly spicy and ridiculously addictive. We also had this: This is how chili crab should be. Their sauce is much deeper and aromatic compared with the sauces of the big name restaurants... by comparison, the big name ones taste like ketchup (which I actually think may be an ingredient in their sauces). Also pictured are fried mantou buns, which are great for sopping up the sauce. Not pictured is a plate of baby kailan, stir fried with garlic. I love this vegetable. Kailan (or gailan) is the chinese name for what we'd call here Chinese Broccoli, although I personally think it has nothing to do with regular broccoli. In most of the versions here, it is actually the stems you eat, and only a little bit of the leaves - the stems actually resemble asparagus (in appearance, not flavor or texture). This is also the standard type of kailan that you'd see in Hong Kong. But in Singapore, the "baby kailan" is the one that is ubiquitous. I don't know if it is really just a young version of the other type, or if it's a different strain. This version is very leafy, with thin stems that are tender, but a little crunchy. I love this vegetable... I could eat it every day... one of these days, when I get more time, I have to set up my leafy windowsill garden again and start growing it so I can have a never ending supply.

No, only the chicken version came with the egg... but the goat version had a LOT of goat meat hiding under that mound of rice... I don't know what the cut was, but it was very juicy and gelatinous, and there were a few knuckle-like bones here and there. Yes, biryani is typically served with raita, which is a yogurt based condiment with cucumber and shallot. Although it doesn't look it, the goat biryani only seemed slightly spicy, but the heat builds over time. The raita is good because it is cooling. Most times I see basmati made, the raw rice is first soaked for a fewminutes, then rinsed many times until the water is clear. It is then typically quickly 'fried' in oil or ghee - just for a moment so that each grain is coated in oil. The liquid is then added, covered, and cooked as normal. Anna, is this how you do it?

Back to the present day.... The next day, we went for lunch to Little India to the place with supposedly the best Biryani in Singapore: Biryani is a rice dish, where rice, meat and spices are layered in a pot, sealed and then cooked (supposedly) over charcoal so the spices perfume the rice and meat. This is the way it had been done for a long time, until some restaurants started taking shortcuts - cooking the rice and meat separately, and then combining later. So, as a way to distinguish themselves, the restaurants who did it the traditional way started calling it "dum biryani" - although really, the phrase is redundant. Here's a sign on their wall: This is because many biryani places add curry or gravy on top of the rice to compensate for the lack of flavor in their product. This sign makes it so you don't bother the owner with questions like, "where's the gravy on top?". Here is another sign on the wall - pretty self explanatory: And here's their menu, rotus - note the prices, this place was pretty expensive: Least unhealthy? How unhealthy is it normally???? What have we gotten ourselves into??? We ordered a goat, and a chicken biryani: Goat Chicken There are a few things to note as a visual mark of quality: first, look how long the grains of basmati rice are. Basmati rice lengthens as it cooks - and the highest quality rice will lengthen the most. Second is the hallmark of a proper dum biryani is how the grains of rice stay separate and don't clump together. What you can't tell by the pictures is the heady, perfumed aroma these dishes had. They blew me away. Period. One of my favorite meals of this trip. And that is saying something!

OK, so chronologically speaking, our next meal was dinner at a family Peranakan restaurant in the Joo Chiat neighborhood, but since I don't have the info yet from our friend, I'll skip it for now, and come back to it... First, let me take you back about 10 years, when my wife and I were just married, and we went on our honeymoon to Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.... at the time, I had a friend who had just returned from living in Sing. for the past 6 months, who gave us bad advice - he said, don't waste too much time in Singapore - sure, it's clean and nice, but it's not that interesting... little did I know what a food wonderland it was... serves me right for taking that advice! Anyway, because of it, we only spent 2 days there, but still managed to get some really good food.... This is the East Coast Seafood Centre, by night: You can see that there are a bunch of seafood restaurants, side by side, and tables in the open air out front. Just to the left of the walkway is the ocean. Many of the restaurants here are constantly vying for the title of who makes the best chili crab - another national dish of Singapore. Some years it's UDMC, other times it's Jumbo... in retrospect, I think that there are lots of other places that make it better than both of them, but the drama is always entertaining. Here are some photos inside the Long Beach UDMC restaurant. They have lots of fishtanks full of live fish and shellfish. When you place your order, the 'fisherman' comes out with a net and catches your choice, then brings it into the back to be cooked. Sometimes, when he'd go for the prawns, they would literally jump out of the tanks! This last photo is of the Sri Lankan crabs, which are the crabs used for the chili crab, among other crab dishes. These things are huge, and filled with tons of meat. I love the flavor of crab, but usually find it too much work for too little results. Not so with these - the claw alone produces a chunk of meat the size of a small fist! And a dark and not so great shot of the chili crab: We didn't go back to the East Coast Seafood Centre this trip, but it hasn't really changed, so I figured I'd show it....

Yes, at the time, the exchange rate was about 1.35SGD to 1USD. Local food, in general, is pretty cheap... the char kway teow is like SGD$3 or 4, which is similar to teh cost of the laksa. Sometimes they add a dollar if you want extra shrimp, or extra cockles or fishcake. The chicken rice is usually about SGD$4-5 per plate, and the greens are usually about SGD$3... so eating a meal in a hawker center is quite a bargain. I think the variation in durian price is related to supposed quality... but I can't say that I'm such an expert... I think the more expensive ones are less fibrous (more creamy), but we only really tried it once (and then it stayed with us for hours) so we didn't have much of a basis for comparison.

Nope, not a pineapple plant, but it is in the bromeliad family... there's actually a great bromeliad garden in the Singapore Botanical Gardens (just recently declared a UNESCO world heritage site). And re: durian, you just beat me to it!

OK - fruit interlude.... This is a picture of my favorite fruit in the entire world: and the inside: This is a mangosteen. The rind is extremely tannic and bitter and not eaten. The fruit is made up of a few segments (usually 5-7) that look like cloves of garlic. The flavor is hard to describe - sweet, sour, juicy (run down your chin juicy).. when I'm in SE Asia, I can't get enough. I try to pick up a big bag on the first or second day of the trip, then I eat 3-4 per day... The way it usually happens is that I ask the concierge for the location of a fruit market where I can get them, which is usually met with the response to go to a supermarket (many times in a mall)... this has happened on 3 separate trips with 3 separate concierges... btw, the supermarket mangosteens are always ridiculously expensive (compared to the local markets) and usually inferior in quality. Luckily, I usually stumble into a fruit market as the trip goes on and pick up a bunch more. For the record, I found a great fruit market right outside the Hong Lim Food Center. On getting back to the hotel, one of the porters said "hey - that's a bag of mangosteen" and we proceeded to have a 10 minute conversation about it. Turns out, his family used to be mangosteen farmers in Malaysia, but he did not want to go into the business and moved to Singapore to work in hotels. He asked how I usually opened them, and when I answered "with a knife" I was given a proper tutorial on how to do it with your hands... which, after trying, was a vastly superior method.. I guess he should know, right?! So, the photos above were actually taken on a trip a few years ago, but I didn't take any on this trip showing the new-to-me method.... And who can resist this: Durian!!!! This is a photo of some inexpensive ones, however, some can go for over $50 a fruit! Here is a shot of my wife bravely probably holding her breath: I say that because durian, especially when fresh and in season (like it is now), STINKS! It smells like a medicinal garbage heap with dead things in it.... and the smell is pungent - you can smell a durian vendor from across the street. It is so bad that it is not permitted on public transportation, in hotels or other public areas.... However, many people in the region love it - it has a great creamy texture unlike any other fruit - it's almost like custard. And it's slightly sweet, and doesn't smell like rotten fish in your head. We thought it was quite pleasant... BUT, it does have a slightly medicinal flavor to it - it reminded me of when I was a kid and had ear infections and they would give me the pink antibiotic... I actually loved the flavor of that stuff as a kid and couldn't wait to get an ear infection... the durian reminded me of that, but the smell lingers in your head for hours..,

Yes, I love laksa when in Singapore - there is nothing else like it! The laksa I can get here in NY is just not the same... it's not even close to as good as the Sungei Road laksa, which wasn't even close to the Roxy Laksa.... plus, I think the availability of laksa leaf (the namesake of the dish) that is sprinkled on top and a main flavor component is very limited here. No worries rotuts, we're about 1/4 of the way through!!!!

For lunch, we went to another of my favorite hawker centers, the Hong Lim Food Centre. This center is not pretty, and it is certainly hot and sweaty..... BUT it has 2 stalls I LOVE - Outram Park Char Kway Teow, and there is a drink vendor across the way who makes his lime juice from scratch (not concentrate), and also makes an awesome fresh squeezed sugar cane juice. One of the best foods on earth comes from here: As a testament to how good it is, here is a photo of the line - with no help from St. Bourdain, btw: Here's a fun Where's Waldo, or rather Where's Ken... can you spot me in the pic above? Hint: I am the lone white guy near the end of the line.... So, without further ado, the Char Kway Teow! Yes, it looks like a burst colostomy bag, but oh, is it tasty... and horrible for you. The cook wakes up very early in the morning to first render his lard. The rendered lard is used to cook the noodles, which is sauced with barely set eggs (think carbonara), soy, chili, and who knows what else. The noodles are a wide, flat noodle, but there are thin crunchy noodles included as well, along with cockles (very briny), and cubes of puffed, crunchy, rendered lard. Also in the photo, my wife has the best lime juice around (note it's non-fluorescent color), and I have a freshly pressed sugar cane juice, which is surprisingly not that sweet as it has nothing added - it's just the juice of freshly pressed sugar cane. Later on, I got another lime juice for me. While we were at this center, we also picked up a laksa from Sungei Road Trishaw Laksa, who gave me a whole story of why their laksa is so good as he was serving me... And, without further ado, the laksa: Even though the cook gave me a great story of how he makes his laksa, I would say that it paled by comparison to the Roxy Laksa... don't get me wrong, it was very good, but the Roxy Laksa was superlative.

It was raining when we woke up the next day - so we decided to stay in the hotel for breakfast so we didn't have to wander around in the rain looking for something to eat. However, this time, I was determined to see if I could get something better than the standard Western buffet, so I asked if they had a menu - which to my delight, they did, and had a few very good options: I got a wonton noodle soup: my wfe got a very nice version of Nasi Goreng: I should actually clarify one thing when I keep referring to what I ate, vs what my wife did.... we actually share everything so we can try more things - but when I say what I got or she got really refers to what she ordered and ate first, before we switched plates. As luck would have it, it stopped raining as we were finishing breakfast, but as it was still showering, we thought it was a good opportunity to go to the Gardens by the Bay. As some people here know, I love the idea of greenhouses and growing things in controlled environments. Well here, they take it to the extreme. In the Flower Dome, they recreate the dry characteristics of the mediterranean, and of various deserts - in the middle of hot, humid Singapore!!! The Cloud Forest recreates the atmosphere at the top of a mountain in a tropical rain forest. And these places are huge! I can't imagine the undertaking that went on to create them.... Next up, lunch!

I LOVE the SE Asian limes - they are definitely not Persian limes (AKA Tahitian lime, AKA Bearss lime) - which are not a true lime at all, but a cross between the true (SE Asian) lime and a lemon or citron. The SE Asian limes are like key limes, I think genetically they are the same. They are small, have seeds, thinner skins and have a different flavor - more pronounced aromatics, and I think they're a little sweeter. I generally prefer them to the Bearss limes, but they are more labor intensive as they're smaller and have seeds. I can and do get them here, but they're expensive - like $4-5 a pound! I keep thinking that one day, I'm going to change out my Bearss lime tree that I have for a key lime tree... but my Bearss lime is several years old, and we've gotten attached to it, and I'd hate to kill it for no reason... But, I don'tthink I have space for 2 lime trees.... ETA: not only are the satay smaller - but the marinade and sauce are not typical here.... the marinade is a bit spicy and savoury - and the accompanying peanut sauce is not just peanut butter and coconut milk - it is much more complex, almost like a curry, and uses chopped peanuts as opposed to peanut butter. It is also a little sweet, probably from palm sugar.

For dinner, we went to one of our favorite hawker centers - the East Coast Lagoon Food Centre. This place is unique because of its location and setup (not to mention a few of its vendors). It is about a 15-20 minute car ride out of the city, in the middle of the East Coast park - which is an area on the ocean where families go to picnic, ride bicycles and relax. Most hawker centers are how I described before - a building with a roof and no sides. Consequently, it can get quite hot in these things!!! The east coast lagoon is setup as a giant open space - there is a ring around it that has the vendors, and the inside has a bunch covered picnic tables - so it's much cooler there since it has no roof. This food center is not far from the East Coast Seafood Centre - which is an area by the water that has maybe 4-5 seafood restaurants all in a row, most with nice pretty outdoor seating. We didn't go there this trip, but I can post photos of it from the last time. Here are a couple of shots (they didn't come out so well) of our seating area: One thing the east coast lagoon has is a small satay club - basically a bunch of stalls ina row, all selling primarily the same thing - grilled satay and chicken wings. The satay is very different from what we think of here in the US. Here, we have large chunks of meat (pork, chicken, beef) on skewers - but there, the pieces are much smaller so as to increase the surface area to volume ratio. Also, there, there is typically no pork since most of the satay vendors are muslim. Instead, they have mutton (yum!) Chicken wings Chicken and mutton satay Also, you see the requisite lime juice on the side. Another great stall in the East Coast Lagoon is Roxy Laksa... they are one of the innovators of the Katong style of laksa, and I have to say that it was the best version I have had. The broth is rich and coconutty, with a great flavor of the shrimp paste, chili and laksa leaf. Here it is: Finally, from another stall, we got this GIANT prawn, cooked with garlic: My hand is there for reference.... And, of course another wonderful vegetable - belachan kang kong - water spinach (also called Morning Glory) cooked with fermented shrimp paste, chilis and garlic: