East! - A Tale in Three Parts (Part 2)
Arriving in Singapore in the middle of the night (shortly before 1:00 am), I was confronted with a huge crowd of visitors from mainland China and from South Korea, making for a very long line at immigration. By the time I left the airport, it was a little after 2:00 am and I was hungry. Not knowing where to go, or what to eat, it was fish curry and prata.
Food in Singapore is inexpensive and delicious. You can visit any hawker center, food stall or coffee shop and have an incredible meal. Case in point is this plate of mee rebus that I had an a non-descript hawker center somewhere near Tampines. The gravy was thick and just a little sweet. Topped with fried shallots and fresh green chilies, this is one of my favorites.
On this trip to Singapore, I ate at a few more restaurants than I did on my last visit, one of being this place, Chef Kang's Canton Wok. From the illuminated sign outside, you'd think he was Singapore's version of the Iron Chef.
I enjoyed a meal here with three friends a week after I had arrived in town. We started with a bowl of soup, a plate of sweet and sticky fried lotus root and some deep fried fish skin.
Next to arrive was this dish which was made using three different types of egg. Salted duck egg, century egg and slightly scrambled eggs were served sauteed with spinach in a light pool of savory gravy.
Shortly after this dish arrived, our crab dishes were brought to the table. The first of which was this steamed crab on glutinous rice. The sticky rice had been delicately flavored with crab broth, garlic and chopped green onions (among other things).
The next was a dish of crab that had been cooked in a creamy butter sauce. Decandent for sure, I couldn't help but drink down every bit of the broth in the bowl.
With hawker centers and coffeeshops almost at your beck and call, you can stop for a plate of Hainanese chicken rice near the Tampines MRT station...
or drive 5 minutes away to enjoy a nice packet of nasi lemak for less than S$2.00.
And if that doesn't thrill you, or if you find yourself craving something else for breakfast...walk down the block and help yourself to piping hot bowl of laksa lemak.
Here in Singapore, you'll also find a number of outlets of the famed Din Tai Fung (this one is at Raffles City).
It was a late lunch one day, and I just had to try the xiao long bao. Here the skin was folded beautifully. The tiny pleats made this a joy to look at, but upon first taste, I discovered that there was very little "soup" inside the dumplings and that the skins were much too thick.
To go with the xiao long bao, I had some thinly sliced (cold) beef, a pan fried pork chop with fried rice and a HUGE plate of dou miao sauteed with pork and garlic.
That evening, we had initially wanted to have dinner at Baba Inn, a Peranakan restaurant. Upon entering the parking lot, we had found it closed so we decided to take a drive down to True Blue Cuisine in Katong near Joo Chiat Road.
Stepping inside, the restaurant, makes you feel as though you are stepping into someone's home. The photographs and the Peranakan antiques are exquisite and fascinating. We sat down, placed our order, and waited for the procession of food to start arriving at the table.
First to be delivered was the ngoh hiang. While I prefer ngoh hiang which is crisp and crunchy, these were well seasoned, tender and flavorful -- tasty enough to eat without the sweet dipping sauce.
Along with the ngoh hiang, we indulged in a "salad" made with pomelo and garnished edible orchids.
A short time later, my favorite dish arrived -- ayam buah keluak. Chicken is slowed cooked with buah keluak, a hard black nut the size of a flattened golf ball. The nut meat is removed from the shell and pounded with salt and sugar before being returned to the shell to cook. The bitterness goes well with the flavors of the tender chicken. This was better than the dish I enjoyed at Ivin's last year.
And finally, the last to arrive was the beef rendang. Slow cooked "dry" beef in a thick coconut flavored spicy gravy.
After all that deliciousness, the next day, I decide to have something simple. Here's a plate of wanton mee (dry style). Served with some chilli and a bowl of salty broth and wantons on the side, it was simple and extremely satisfying.
Later in the day, it was dinner with friends as one of the more well known Hokkien restaurants, Beng Hiang.
One of the specialities here is the crispy oyster omelette.
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