Where to Dine in Singapore 2011

[nakji]

I feel Singapore could hold its own in a "Best Eating in Asia" contest. Hands-down - especially for choices.

I flew in last night and have already had two of my best meals of Rabbit year.

First up - ION. I took the MRT to Orchard to gear up on the massive amount of book-buying I'm planning to do here. Is ION new? I don't remember it from when I was here in 2007, and I couldn't find any info on their website.

I was peckish after a day of crap food - first in Pudong terminal one (bad ramen) and then on the 5 hour flight - the highlight being the pickled radish and the mandarin orange.

I knew I wanted to go right to the food court, especially as I was dining solo. It did not disappoint. I will disappoint you, however - I'd forgotten my camera, so no pictures. I might go back, though.

There was a juice station right off the escalator. I regretted not going immediately, because it seems the thing to do is get a juice to drink while cruising your options.

I saw a big case of cranky-looking crabs, tied up and waiting for black-pepper saucing. There was a toast shop with kuih and kaya (noted), a gorgeous rack of yellow chickens for chicken rice, but I stopped in front of Padang Padang, an Indonesian/Malaysian place with Nasi Ayam, Nasi Lemak, and a whole rack of fresh vegetable dishes.

I got set C - one meat and two vegetables plus rice on a banana leaf. It was almost impossible to choose, but I hung around at the back of the queue to see what other people were ordering. In the end, I got fried chicken, chili fried eggplants, stewed greens with carrot and garlic, white rice with chicken curry sauce over. There was a sambal station at the cash and I will admit to taking a spoon of each. $6.50 SGD.

This morning, I avoided the breakfast set of toast and cornflakes at the hostel, and instead went to Lavender st. hawker centre, just down the road.

I had taken a cruise through the night before on my way back from ION, and had flagged "Eminent Frog Porridge" for breakfast, but alas - it was not open. This time, I cleverly got a lime juice to sip while assessing the remaining options. There was a Hong Kong dim sum place with intriguing towers of dumplings, but the dumplings were all suspiciously even-looking to me, which suggested frozen dumplings. But, as I wandered down the line, I found the stall with a man in whites twisting a giant ball of dough and pulling knobs of pork mince off of another log. Sure enough, those dumplings were all his. The sign said: "Please order from stall 9", so back I went. "Pei Yun Tim Sum".

It's breaking a cardinal rule of mine not to order a non-local specialty when I'm visiting a place, but after seeing xiaolong bao man do his work, I had to try Singapore's take on it. Putting them in little tins seems cheating a bit, but I've seen that in Shanghai, too.

The soup was nothing compared to Shanghai, but the meatball was lighter and fresher tasting than the ones I've tried there. Green onion definitely played a part.

Char siu bao - because I had to: (I took one wrapped to go for elevenses)

The highlight of the meal: "Chicken and mushroom"

Tenderized chunks of chicken ribs, probably velvet with lots of black pepper, then cooked with rich stock, dried mushrooms, and sausage. Please, please weigh in if you know what this is called - there was no sign for this dish, I just picked it out of a tower of steamer baskets.

10.50 SGD, plus chased with a Kopi Ais for another $1.30

Tonight: Little India. Lunch...No idea. There's a Bak kuh teh place across the road.

[heidih]

Ah the array of juices in that heat and humidity is lovely. Market shots welcome

Looking forward to more.

[chocolate lover]

oh! that is called "da bao"!hahaha. have a good time in Little India! And Chinatown have some pretty good places to eat too!

Yup! Ion was just build last year thats why it wasn't there when you went there in 2007

[helenjp]

I love Singapore...everything from hotel breakfast buffet on out just screams "multicultural, and what of it?!"

[chocolate lover]

Sorry, my bad. it's not dabao.

[nakji]

oh! that is called "da bao"!hahaha. have a good time in Little India! And Chinatown have some pretty good places to eat too!

Yup! Ion was just build last year thats why it wasn't there when you went there in 2007

Ah, that explains that!

Yes, I asked for my baozi da bao and they gave it to me in a cunning little drawstring bag. I felt quite stylish carrying it around. The da pao kopi ais I ordered also had its own little plastic carrying holster. Very advanced takeout technology, Singapore.

Ok, I couldn't resist - lunch time in Chinatown, or as the sign says in the MRT - "Water Cow Street". Took me a while to figure that one out.

Wow, it's a good thing I left my durian back in my room.

I had a look around the area for available eats, and settled on the People's Park complex at exit C from the station. I wandered around inside the shopping complex looking for the food section - got completely distracted by Mr. Lee's Geomancy service Rabbit Zodiac - not a good year for fellow snakes, I'm afraid - and decided that the outside vendors were the better bet. The inside vendors were ok, but mostly doing hot pots, which I was less interested in after hitting 30-degree heat for the first time in 3 months.

Outside, I had a drink from the iced-drink in boxes array - lychee this time - and went to a cold dish vendor. It looks like they were offering Shandong dishes? Can anyone more literate help me out?

They had a whole table of cold rice noodles, tofu noodles, vegetables - you name it - tossed in chili- Sichuan peppercorn - vinegar-oil-and sugar dressing.

I got rice noodles, potatoes, and cucumbers. Three choices for $3 SGD. Next to that stall, someone was making thin pancakes like we have in Suzhou - but instead of stuffed with egg, they were stuffing them with a thin layer of pork or cabbage. I got pork.

Sexy cut-away:

I wish we had these in Suzhou!

[chocolate lover]

I guess the "Water Cow Street" is a literal translation.but very hilarious! Never noticed that before though...I will keep a lookout for it when I go to ChinaTown

Yup! The store is selling shandong dishes.And $1 for a drink there! That's expensive! Cos usually in places like Ang Mo Kio or Bishan, they will sell it for 50 cents or 70 cents, depending on your drink.haha. Speaking of which, you should try KOI, the bubble tea shop, the queue is long, but worth it.

Ang Mo Kio sells good food too. There is this prawn noodles shop at S11 in Jubliee that sells to-die-for penang prawn noodles.

[threestars]

I am planning to go to Singapore this year. I will definitely keep this thread so I can get back on them when I need to. A friend of mine will join me so I will try to go around the city and check out the foods.

[nikkib]

Any updates on this thread? I am visiting soon and wanted to know where i should go, definitely want to do the 6 hour food tour i've seen mentioned elsewhere ina singapore thread but would be interested to hear where/what i should be eating...................

[pastrygirl]

Nikkib, when will you be in SIN? I'll be there at the end of the month, then flying out in late Sept, and will do my best to report back here.

[nikkib]

Probably mid september i think...

[Cola-Bear]

Were you planning on hitting the mom & pop, hole in the wall type of places for traditional malay cuisine or are you thinking more of a michelin-esque tour of big name chefs like Emmanuel Stroobant?

[nikkib]

Everything!! Specifically the traditional Malay hole in the wall places and then i can work up to the big names when i am so inclined...

[pastrygirl]

A fellow chef who had been living in Bali wrote this to me: There are some really cutting edge restaurants as well in Singapore - I went on a food trip in February and went to Waku Ghin and it was unbelievable. Andre Chiang also just opened a restaurant but there is a 3 month wait so book now but he is doing the best food in Singapore. Aside from the hawker stands of course.

[chocolate lover]

for hole-in-the-wall places.you guys should visit...

1. the halal restaurants on top of far east plaza.

2. adam road hawker center's nasi lemak.

3. balestier road's chicken rice-boon tong kee

4. tiong bahru market

lol.that's all for now.

[nikkib]

Thanks - thats a good place to start!!

[threestars]

Wow. Such a wonderful thread to look around for good Singaporean cuisine! I am planning to visit SG next year, will visit HK in a month and I am excited as well on the foods in HK.

[KennethT]

There's a lot of info on HK here depending on what you're looking for. It's a long thread, but the last few pages are up to date and have lots of recent info on regional chinese/dim sum...

[chocolate lover]

Ahh..yes. also,

1.Ang Mo Kio[AMK] Jubliee 318 coffeeshop[i think, can't really remember the name of the coffeeshop], penang prawn mee.

2. Little India's Shakuntala, they serve awesome crab

3. Togi at Chinatown. hahaha.good korean food!

[pastrygirl]

Just spent 3 days in SIN and it seemed like there was no bad food! I mostly at at hawker centers - Whampoa was closest to my hotel. Seems like it would take years to try everything and be able to compare and come up with a best of list!

Sorry that's not much help but my point is I think it is hard to go wrong!

[Keith_W]

Singapore - best food in Asia? Sorry, I just have to LOL

What they have is bland and plasticky compared to the rest of Asia. For REALLY GOOD food, try any of Singapore's neighbours - Malaysia has everything Singapore can offer, but with more variety and usually superior. Do not go to Johor Baru - the food centers are KL, Ipoh, and Penang. There are various small towns that specialize in various dishes. Even Singaporeans will concede that point - after all, you see lots of Singapore registered cars parked outside the well known restaurants. No Malaysian goes down to Singapore to eat.

As for the other SEA'ian countries - nobody does Thai food better than the Thais, and nobody does Vietnamese better than the Vietnamese.

[nikkib]

i think the point of the initial post was the variety offered by eating out in singapore - it's a real cultural melting pot and that infuses into its restaurant and cuisines available i would imagine - i leave in 2 weeks so will be updating regul;arly on my progress eating my way through singapore so to speak and any trips i happen to make elsewhere in SE ASia too - glad to hear Mlaysia has so much to offer as well, sounds like it is going to be fun!

[nikkib]

Well I have made the move and am now living in Singapore, as I am base in farrer park I am existing on mostly Indian food right now, although had a great lunch at din tai fung a tawainese chain restaurant (a very highly rated one at that) for some reason I can't upload pictures at the moment but plenty of photos/reviews to follow when I can!

[KennethT]

We ate at Din Tai Fung in Hong Kong... it was one of my favorites...

[Kent Wang]

WSJ blog on Singapore:

If you tire of the bright lights and big city, head to Hai Bin, a shrimp farm in the suburbs.

There, insomniac senior citizens fish for prawns brought in from Malaysia and Thailand in six ponds and grill them in the barbeque pit for supper at this 24-hour farming facility, which is located amidst a lush golfing range. After a night about town, waiting for shrimp to bite at this almost-rural outpost is a strangely cathartic experience.

This sounds pretty neat. Has anyone been?