Live from Singapore! - Part 3

I tried to have bak kut teh yesterday, but was unsuccessful, so I tried again today.  Unfortunately for me, the stall was closed again.  Instead of venturing too far away for breakfast, and since I was hungry, I decided to go to the shop on the opposite corner.  They had laksa (S$3.00), so I decided to have that.

The gravy was fragrant and spicy and the portion size was just right for breakfast.

After breakfast, I walked over to Great World Centre for the free shuttle to Orchard Road.  After walking around for a bit, I met a friend who suggested dim sum at the Crystal Jade La Mian Xiao Long Bao at Scotts Shopping Centre.  We ordered the following dishes...

Carrot pastry (S$3.00).

Fried rice with shrimp, chicken and ham (S$10.00).

Crispy pork chop with pepper and salt (S$9.50).

Wanton with hot chilli sauce (S$4.50).

Steamed pork buns (S$2.00).

Golden pastry (S$5.00).

Fried Shanghai noodles with shredded meat and cabbage (sorry I didn't get the cost of this dish).

And the steamed chive shoot dumplings (S$3.00).

This meal totally disappointed us, especially because of the cost and quality of most of the dishes.  While my friend headed off to Borders to pick up a few books, I made my way over to Takashimaya and the food court.  Once there, after browsing around, I decided that I would have some Nonya desserts for high tea (!).  I purchased a few from Bengawan Solo to take back to the hotel.

The one that I was most interested in sampling was the pulut inti  (S$.65).

This one was just as good as it looked.  I think I'm going back for more.  I also got the lemper udang (S$.80)

The lapis sagu (S$.55).

The kueh salat (S$.55).

And finally, a slice of lapis cake (S$1.30).

Of all of these, my favorites were the pulut inti and the lapis cake.  I'm definitely going back to sample some of the other Nonya desserts.

After walking around a bit longer, I headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.  Our party of five was going to be dining at the No Signboard Seafood Restaurant at the Oasis...lucky me!

Food was ordered ahead of time, by a friend who lives just across the bridge.  We had a medium order of the sambal kangkong (S$10.00).

A medium order of the crispy fried baby squid (S$12.00).

An order of the deep-fried seasoned chicken (S$12.00).

This was actually chicken pieces seasoned with shrimp paste.  Yummy!

And finally, the chilli crab (crabs are sold by weight, two medium-sized crabs, S$91.00).

If you've never seen Sri Lankan crabs, you'll be as amazed as I was.  The crabs are huge and the chilli sauce is amazing.  This was served with some pieces of white bread.  What's the bread for?  To soak up all of that delicious gravy!  This was one of my favorite meals so far.

After dinner, we took a nice walk over the bridge to a friend's condo.  The view was wonderful and the five of us had a great time talking until 1:00 am!  Time to head home and get some rest.  I have so much more to do, and eat, tomorrow!

To be continued....

Comments

[Kathy]

Wow, I can't believe you tried so many different foods in a day, everything looks amazing especially the Sri Lankan crabs.
May your food adventures in Singapore get even better with every day!

[toru]

great stuff! but actually after lunar new year is a bad time to eat out. food generally taste bad as most of the ingredients are frozen because the restaurants stock up due to the fact that the shops are closed.

[MrsT]

I'm crying right now..!!! Reid.. !! you are eating all the food i love.. and miss so much..!!! How was the laksa .. anyway..???

[AugustusGloop]

Yum. The smorgasboard of desserts certainly got my attention! :P

I agree with FatManSeoul--did you weigh yourself before you left? And I'm sure you're eating it all just for our voyeuristic pleasure!

Are you seeing much of Singapore apart from the insides of restaurants? :P Not that we don't appreciate it. You are out-eating AugustusGloop!

[RONW]

Never read this blog when it's 2:00 am in the morning and all the restaurants are closed....

[Julia]

Reid, I know there's lots of great food here in SG, but do take some time to go enjoy the sights! :) Maybe you should quit your day job and become a gourmet food tour operator here; you're more passionate about the food here than some locals.

[Sam]

Reid - re the pulut inti - cmon you have to tell me what it is? tastes like? It looks really funky!

After seeing all that food, i don't think I need to eat breakfast today!

[babe_kl]

pulut inti is made from steamed glutinous rice mixed wid coconut cream and topped wid grated coconut cooked in palm sugar. its absolutely yummy!

[pinkcocoa]

That pulut inti...does it always come in that colour? And I miss lemper udang! It's my favourite malay kuih. I remember we used to have this for morning snacks in kindy! yum~

[Reid]

Hi Kathy,

I made a list of all the foods that I wanted to try before coming here. Can you believe that I'm not even through a fourth of it? The Sri Lankan crabs were huge and so yummy! I'm really going to have to learn how to cook chilli crab when I get back.

Hi toru,

Thanks for dropping by my blog.

The food is actually still quite nice. From what I've been told, most shops now only stay closed for the first couple of days after the first day of the Lunar New Year. I didn't experience any problems with the food not being fresh.

Hi MrsT,

The laksa was actually quite nice. It was really spicy, which I liked. I've been told that I need to go to Katong or Penang for the laksa. Hopefully I can make it.

Hi AG,

Yes. I actually did weigh myself first. =) And yes, I am seeing other things other than the insides of the hawker centers, food courts and restaurants. Those places are all along the way! =P

Hi RONW,

Unfortunately for me, I never made it to any of the late night hawker centers like Newton.

Hi Julia,

I'd love to become a gourmet tour operator, but then that would mean that I'd have to relocate to Singapore. I think I'd have a hard time gaining permanent residency for that type of job. It would be wonderful wouldn't it? I'd love to see the look on someone's face when they've had something that was utterly wonderful.

Hi Sam,

The pulut inti is quite funky looking isn't it? It's just glutinous rice that has a bit of coconut flavor to it. The color comes from some sort of flower, or so I've been told. The brown portion on top, is grated coconut that's been seasoned with gula melaka (palm sugar).

Hi babe_kl,

I have to agree. It was my favorite! I had it almost every day.

Hi pinkcocoa,

I honestly think that the pulut inti is normally white and brown in color. I think Bengawan Solo uses blue coloring to make it look nice. =) The lemper udang was nice too.