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| Singapore lah! |
Finally! I had the chance to visit the
land of SHIOK! I must say that all the delicious stories that I've heard about
the food there is all true. Of course, before heading to the food loving
country of Singapore, I spent some time researching. Little did I know, the day
we arrived in Singapore was the same day as Chinese New Year. Most of the
places I wanted to visit were closed but there were still a lot of other food
places that was trading.
It was the hawker centres I looked
forward to visiting the most. They are food court type places with stalls that
sell amazing and affordable Singaporean dishes. It is something Singapore is
renowned for. Each Hawker stall/shop is given a grade. The grading given by the
National Environment Agency (NEA) is an appraisal for food stalls to ensure
they maintain good personal and food hygiene, and housekeeping of their
premises. Grades A and B means that the food and premises are both very clean
and hygienic. You’ll find that majority of food stalls are either A or B grade.
Singaporean cuisine is diverse and is predominantly influenced by cuisines such
as Chinese, Malaysian, Indian, Indonesia, Peranakan and Western. Other cuisines
from nations such as the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the Middle Eastern
counties also exist in Singapore.
Here's what I ended up visiting during
the trip:
Orchard
Hawker Food Square
While walking along Orchard Road, we
stumbled upon a small hawker center called Orchard Hawker Food Square. It is
located corner of Orchard Road and Cavenagh Road. It is also the only hawker
center on the main Orchard area. Everything from Chilli mud crabs to Hainanese
Chicken is available here.
The Singaporean style Char Kway Teow
(CKT) compared to the Malaysian version, is a mixture of Hokkien noodles and thin
rice noodles. It also had more of thick soy based sauce that was a
little bit on the sweet side, which I really liked. Lap cheoung (sausages) and oyster
pieces are the dominant ingredients. Their CKT is different from what I'm used
to but I really enjoyed it.
Hawker
Food Square Center
100 Orchard Rd
Singapore
Trading hours: 9am till late
Maxwell
Food Centre
We were off to Maxwell Hawker Center the
next day. It is located near Chinatown and it is home to Tian Tian Hainanese
Chicken (rated by Anthony Bourdain as the best Hainanese Chicken he's had).
Unfortunately, Tian Tian was closed but luck was still on our side as Maxwell
Hainanese chicken was trading that day!
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| Roasted Hainanese chicken |
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| Hainanese chicken set |
At Maxwell Hainanese chicken, we tried
their roasted Hainanese chicken (SG$4) and the original Hainanese chicken rice as
a set (SG$6, which also includes a side of baby bok choy and soup). The rice was
packed with so much chicken flavour with notes of garlic and ginger. Both
versions of the chicken were succulent and well cooked but it was the skin from
the roasted version stood out. These were two of the best Hainanese chicken
rice that I've had.
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| Lime Juice |
I also got a very refreshing lime juice
from a shop close by.
Maxwell
Food Centre
1 Kadayanallur Street
Singapore
Ah
Meng Kopi
If you ever plan to visit Singapore Zoo
or the River Safari, a Kopitiam named Ah Meng Kopi is a great place for some of
those favourite Singaporean kopitiam dishes. Ah Meng was named after the Zoo's
celebrity orangutan who passed away back in 2008. It's so sweet of the Zoo to
name this establishment after her.
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| Seafood laksa |
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| Nasi Lemak |
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| Ice teh shake |
The seafood laksa and nasi lemak were
both super tasty. The laksa soup was rich and flavoursome. The rice on their
nasi lemak was pack with so much coconut flavour with notes of ginger just the
way I like it. But it was the generous serving of Ice teh shake that I loved
the most. It had a good balance of black tea and sweet milk flavours.
Ah
Meng Kopi
Location: Zoo Entrance
80 Mandai Lake
Road
Singapore Zoo
Singapore
Operating hours
Zoo Entrance 8.00am -
6.30pm (Monday – Friday)
8.00am - 7.00pm (Weekends & Public
Holidays)
Tiong
Bahru Food Market and Hawker Centre
Tiong Bahru is a huge hawker centre and
one of the most popular amongst the centres in Singapore. Most of the stall
here are either A grade or B grade. This place was truly food paradise and
value for money is an understatement!
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| Roast duck and roast pork combo |
We got a roast duck and siu yuk (roast
pork) combo (SG$4) from the Original Tiong Bahru Golden Pig and Roasted stall. The duck was ridiculously succulent and
had the most perfect glistening skin. The roast pork's crackling was perfectly crunchy and the meat was flavoursome and not salty.
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| Fried carrot cake |
The fried carrot cake or char tow kway from Kampong Carrot Cake was awesome on so many levels. It consists of cubes of steamed rice flour and
white radish, fried and garnished with spring onions. It had
perfect wok hei and caramelised bits that made the dish tastier.
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| Milo Dinosaur |
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| Kaya toast with soft-boiled egg |
Then I also ordered some kaya toast with
egg (SG$3) and a milo dinosaur ($1.80) from L21 Cafe. The smooth kaya spread (coconut jam
spread) in the well-buttered white bread toast had a good balance of coconut
and pandan flavours. The best way to enjoy kaya toast is by dunking the toast soft-boiled eggs (increase egg awesomeness with a dash of soy sauce & some
white pepper). The amazing Milo dinosaur is a drink made from instant milo but
topped with more Milo powder. This Milo is sweeter and has more malt flavour.
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| Roti prata with egg |
Before leaving Tiong Bahru, we got hold of some roti prata with egg (SG$1.50) from Hannah Prata and Nasi Briyani. It's also known as roti canai. It was
perfect buttery and flaky. The egg cooked inside the roti gave this dish a nice
texture and added protein. The curry dipping sauce was full of flavour and had
a nice consistency. I love the notes of flavour from the Kaffir lime leaves.
I also got hold of a sugarcane and lime juice
from a Wang Wang Sugarcane close by and it was so refreshingly citrus and slightly sweet.
Tiong
Bahru
30 Seng Poh
Road
#02-74
Singapore
Cad
Cafe
Haji lane is a laneway full of botique
fashion shops and cafes. It is very vibrant and reminded me a lot of Melbourne.
We then stumbled upon a friendly hipster specialty coffee shop called CAD cafe.
It was like a little sanctuary to escape the hustle and bustle of the city.
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| Latte |
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| Flat white |
They source their coffee beans from
Toby's Estate Singapore where the beans are roasted locally. The cafe latté and
flat white we had were fantastic. The coffees were medium to full body and the
textured milk had perfect temperature. The service was good and the value of
coffee is around the same as most cafes in Sydney.
CAD
Café
23 Haji Lane
Singapore
Malaysia
Peddler Sidewalk
After Haji Lane, we decided to go for a
walk towards lavender area and catch a train from Lavender MRT station. We then
stumbled upon a food center called Kopitiam. It's a food court open for 24
hours.
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| Curry Laksa |
I was craving laksa badly so we decided
to get curry laksa (SG$8.50) from the Malaysian Peddler Streetwalk stall. It
was a generous serving and the aroma was full of comfort. The broth was creamy
with a potent curry flavour. It had a lot of kick but my palate was able to
handle it easily. It had prawns, bean curd puffs, fish cakes, bean sprouts and
thick rice noodles. It was indeed an amazing bowl of laksa.
Malaysia
Peddler Sidewalk
Kopitiam Food Court at V Hotel Lavender
(near Lavender MTR station)
70 Jellicoe Rd
Singapore
Kueh
Village
Near Ang Mo Kioh MRT station is a
shopping centre called AMK Hub and on the ground floor level of the shopping
centre is a Kueh (or Kuih) stand called Kueh Village. Kueh refers to both
sweet and savoury Malaysian and Singaporean treats, which most consists of
rice or glutinous rice. Most Kuih favourites are available here such as kueh lopis, kueh lapis,
kueh bengka etc.
Kueh
Village
(near Toast Box)
Ground level, AMK Hub
53 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3,
Singapore
Toast
Box
You will find branches of Toast Box all
around Singapore. It's Kopitiam joint that's great for a quick fix for some
those favourite Singaporean meals and beverages. Ranging from laksa to kaya
toasts and iced milk tea to lemon iced tea. It's also very convenient, as you
will find most Toast Box branches located near MRT stations and inside shopping
centres.
Toast
Box
313@Somerset B2
313 Orchard Road
#B2-31/32/33
313@Somerset
Singapore
Operating hours
Sun - Thurs: 730am to
1030pm
Fri - Sat, eve of PH
& PH: 730am to 11pm
Tel 6634 2863
Jollibee
Maybe I'm bias because I'm Filipino and
I grew up eating Jollibee's chickenjoy. But their beloved fried chicken is so
Shiok! Glad that we were able to visit a branch of this popular Filipino
fastfood chain during our Singapore visit. It is located at the top floor of
the Lucky Plaza building, which is also dubbed as "Little Manila".
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| Spaghetti with chickenjoy |
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| Chickenjoy |
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| Chickenjoy combo meal |
We ordered two of their combo meals,
which were the spaghetti with 1 piece chickenjoy (SG$6.60 drink included) and 2
pieces of chickenjoy with rice (SG$6.60 drink included).
Jollibee serves Filipino-style spaghetti
where the sauce used is quite sweet and includes hotdog slices and minced beef.
The name chickenjoy says it all about their fried chicken. It tastes like happiness!
It's a joyous experience starting from the crunchy rippled batter all the way
to the tasty and juicy meat.
Jollibee
6th Floor, Lucky Plaza
304 Orchard Road
Singapore
Operation
Hours: Monday to Sunday 9.00am – 9.00pm
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