Singapore Stopover

The Boy and I are enjoying (or sweating through) a brief, one night stopover in Singapore on our way to Paris. I couldn't face a full 20 hours in a plane seat and knew that we'd NEED a stopover...anywhere that would allow us to lay horizontal to sleep would do.

When our plane landed in Singapore, we literally DUMPED our bags at our hostel, jumped in a cab and headed over to the chaotic, yet tasty Mankansutra Gluttons Bay, an outdoor hawker centre feature all of Singapore's top hits when it come to street eats.

Sadly the stallholder here had stopped serving her kaya toast with the soft boiled dipping egg so I walked away extremely sad faced...until I spotted a Toast Box near the taxi rank on our way home. Yes that is a BIG slab of butter between two slices of white bread - there's some Kaya Jam in there two FYI.

The next day sees us killing time by wading through Singapore's stifling heat and humidity. We'd woken up WAY too early and had WAY too much time to kill before the stalls at Maxwell Food Centre opened for the day. We arrived at this large open-air food centre at about 11.30am and whilst not all the stalls were open, nearly ALL the tables were taken! I dumped The Boy at one of the last free tables and went off in search of lunch...

Tian Tian is a pretty famous food stall here at Maxwell. I think it's always been pretty popular with the locals BUT then Anthony Bourdain got his hands onto the place which means the queues are now quite lengthy with both locals AND tourists who are wanting to see what all the fuss is about.



I joined the queue and about 30 minutes later return to our table with aforementioned chicken rice. The Boy had actually thought something had happened to me as I'd been gone so long. He was wondering if it would be cool just to continue on to Paris on his own (we agreed that it totally would be cool)!

The chicken rice was good, but I liked the version of the dish I'd had the night before at Gluttons Bay -- I thought the rice was a bit more flavoursome, the chicken juicier and I liked that the bird came with minced garlic at Gluttons Bay. The guy taken my order at Tian Tian was very nice though - he gave me extra chicken as a reward for my enthusiasm...and overzealous chattiness when I reached the front of the line *fist pump*.

Whilst we were pretty full we were dying for some roast pork so I found a popular looking stall and bought a double serve of pork, no rice. This set us back SGP $8.00.

Next stop Paris...where I plan to eat my own body weight in CHEESE!

Singapore Takeout, Circular Quay

Miss Piggy attended Singapore Kitchen as a guest of Singapore Tourism Board and Frank PR. 

“1 mobile kitchen, 9 cities, 10 chefs and 14 food brands
on a 365-day gastronomic journey.”

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? I was one of a lucky handful of bloggers invited to attend a dinner at Singapore Takeout, a pop-up restaurant showcasing Singapore food that has traveled the world over the last 12 months ... last stop Sydney! After suffering badly from the post-holiday blues this taste of Singapore in Sydney was just what the doctor ordered!

I was expecting a dinner showcasing the simple  Hawker style food that The Boy and I had gone mad for in Singapore last month, but with Ignatius (Iggy) Chan and Head Chef Akmal Anuar from Iggy's in the kitchen we experienced a much more refined dinner, a fancy interpretation of some Singaporean classics.  It was loads of fun to taste some familiar dishes in that had been all gussied up, and it was wonderful to relive my recent Singapore holiday, if only for one night.

I hope the chefs didn't travel all the way from Singapore in the shipping container!

So what did we eat?  Let's have a look shall we...

Nasi Lemak...or is it? Iggy and his team have taken the notion of Nasi Lemak as a main meal and reduced it to a little taste of a Singaporean favourite - complete with Turmeric Leaf foam and an Otak Otak (fish) mousse.

Iggy's Variation of Sushi - tuna and kingfish sitting a top a delicious soy meringue, rather than your bog-standard rice.  The meringue was truly inspired, I want all my sushi like this in future! The texture was almost like honeycomb, dense yet light at the same time with  a slight flavour of soy and wasabi.

Cold Cappellini (aka: raw fish salad inspired by the dish yu sheng served at Chinese New Year) - chilled cappellini with needlefish, deep fried quinoa and a ponzu granite to add a crunchy texture.  A really light and refreshing summery dish.

Slow cooked Ranger's Valley beef cheek cooked with an Aussie Pinot Gras for everyone else; and a beautiful steamed Travelli for me.

Kaya Toast with Teh Tarik ice-cream - not the Kaya Toast I fell in love with in Singers, more of a Kaya flavoured brioche pudding...very nice, but it didn't quell my Kaya Toast cravings. Doh!

Sadly Singapore Takeout was only in Sydney for three days -- it's been and gone peeps -- so if you want a taste of Singaporean delights my friends you're going to have to jump on a plane and visit Singapore. After our recent visit to Singapore I CANNOT wait to get back and eat some more!

Random Eats, Singapore

When The Boy and I weren't busy gorging ourselves at Singapore's amazing Hakwer Centers we were busy...snacking!

Singapore is a HOT HOT and really humid place. We couldn't walk 5 meters without stopping somewhere for a drink - especially if that somewhere had an overhead ceiling fan. The Boy drank more beer on this trip than I've seen him drink in the whole time we've been together. I stuck to lemon juice or sugarcane juice when my beloved Soursop wasn't to be found.

On our first morning out and about I noticed the smell of something slightly...whiffy, but a bit sweet.  Ah ha I thought that HAS got to be Durian, and you know what? It was. We had stumbled upon a stall selling Durian Pancakes. Now I know there are a lot of people out there who love Durian and a lot of them read this blog (you might not want to read this next paragraph or so if you're one of those people...okay? just so we remain friends). I can confirm after this horrendous experience that I am not, nor shall I ever be, one of these Durian loving people. EVER EVER EVER!!!!

This has, without a doubt, got be the worst thing I have ever tasted in my life.  EVER! Worse than boiled Brussel Sprouts! There's a reason Durian banned in so many public places people - it's terrible.  The first bite was OK as I mainly got just pancake. I was feeling brave after this initial bite so took a HUGE bite - OMG. The taste gave me an instant headache and I felt totally nauseous. The sight of two tubby Westerns gagging and trying to wipe their tongues clean whilst desperately searching for anything ANYTHING to take the taste of death out of their mouths has got to be an amusing sight for a Durian lover.

Why is there no fine for brining Durian onto the train? Do they just push you out of the moving train as punishment?

So how about we move on to the BEST thing I ate during my entire trip - Kaya Toast.  If Durian is the spawn of the Devil then Kaya Toast is manna from heaven.  I'm kicking myself though that I didn't try it until our last night in Singers. I was so desperate for more than I gorged myself at the airport at the only Kaya Toast stall I could find. Looking at this picture makes me sad...sad that the Kaya Toast is in Singapore and I'm in stupid Sydney.

I have to tell you people that I was pretty happy with a discovered Soursop juice IN A CAN! I wonder if we can get this at home? Surely they have it in Cabramatta, right?  Not sure what this orange jelly/cake/dessert thing is called.  There was a bit of a Lost in Translation moment when ordering this as we were quite taken with the green cake, but eventually found it was DURIAN flavoured - talk about a close call.

Fellow blogger Citrus and Candy has such a fondness for Bak Kwa (Pork Jerky) that she makes her own at home and that convinced me to give it a whirl whilst we were in Singapore.  I have to say it's pretty bloody good. We bought a small bag of the round jerky which called "Golden Coins". The "coin" is quite thick, unlike the paper-thin Nobby's jerky I'm addicted to (and it is not as "dry"), and is also quite charred.  The jerky is slightly oily and really quite sticky with a sweet flavour as honey is one of the ingredients.

Oh Singapore, I miss you already!

MoS Burger, Singapore

After finding The Best Cheeseburger in the World last year at Shake Shack in NYC I was hellbent on giving Japanese Burger chain MOS Burger a whirl whislt in Singaproe as I was convinced I would be embarking on another mind-blowing burger experience.  Sadly the experience was...average at best, but we had this as an afternoon snack so at least I didn't blow any valuable stomach real estate on a so-so burger experience.

The Boy was really keen to try a Peach Fanta which he thoroghly loved. He's on the hunt now to track it down in Sydney he's become such a fan.

I was really wanting to try one of MOS' famous Rice Burgers.  Although Momofuku's David Chang seems to be under the impression Dani Venn from last seasons Masterchef invented the Rice Burger I'm sad to say that Mr Chang is wrong. Rice Burgers were on the menu at MOS long before Dani was a twinkle in Masterchef's beedy little eye.  We tried the Tsukune (aka Chicken) Rice Burger (SGP $3.80) which was...OK, nothing mind blowing, but I did enjoy trying the compressed and fried Rice Cake.

We also bought a Cheeseburger (SGP $2.10) to share. It wasn't too bad - the bun was nice and soft which I think is critical to a "great cheeseburger".  I can't remember if the burger was "with pickle" or not. Hmmm.

I won't be rushing back to MOS Burger anytime soon (seeing as the closest one is on the Gold Coast) but I'm chuffed to have been able to tick this off my Food Bucket List.

On the way out of the shopping center and back to our hotel we spied Best Fries Forever. As I was still filling up my Afternoon Tea Stomach I thought we could fit some in and not impinge on Dinner Stomach room. These were good, bloody good when topped with a melty nacho cheese sauce.

We ate at MOS Burger and Best Fries Forever in the Plaza Singapura shopping centre (68 Orchard Road, Singapore).

Hawker Centers, Singapore

Our first morning in Singapore was spent wandering around Chinatown, a colourful area of shopfronts, market stalls, cafes and the odd Hindu temple. Of course all of this aimless wandering in the sweltering humidity was merely me circling the Maxwell Food Center waiting for lunchtime to arrive. Tick tock, tick tock - is it lunchtime yet.

Maxwell Food Center

Maxwell Food Center is a HUGE Hawker Centre on the edge of Chinatown with well over 100 little food stalls selling every type of Malaysian, Singaporean, Chinese and Indian food imaginable (and probably the unimagined too). I ensconced The Boy at a table directly under a ceiling fan and went off to explore.

The general rule of thumb at a Hawkers Center is to go for the stall with the longest queue - it doesn't actually matter if you know what's on offer or not. A long queue basically equates to a top feed. But those guidelines don't apply to hot, grumpy, sweating, tired tourists like moi - so I did a lap of the place and settled on somewhere with a "medium to short" sized queue.

My first foray into the Hawkers Center saw me return with a Watermelon Juice for The Boy and a Soursop Smoothie for me.  Man, I LOVE Soursop and it was on offer EVERYWHERE in Singers. Soursop tastes a little like a mix between an orange and a banana and it is so delicious. I'm addicted.  Lucky for me it is available at home and you can find an excellent Soursop Smoothie in Cabramatta.

My second lap around Maxwell saw me bring back a plate of Roast Pork with all the fixings for the The Boy. This cost about AUD$3...really.

Two (of the many) things I REALLY wanted to try in Singapore were Rojak and Popiah. I happened across this stall that sold both of these plus Cockles.  We got a small plate of Cockles to share but to be honest they weren't to my taste...the texture and flavour were something my palate couldn't quite embrace, and I've to tell you they were impossible to open! After about five each we gave up much to the joy of the lady cleaning our table - I think she went in to a dark corner somewhere and scoffed the lot. 

The Popiah was fantastic, a thin pancake-like wrap which held a filling of vegies like lettuce and carrot along with some noodles and tofu.  We both really enjoyed the Rojak too - a fruit and vegetable salad with quite a thick, sweet dressing. The whole lot is sprinkled with crushed peanuts.  Apart from a crunchy cucumber I'm not really sure what was in our Rojak, but it was GREAT!

After an hour of solid eating we head off for a bit more sightseeing. Right across from Maxwell Food Center is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum which is air-conditioned *happy dance* and has a lovely roof-top garden which is a nice place to sit and let lunch digest.

Newton Circus Hawker Center 

Another day, another opportunity to visit a Hawker Center - but not without a bit of sightseeing around Little India and a visit to the ENORMOUS Mustafa department stall (where we spent ages and The Boy walked away with five new ties). We also paid a visit to the elaborate Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple.  What an amazing place - full of life and colour. We had no idea what was going on but it was fascinating to watch people go about their daily worship rituals.  This guy in the photo below insisited I take his photo and posed quite seriously for a series of snaps - bless him!

After our wandering we headed over to Newton Food Centre - a short train ride away.  This place is a bit more "open" than Maxwell, with not much a roofed area - we managed to find a seat under a fan though.

We started off with drinks - a Soursop Juice for me (surprise surprise) which contained slices of real Soupsop and a Milo Godzilla for The Boy which is some sort of cold Milo drink topped with whipped cream and chocolate topping. You won't find Milo Godzilla in your Jenny Craig lunchbox, but it was pretty tasty.

Our first meal was a small serve of Hainanese Chicken Rice. To be honest I've had Hainanese Chicken Rice in Sydney and didn't really like it at all - I'm not fond of the texture of the cold chicken and I always thought it was a bit...flavourless.  I wasn't really keen to try this...but I did and I'm glad I did as it was really lovely, so flavoursome and just...perfect! We had a few Hainanese Chicken Rice in Singapore after this and they were all amazing. Another dish on my hit list was Carrot Cake - it is available as Black Carrot Cake (which was more like a fritter shape) and this White Carrot Cake which was similar to Cha Kway Teow I guess, although fermented carrot replaces the oodles of noodles. Loved it.

Buoyed by our chicken rice experience The Boy decided to try the Duck Rice which was on offer at Newton. Not as good as the chicken rice (the flavours weren't as clean with it being more of a saucy dish), but still really nice.  Meanwhile I developed a total obsession with the colourful lady who was working the CKT stall - she seemed like the Godmother of Newton, buzzing around and chatting to everyone.

After lunch we headed down to the harbour for some more sight seeing and a ride on the (un-airconditioned) cable car.  We also had a quick look around Sentonsa Island - the "playground" of Singapore. Meh.

Gluttons Bay

On our last night in Singapore we headed down to Gluttons Bay - an open air, outdoor Hawker style eatery on the waterfront. Gluttons Bay is a mix of street carts selling Singapore's most popular, and delicious, Hawker fare and it is really aimed at tourists but we spied lots of locals there chowing down.  We LOVED our night here - it was so vibrant and fun, and as the sun had gone down it was blissfully cool.

We grab a table, along with two Sugar Cane Juices, and pull out our arsenal of Hawker Center staples - tissues and wet ones. Let the eating begin!

This time I sent The Boy out to forage for food and he came back with a plate of crispy BBQ Chicken Wings (yum) and a mixed plate of Chicken and Beef Satay Skewers (also YUM). 

Half way through our meat-fest I left The Boy to go in search of the one thing I was DESPERATE to try in Singapore - Kaya Toast. Holy mother of God Batman, this simple little dish of grilled toast, spread with Kaya Jam (a jam which is a combination of coconut and egg), adorned with generous pads of butter is the most delicious thing I've eaten in a LONG time.  We dipped the Kaya Toast into two soft boiled eggs that are mixed with a splash of soy sauce and white pepper...sigh. Simple, but total perfection.  Whilst each of the ingredients is simple in its own right, mixing everything together is a flavour sensation, helped along by the cool pad of rich, creamy butter. I'm in LOVE and I was really quite upset that The Boy wanted to go halvies in this.

Despite our groaning stomachs we decide to finsih our last dinner in Singapore with another Cha Kway Teow.  CKT in Singapore is studded with cockles and it didn't really have that smokey Wok breath" that seems so elusive to many CKTs. I have to say, the CKT I've had from Jackie M in Sydney beats any of the CKT we had in Singapore hands down. 

Maxwell Food Center is at 1 Kadayanallur Street, Singapore.

Newtown Food Center is at 500 Clemenceau Ave,  Singapore.

Gluttons Bay is at 8 Raffles Ave,  Singapore.