Snapshot of so much eating in Singapore

I will be kidding myself if I say that I will report and blog about every single place that I ate in the last trip to Singapore. Too much eating and in that sweltering heat, too much walking. Therefore, no weight was gained but a lot of pleasure was gained.

For my benefit and benefit of friends that are heading to Singapore, I thought it will be nice just to have a quick snapshot of what is outstanding in my last eating adventure in Singapore. Whether they can make it to these places, it gives them an idea of what to expect. Most of these places are where the locals hangout and may be a little out of the way. There is nothing attractive about these little nooks in Singapore except maybe carrot cake stall. It may not be viable for a tourist to trek to eat one plate of noodles. But I may be wrong, I have done that in San Francisco where both Mister and I trekked out to The Mission to try the bacon coffee.  There is another ulterior motive for doing this. Everytime I head back to Singapore, many of these type of places moves into a fancy shopping center or air condition food court. It loses its appeal and many are run by China people. Better document before their extinction.

So let’s roll. First stop is Bedok Interchange. Apparently the best chwee kueh is found in this old hawker center. I thought the black colour carrot cake is awesome as well. There is a white version but I prefer the black. When you get there, find the 2 longest queue. These two stalls are about 2 or 3 stalls apart. There are a few kopi stalls around them. Both are good.

Bedok Interchange fried carrot cake

Mum found a Muslim stall that sold lontong. It is pretty good but I have tried better. Lontong is compressed rice cakes that is covered with curry sauce, tofu, long bean and I usually add a potato cake and a heap of chilli. And if you do visit this hawker center, check out the Soto Ayam from Inspirasi stall. Many locals will travel to eat this in Singapore.

lontong

Another type of breakfast that the Singaporean locals love is bak kut teh! Eating soupy peppery pork so early in the morning? Well, yes. But you can have bak kut teh at any time of the day. And especially after partying and drinking, this is perfect! The soup will calm the soul and make sleep come easy. Our friend took us to Ng Ah Sio in Rangoon Road. Head to the website on details on how to get there. I would not say it is the best but this is what I had on the last trip. Also don’t forget to get a few of the BKT packets. It is so easy to make BKT at home. You may order some sides like what we did. We had stewed pig tails, salted vegetables, fried Chinese dough and liver soup. I usually have my BKT with loads of red cut chilli and black soy sauce. Thumbs Up!

Ng Ah Sio BKT

I have written about the infamous Maxwell Market in Tanjong Pagar. If you have little time in Singapore and want to go to a relatively easy to get to hawker center, then this will be the one. It is very popular with the lunch crowd so be prepared to queue in the more popular stalls. There are loads of choices and I won’t go past the Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. And hav a icy cold sugar cane juice with it. O M G!

Tian Tian Chicken Rice

Tanjong Pagar has changed so much since I left Singapore. If you just walk around this area, you can just spend the whole day eating here from breakfast to lunch to dinner to supper. Tons and tons of food. Besides Maxwell market, there is also Amoy Street. We were on a bus sitting next to this old lady. She told us that she visits this hawker center every day for fish porridge (Han Kee Fish Porridge)! Between the hawker centers, I reckon you are sorted.

Amoy Street food center

Everyone raves about the Singapore chilli crab. If you can, check out the black pepper crab at Long Beach (Dempsey) and also the salted egg crab at Big Eater. Heart attack dish but it is so good. The flavour and the experience will stick in your memory and you will salivate when you think about it.

Big Eater Salted Crab

Kaya toast, half boiled egg with kopi is another must do breakfast. You can find this from many Ya Kun Kaya Toast outlets dotted around Singapore. I have ya Kun toast at least one time when I am back. You can also find it in hawker stalls like the one in Bedok. The eggs are always perfectly cooked. Remember to have a few drops of dark sauce and white pepper. It is a must! Another place that does this really well and slightly different is a coffee stall along Tanjong Katong. It is called Chin Mee Chin. The kopi is thick and instead of using normal white bread toast, it is almost brioche like toast. Extra special. By the way, I will not try the other pastry. They aren’t very well made. And you can also buy some kaya from here. They are sold in plastic containers so you will have to transfer it into bottles before taking them back with you.

Chin Mee Chin

We have recently moved to Upper Changi and live really close to Simpang Bedok. The food is usually Halal because if the large Malay or Muslim population. This stretch of eateries comes alive after dark. It is very popular with the neighbouring locals and also with the taxi drivers as this stretch closes in the early morning. Some of the stalls have rather interesting combination of food. We had a very big dinner at Spize Halah with my uncle and aunty. We ordered so much food and I think the bill was under $100.

Sambal squid

One of my mum’s friend gave us a treat at her favourite Peking Duck restaurant. It’s Asia Grand in North Bridge Road. There is a set menu that includes the Peking duck. The banquet consists of other dishes big fat steamed prawns, deep fried fish and other dishes. To be honest, I have forgotten how good Peking duck is until I tried this. The pancake is super thin, the skin of the duck was thin and crispy and the duck was perfect. Crispy noodles were used to with the remaining duck meat. I like it.

Peking duck at Asia Grand

Due to the closer proximity of Singapore to Japan, many locals are crazy about ramen. When we were last back, the Ultimate Ramen Championship was still going on at Illuma (Bugis). There were 6 different ramen places from Japan and it was so hard to choose. The ramen was really good. Soft and fatty pork slices. Nicely cooked flavoured egg. Bouncy and chewy noodles. The broth was not overly salty and still clings onto your lips after drinking it from the bowl. Nice.

Please google to make sure that this competition is still on before heading down. If not, check out Ippudo at Mandarin Gallery, Orchard Road. I dig it.

Illuma ramen

Before we left Singapore to head back to Melbourne for our move to Sydney, we gave mum a nice treat at Sky 57, Marina Sands. It is located in tower one and on level 57. We were hoping for a nice view but unfortunately, it rained. We still had a really nice meal. Sky 57 serves up Modern Asian cuisine. The plates were very well presented, the flavours worked well together and the food was cooked well. You can choose between S$48 or S$60 for a 3 and 4 course Business Luncheon menu respectively. Of course, ala carte menu is available. I don’t usually have fine dining in Singapore but if this is a peak into what is on offer, I might just consider it properly on my next trip.

pan fried fish on risotto and buttery sauce

On our final day in Singapore, I finally got to try the infamous Jalan Tau Long Mee Pok at Simpang Bedok. The wait is long. Mister had it in the morning with mum and they had to wait for 45 minutes and in the afternoon after the peak time crowd, I still had to wait for about 20mins. There is also a yong tau foo stall next door that is pretty damn good. Mum usually goes to Ampang Yong Tau Foo on East Coast Road. I will recommend that as well.

Mee pok

This is not all that we ate. There are some disappointing ones that I have not added to this list and also snacks in between. I reckon I would have instagram a lot more of our in between eating. And below is a list of the Singapore posts that I have written:

• Old Airport Road 
• Round up of Singapore eating in July
• Sammy Curry
• Getting fat in Singapore
• I had Chwee Kueh and kopi for breakfast
• Latest flickr album

I have been away from Singapore for such a long time. My go to Singapore blog and the one that I trust and has stayed true to Singapore hawker food is ieatishootipost. He even has an ieat hawker app which I used a little. It is actually pretty awesome. Check it out. I trust his judgement a lot.

Locations:

• Bedok Interchange Food Center - 207 New Upper Changi Road
• Maxwell Market – 1 Kadayanallur Street
• Amoy Street Food Center - 7 Maxwell Road
• Simpang Bedok is just Simpang Bedok
• Sky 58 – Marina Sands
• Ampang yong tau foo – 225 East Coast Road
• Big Eater - 4 Jalan Pari Burong, Picardy Gardens
• Long Beach Dempsey – 25 Dempsey Road
• Chin Mee Chin – 204 East Coast Road
• Bengawan Solo (Nyonya kueh)
• Ya Kun Kaya Toast