In my last Singapore post I showed you about the high end of Singapore. And although it has been a good 15 years since my last visit before that we used to visit a lot. My mother is Singaporean and every few years we’d get on a plane to visit my aunt, uncles and countless cousins. I can tell you these five things about Singaporeans:
1. Singaporeans are obsessed with food. Like seriously obsessed. They will spiritedly debate the merits of their favourite chicken rice, char kway teow, oyster omelette place and then cluck at you good naturedly for going to the wrong place or give you a loud bellow of “Approved!” for selecting the right place.
2. They love high end and they love low end food. By low end I mean cheap hawker centre meals where deliciously fragrant and flavoursome food can be had, in the heat and humidity, for a mere $1 per drink or $2-$4 per main meal. The high end here is higher than the high end is a lot of countries with the most expensive meals costing about $400SGD per head.
3. They love to shop and the shops are open until late to cater for this love.
4. They don’t seem to sleep much. They’re too busy working, eating and shopping.
5. They are obsessed with food. They really are. So it’s no wonder that with a mother from Singapore I would be similarly devoted. It was in my genes…
So it would seem only fitting that we see Singapore, the other Singapore beyond the glittery 5 star jewels with some of the locals of Singapore. These people will uncover to us the hidden gems, the best places to eat where Singaporeans eat and the places about which they furiously debate.
Geylang Serai Food Market
No trip to Singapore is complete without a visit to a hawker centre. All of us were up early at the crack of dawn and ready to partake in Tony Tan’s food tour of local hawker centres and shops where he gives us a his view on the food and history of Singaporean cuisine. We start at the Geylang Serai food market where the hawker food sits on the level above the wet market below. It’s a predominantly Malay muslim market so the food is mostly halal.
Tony Tan
We start with the stands around the outside of the markets that sell dried shrimp and palm sugar. There are differences in the palm sugar here-we are used to paler palm sugars in Australia whereas here it is darker. Tony shows us belacan which is the pungent shrimp paste used in laksa and all sorts of other delicious dishes. There is also a fascinating black nut, the Buah Keluak which is poisonous and fishermen use to stun fish before they catch them.
The poisonous Buah Keluak black nut once buried in alkaline ash
The black nut is then boiled and roasted
When the fish eat the nuts they become dazed and float to the top making them easy to scoop up. The nut is poisonous without treatment but after treatment becomes deliciously edible (and we’ll get to try this later). Treatment involves burying it in alkaline ash and then boiling and roasting it which semi prepares it. It is then mixed with spices and the filling is then stuffed back into the shell and cooked. And I can’t help thinking about whoever thought of this process really must have wanted to eat this!
Tongkat Ali – Viagra for women and men!
Another interesting item is the Tongkat Ali which is the bark of the tree that is used in tea and coffee to increase how shall we say…stimulation. It is said to be like Viagra for both women and men! We tried some but sadly didn’t feel any effect which is probably a good thing as our other halves were at home in Sydney…
The Wet Market
We enter the wet market and it is so named because the ice used to pack and keep the fish for selling makes the floor very wet. Starting at 5:30am there are all types of fish for sale in the ten or so stands that sell fish with prices marked per whole fish rather than by weight. There is a stand with fresh cockles being scooped up.
Scooping cockles
The two types of coffee that make up Singapore coffee
Tony holds two types of coffee beans in his hands. One is roasted in margarine and sugar and has a glossy coating to it and another looks more like a regular coffee bean. He urges us to put one of each in our mouths to taste the difference. Singapore coffee is a 50/50 blend of these beans.
We pass a stall where “Auntie” (everyone older is pretty much auntie or uncle) is chewing on a betel leaf wrapped in betel nut. She is also making pot pourri out of flowers and shredded pandan leaves to leave around the home which she packages up in newspaper and staples shut. Tony tells us that many of the older generation have become addicted to chewing on the betel nut and this leads to problems like involuntary drooling but the initial feeling is that of relaxation. He buys a few for us to try as Alison and I want to give it a go a bit later as they suggest having a toothbrush handy as it turns your mouth brown (as if involuntary drooling didn’t sound unglamourous enough!).
But enough shopping, we’re hungry! All of these smells is enough to make a girl suddenly want breakfast and as in Asian countries, the best places for food are the ones with long queues. We line up at this stand which is popular for their Nasi Padang dishes and Tony tells us that the owner has also made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Beef Lung
Pork is one meat that isn’t sold here because it is a predominantly Muslim market but meats such as beef, chicken and goat are popular and they also sell offal including beef lung, spleen and tendon. As we are getting hungry (it’s lunchtime according to our Sydney based tummies), we follow Tony around to gather the best of what the hawker centre offers including the beef lung above. I try a bite and it is flavoursome and quite firm in texture and actually quite pleasant indeed without the overtly strong offal smell that some offal has.
This looks like a lot of food but there were seven of us I promise! This is the drinks and sweets selection including kuih ubi (cassava cake), onde onde, green and white pandan cake, roti boy, silken tofu with syrup, kuih dadar (the green rolls). I do love Asian based sweets which use a lot of coconut and items such as beans or fruit.
After trying the Nasi Lemak from the stall above I can see why there is such a queue. It’s a lovely balance of flavours and the killer? It’s about $1 for this package of goodness! No wonder people eat out all the time…
The mee siam comes with a tangle of vermicelli noodles, half a fresh kaffir lime, egg, tofu and a whole lot of flavour. But my heart is won by the nasi lemak.
And of course an array of drinks in this humidity! The Milo dinosaur with what can only be described as a kid portioned serving of Milo powder is fabulously Milo-y and how I would have made my Milo milk as a child if I had been allowed to. The Cendol is a favourite with the coconut milk, green tapioca “worms” and syrup.
Chiku fruit
Our lunch eaten we take to browsing the streets where we stop by a fruit store which has some unusual fruit. These brown fruit are called chiku and feel like ripe figs but taste like a caramel flavour combined with an overripe taste. The pick is the Golden Egg fruit below which tastes somewhere between a mango and a kumquat. They are sweet and slightly tart and you can eat the skin and it reminds me of the achacha fruit.
Golden egg fruit (said to be a mixture of kumquat and mango)
5B
And a not so quick pop into a kitchenware store 5B on Joo Chiat Road which stands for 5 brothers. This shop has an amazing amount of kitchen goodies at ridiculously low prices. The icing tips below were $6.50SGD (about $5AUD/$5.13USD) for the entire set of tips which is a steal. And I sort of had to drag myself out of here but not before I bought some tiny petit four molds for $1.20SGD each!
Alison and her icing tips for $6.50
Fabulously inexpensive cooking tools
328 Katong Laksa
And if you think we’re done with our tummies you would be mistaken because our next stop is one of Anthony Bourdain’s favourites, 328 Laksa. Run by a former beauty queen she stirs the big pot of laksa soup which she tells us is the key to good laksa. Matthew our photographer tells us that every family has their own laksa recipe and his mum’s involved adding earth worms to the fried shrimp and frying them together!
Anthony Bourdain in the above pic
328 Laksa has been open for 13 years now and dishes out hundreds of bowls of laksa a day. Because they are so popular, they can charge the comparatively high sum of $4 (Sandra tells us that the usual price for laksa is $2). Here only rice noodles are used and they cut them up so that people don’t need to use chopsticks to eat it using just a spoon. The reason is because selling street food was not permitted and having the extra chopsticks made it harder as it was another thing to haul away when the authorities were after you!
Laksa $4SGD (approximately $3AUD)
We watch her dunking the noodles and bean sprouts into the soup but then fishing it out with a specially made ladle with holes punched into it which allows the soup to drain out. She repeats this several times until the vegetables are cooked and the noodles have been dipped and they then sprinkle laksa leaves and chilli sauce over the laksa .
Laksa leaves
I take spoonful of the laksa and it is fantastic. The cockles, which are initially placed raw in the broth are cooked by the hot broth. They are soft as are the prawns and there are also thinly sliced pieces of fish cake. The most traditional drink to have with this is the lime juice which is sweet and refreshing in this heat.
Lime juice
Rojak
I try some rojak which is always one of my favourite cooling salads-it’s kind of like having a salad with a lot of dressing. Pieces of fruit and vegetables are tossed in a rich peanutty sauce and comes with slices of century egg which isn’t anywhere near as fearsome as I thought it would be. It’s like boiled egg but more jellied and salty.
Chin Mee Chin Confectionery
‘
And now onto sweets! We stop by Chin Mee Chin Confectionery which is famous for their kaya toast. Kaya is an ambrosial coconut jam with an eggy custardy flavour to it and it is so good that I have been known to eat it by the spoonful. Here they bake wholemeal fruit buns and spread the kaya and butter over it. The usual pairing is with a soft boiled egg with soy sauce which is very soft boiled and you dip in the sweet toasted kaya bun into the salty soft egg.
Gwan Hoe Soon Restaurant
Tingkat tiffin
One last food stop on Tony’s tour! His tours usually last 7 hours and people sample about 40 items during this time but we’re having a condensed version. Our last stop is the oldest Perakanen restaurant in Singapore and chef Raymond Ouyang is one of the top 10 Perakanen chefs in Singapore.
The first dish is the babi bangang pork belly which is a delicious pork which he specialises in and he tells us is rarely if ever seen in Singapore. It has a fabulous crispy crackling and comes in long pieces with a garlic sauce brushed over the top and a sweeter sauce alongside it. It is served with two sorts of absolutely cracking pickles.
We then try the otak otak which is a minced fish and herb fish cake but much lighter.
The next dish is one that my mother makes quite a bit with cabbage, mushrooms and vermicelli noodles and sauce and reminds me of home cooking.
The last dish is an ayam chicken Buah Keluak with the aforementioned black nuts inside. They’re similar to fishing out the flesh from inside an escargot and here they come partially cracked for easy access. The meat needs to be prised out with a teaspoon angled just so. The flesh is gorgeously rich and just packed full of flavour and despite how much work this takes, taste wise it is worth the effort.
Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice
Barley water $1.10
We end off the day by trying out a chicken rice place called Wee Nam Kee. I do adore chicken rice and here you can get yin and yang style which is half white chicken (boiled) and half roasted on the plate along with a bowl of the broth and a bowl of rice. We pair this with barley water which reminds me of childhood trips to Singapore.
Chicken rice (yin yang) $6
The chicken comes out and we add the ginger and chilli sauces to it. The chicken is nice but I don’t know if this is the best chicken I’ve had. The rice, seasoned with duck sauce provided on the table however is brilliant as is the broth. And I’ve heard that some places are known for their chicken but not for their rice and vice versa. And if you want a furious debate ask a Singaporean their opinion on it! 
Little India
We’re up bright and early the next morning to have our breakfast at another hawker centre from another local’s perspective. I could definitely get used to this! Today we’re headed towards the Little India area where Singapore’s sizeable Indian population live. Here produce is the absolutely freshest that it can be. Many of the buildings have not been refurbished so that you can see them all in their original 1920′s state. Every sunday evening, thousands of members of the Indian commmunity and foreign workers gather in Little India.
Mini cucumbers alongside beetroot
The chilli padi or bird’s eye chilli
Our tour guide Hai who pioneered the concept of hostels in Little India shows us around the different fruit and vegetables stands. Okra, a popular vegetable in Indian cuisine comes in two sizes, regular and jumbo which are the older okra. There are also enormous bananas that are different from plantains and the chilli padi which is the second hottest chilli.
Pusat Tekka Centre, Little India
We arrive at our breakfast destination at Pusat Tekka Centre. I remember the first time I went to a hawker centre when I was small. I thought “Oh my god where are they taking me?”. But what I quickly learned after my first bite of hawker food is how tasty and cheap the food is and how hawker centres are ingrained into Singaporean culture. People may drop $400 on a meal but they also love their hawker centres.
We take our pick of nearby stalls where we try a range of food including biryani. Here they have a version of biryani where the spices and marinade are not only infused into the meat but also the uncooked rice making the biryani incredibly fragrant and flavoursome. The shop owner scoops it out from a giant pot of biryani and fishes out a piece of chicken among the mutton and fish pieces buried underneath the rice and boiled eggs.
We take this to the table and eat it with our hands using the right hand only and using the thumb to scoop up the rice onto the four fingers held tightly together. The thumb then pushes the food in the mouth. And yes this was my first time doing this and I made a royal mess!
We try and plain roti and a murtabak stuffed with mutton and vegetables for $4. We watch the shop owner rhythmically roll the roti without even having to look at it while he is talking to us. And apparently he has been the subject of many write ups as have many of the stalls here.
Teh cino, cendol and teh tarik $1SGD each
I adore the teh cino which has an added layer of sweetened condensed milk to the hot tea. And everyone’s favourite drink the cendol comes here with added sweetened condensed milk in the Indian version of the drink.
And I can’t resist but try the Indian version of rojak which is one of my favourite dishes. Here the sauce comes separately unlike the Chinese version where it is all mixed in together. You can pick the items you want in the rojak and they slice them up and add some cucumber pieces and voila you have the tastiest salad ever!
Mani, you’d better be wrong!
A nice fortune
Have you ever had a fortune told? Well here in Little India there is a little parrot called Mani who for $5 will pull out a card with a fortune for you. Mine was a terrible fortune but Alison’s was much better and promised marriage for her (and for me too, better not tell Mr NQN!).
A not so nice fortune. I’m not your friend any more Mani!
Betel nut time!
Alison trying to chew…
My mouth was in an unhappy place…
Oh and did you want to hear about that strange betel nut thing? Alison from delicious. magazine came to my hotel room to try it (safety in numbers and all that). She popped the whole leaf in her mouth and chewed. Her reaction wasn’t very encouraging as she was grimacing. I then bit into the leaf and started chewing for all of about 20 seconds before I realised that this was probably a fast path to hell or vomiting and I spat it out. I’m not a fan of bitter items and this was bitter and then some. It also had a disturbingly numbing effect on my mouth which for someone about to have a meal was not desirable. but as they say, when in Singapore do as the Singaporeans do!
A brown tongue from chewing the betel leaves!
But I take some consolation in the fact that I tried it so that you didn’t have to!
So tell me Dear Reader, when you go on holiday do you like to eat where locals do? And do you try things that you’ve never tried before?
Little India
NQN travelled to and explored Singapore as a guest of the Singapore Tourism Board.
Tony Tan’s Tours
http://www.betelbox.com/tour-food.htm
Geylang Serai Food Market
1 Geylang Serai #01-K1
Singapore 402001
1800 222 2121
5B
42 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore
Tel +65 64587228
328 Katong Laksa
53 East Coast Road, Singapore (three locations in total)
Tel: +65 9021 2384
Chin Mee Chin Confectionery
204 East Coast Road, Singapore 428903
Tel: +65 6345 0419
Guan Hoe Soon Restaurant
38 Joo Chiat Place, Singapore 427762
Tel: +65 6344 2761
Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice
Novena Ville, 275 Thomson Road, Singapore 307645
Open: 10.30am – 12 midnight (Daily)
Little India and Hai’s Walking Tour
http://www.the-inncrowd.com/walkingtoursindex.htm
Pusat Tekka Tekka Centre
665 Buffalo Road, Singapore 210665
Tel: +65 6736 6622
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86 Comments | Add your own
Wee Nam Kee!! This post made me so homesick for Singapore, and I’ve never lived there! But with so much family there, it’s such a familiar place, and I miss it terribly…
Hello nqn, that was a great write up, you really did a good amount of eating! Singapore looks great, i have only done the 5* side of it, so much more to see and do.
Thanks, james.
wow – what a wonderful foodie trip!!!!
You have whetted my appetite for Singapore flavours! I can hardly wait to go later this year and I think the tour for 7 hours of food and feasting sounds amazing.
The locals ALWAYS know the best places to eat, when in doubt-follow them!
Very cool that you ate all the local sgp foods. I’m drooling and wishing I was there too.
I normally would try it just coz I’m in a foreign country. I think it’s part of the experience to eat what the locals eat. There was an interesting episode I had in Vietnam a few years back because of this attitude haha
Singapore is a place on my bucket list. I can’t wait to go!
Awesome shopping and food in one place, is somewhere I HAVE to visit!
Thank goodness you waited to put this post up> not sure what my husband would have looked like when he came back if he had read this before his trip to Singapore last week. I love the pulled tea and the toast( can’t remember name).Wish I had gone too but alas I got to stay here and work. Great post Lorraine, will have to save it for my next trip.
Wow – looks like some trip! A lot of culture and edible treats shared between Malaysian culture too, but I will have to get me to Singapore one day…
Thank you so much for this wonderful insight into the beautiful Singapore, I have been many times to Singapore and I have only ever explored Orchard road. But you really have shown me the real Singapore and I can’t wait to go back! Cheers Sophie
Having grown up in Brunei with Singapore and Malaysian parents before moving to NZ and Aust., I am quite jealous that you’ve had Buak Keluak. It’s been almost 20 years since I’ve last had some, and the envy is still there.
There’s really nothing for it. The next overseas holiday will have to be Singapore.
Thank you for showing us a different side to Singapore. I love to go to local markets, however I draw the line at offal.
You make me feel like I am there–or like I want to jump on a plane! Nice post.
lol your face is classic!!!
We are taking our children to Sing in July and I can’t wait for them to try all the food – we are especially looking forward to a trip to East Coast for chilli crab – thanks for all the tips!
I am keen to try something ‘different’ but sometimes there’s only so far I would go. Earth worms in my laksa? No thank you =D
You facial expression after chewing that betel leaf is priceless! =D
I love this post. I’ve been to Singapore last year and visited a couple of hawker markets. The stalls were intimidating but the food was pretty good. I’m a bit adventurous so I’ll try just about anything and I wasn’t disappointed. I also went to the laksa restaurant at 328 you mention. Absolutely different from any laksa I’ve had here in Sydney but it was a nice-different. I’ll use your article as a guide the next time I go. Just thinking about makes me hungry and want to go for another trip!
wow this makes me really want to go to singapore now!
Geat photos. Never been to Singapore, looks like an amazing place with such diversity. One of the best meals I had was in Thailand, eating with the locals. We all sat on the floor at low tables, ordered off the Thai menu (yep – no English to be seen) and had the greatest meal of local crab, shrimp, and fish washed down with a few Heinekens. All for about AU$10 each… Marvellous!
If you don’t eat where the locals eat you may as well stay at home in my opinion. Singapore is my fave place to shop and eat. I love Sin Huat Eating house, one of Bourdains “places to eat before you die” and I long for more chilli crab from the food courts when I’m at home in Syd!
OMG Lorraine… this post make me want to fly out to Singapore immediately. I went to College in Singapore and used to go to Geylang and Pusat Tekka market for hawker foods. Thank you for posting all my fav foods and drinks…Love love this post
Singapore looks fascinating! I’ve never been, only to the airport on the way to India…
When I saw “beef lung” up the top I read it pronounced as “loong” and wondered what that was. So I googled it and eek! Realised it was actually lung. LOL
Your betel nut face is the same face I had when eating a handful of fennel seeds and sugar crystals in India.
Hi JT-Look out for an upcoming story about Sin Huat!
Seeing that Milo drink piled high with granules is exactly how I used to have it when I was a kid! What a great food tour! I’ll be in Singapore next year so I’ve taken some notes, thanks!
OMG, Lorraine, You ALWAYS deliver with your photos, adventures, humor, crisp writing, romance, relevance & lush FOOOOOD!
xxXX
You pretty much have the WHOLE package.
PS. I’d want to go where the locals go…it is those “out of the way corners” that you find the treasures.
Looks like one great trip! Definitely need to head there. Love the mix of all the cultures.
OMG, Lorraine – I probably won’t get any work done today, ’cause I’ll be scrolling up and down this blog! Thank you
! My family and I (and we are all Caucasian) almost moved to Singapore some 30 years ago to have a beautiful, safe focal point to indulge in our love affair with SE Asia and most of all, its food! We did both the high and low end of the food spectrum a couple of times a year – I always preferred the fab hawkers’ markets at night – had a heap of S & expat Oz friends to guide us. In the Indian quarter there was a wonderful shopfront restaurant called ‘Banana Leaf’ where one went to eat fish head curry at lunch. No cutlery – just a leaf put in front of you and the waiters circulating, first with rice, then curry, then condiments. Oh how we shocked many of the narrowminded we took there, when they realized they had to eat hot, saucy things with their hands!! 
! The only food I learned to avoid like the plague was the durian – never allergic to food, this had me swelled up like a balloon in five mins! 
! Thanks for the memory!!!
Love, love, LOVE this post about my adopted city!
I’ve been slowly making my way through the local cuisine but so far have been sticking with the more safe dishes. Not sure I could ever try the beef lung :S
The most expensive meal I have had here so far, if you can believe it, was at Luke Mangan’s Salt Bar & Grill! Great view, lovely food but oh so exxy $$$
I’m off to sign up for Tony Tan’s tour right now!
BuBbles
x.
Hi NQN, I am saving this blog entry on my delicious for my next trip to Singapore. I remember eating murtabak and rojak years ago when I travelled with my parents.
Ah…also, the beetle nut wrap( paan) comes in a sweet version too. Do give that a try next time and ask them to skip the nut. It is bitter indeed. N
I just adore how clean it all is over there, puts some of Australia’s, in particular, Sydney shops/food courts to absolute SHAME !!!
We had a stopover in Singapore a few years ago and loved eating in the ‘low end’. Our blue eyed blond haired daughter was 5 months old and the locals all wanted to cuddle her (while we ate)! I would love to buy stuff in that kitchen shop…
How interesting Lorraine. I want to try rojak now. I think I had better google it first though. I love kaya jam too and bought some in Singapore to bring home but as I didn’t put it into my suitcase, it was confiscated!
LOL, I think I’ll skip the betel nut, but the pork belly – I’ll have that by the plateful.
I struggle with the humidity there, but adore the food culture of Singapore. We were last there 2 years ago and it must be about time for another kid-free trip, I think.
Love Singapore and all it has to offer. My daughter ate Duck rice from the hawker stalls in Chinatown three days in a row!! It was so tasty and cost only S$3.50 but we also loved the high end and would love to go back to check out the new Marina Bay Sands complex.
You certainly covered a lot of ground on this trip.
Singapore is awesome. A true foodies paradise.
Matthew
Fantastic report Lorraine!
Interesting topics – Keluak nuts, Tongkat Ali, Indian rojak, parrot fortune teller…etc. And about those betel nuts – in Indonesia it is an addiction among the villagewomen. They even add lime to it, which ruins their teeth. They chew and spit it all day – but the spit is bright red not unlike blood…
@ JT – you have answered Lorraine’s Q for me – why go anywhere if you look out for a Macca’s sign or KFC? (humble apologies and I w’draw the comments ere I get sued!)
!
Coming back to reread, the love most of us feel is palpable – Lorraine: could the Singapore Tourist Board be made aware? My second husband & I worked with them v harmoniously when he/I wrote for a Sydney publication way back when?!
Oh, I’m homesick just looking at these photos. I haven’t lived in Singapore since I was a toddler but I visit often and everything in your post brings back fond memories.
SSG xxx
Great timing Lorraine! My family and I are leaving the Middle East in 2 weeks time after working here for 4+ years and we’re going back to Sydney via a 3 night stopover in Singapore. Never been before so thanks for the info….really looking forward to trying the food!
Great post! I am so desperate to get to Singapore! Those black nuts sound incredibly intriguing and I am absolutely dying to try this kaya, butter and toast thing! Billy from ATFT posted a recipe but where the heck am I going to find pandan leaf in this rural Victorian wilderness. Sigh. Oh, I should try to find some jam online. Ok, super excited at the prospect – must dash!
I’m going to Singapore and Malaysia in August and can’t wait to try all the food. My man doesn’t like the idea of eating ‘street food’ cause he thinks I’ll get sick. I’m going to have to do some serious educating before then!
a lovely and interesting post ! so glad I didnt have to try the betel nut. tq
Can’t wait to get on the plane to Singapore on 2 July – for the food and the shopping. They have the best Chicken Rice and you’ve saved me some research on markets!! Yum.
The streets of singapore are some of my favourite places to eat at. I am always in the look out for places where locals eat when I travel. Adding these to my list
Fantastic Lorraine, I loved reading this post – 7 hours of eating – bring it on girl
You’ve really made me want to go there, what a foodie paradise huh.
Definitely like the locals. And Singapore is one of the yummiest places to do that!
Gosh!! How many products!! Just wondering why Rick Stein or Gordom Ramsay never show any of this kind of prodcuts in their show around asia!
I live in Singapore and I need to go on that tour! That chicken curry that you had is one of my favorite Peranakan dishes… but I never realized that the inside of the nuts could be scooped out and eaten! They look so hard and inedible! Definitely will be trying it soon.
I always try the local food, and I do travel a lot, more than 4 times a year. I just returned from Singapore last Sunday, and already I miss the good eating. I had my chicken rice at the Balestier branch of Boon Tong Kee. I wish I had this info, though. Thanks for sharing!
Everything looks so fantastic, I love odd drinks. Love sporean mud crab!
WOW! I want to go to Singapore and try that laksa, it looks amazing, and that salad too…
Thanks for a great report – can’t wait to go to Singapore again – and the best thing to do is go armed with recommendations and venture to Hawker Centres and then keep your eyes open (a queue is a good start) and “discover” some treasures of your own – our famaily is chicken rice and roti prata obsessed!!!!!
Is there any culture not obsessed with food?
I wouldn’t try the beef lung…
Mmmmmmm beef lung…….
Now you have given me the travel bug again! We always try and find the food and food shopping places popular with the locals wherever we go. One always finds the best and most interesting stuff and sure to have an amazing local experience!
Sigh i wanna go singapore too.
Gosh…I miss home now
I miss my neighbourhood hawker center and wet market.
That is one hella huge pot of biryani! Looks good though.
)
Think of it as a good thing you don’t like betel leaf Lorraine, apparently they are carcinogenic! (Doesn’t stop me from eating miang goong though
sigh. i want your life. amazing post.
This post has brought back loads of memories!! being a singaporean myself and not having the opportunity to go back in 5 years! it really touched my heart – thanks Lorraine
what a day!! I would love to try the goldeb egg fruit and barley water!! love the last pics!!
ps..how glad I am you dumped that ex!! how rude, every women deserves five star!! lol
sweetlife
Lovely article on Skngaporean eating habits
I love little food stalls on the road -one of my favourite things about China! Rojak sounds a bit scary to me though.. century egg and fruit don’t seem to go together to me..
amazing trip Lorraine. Lucky girl!
This is an awesome look into singaporean cuisine. My parents and I are going to extend our stopover now and hopefully take Tony’s tour.
Thank you for this post. We are staying in Spore is July and I want to see THIS Spore!
“Never listen to anyone”? Oh heavens! That’s not a good piece of advice, surely!
Thank you Lorraine, I loveloveloved this post! I still get hit by pangs of travel-longing so painful they almost (or do) make me cry, so I just loved diving into this delcious wonderful post with all the stories and nuggets of information
S’porean here! Makes me miss home! Was pleasantly surprised to come by this post! Just a note Lorraine, betel nut is a potent carcinogenic when chewed for long periods of time(speaking as a dental person), is great you didnt find it palatable heh. :p
It’s interesting that 328 Laksa cut up your laksa noodles. That takes out the challenge and fun of eating laska as you try to eat the noodles with your chopsticks in a manner that won’t platter the red soup all over your shirt.
thanks for the post!!
i love the cheap SG food too!
I totally ‘get’ this post! Growing up in Singapore, I really have to agree with the fact that Singaporeans LOVE food. It’s really cheap to eat out over here, so it is not uncommon for people to eat out on week nights.
That aside, Lorraine, I’ve really learnt a lot from this post too. I never knew the singaporean coffee is made of that 50/50 combination.
And yes, people are crazy about chicken rice, and can go on a huge debate about the best chicken rice:)
Oh yes! I love street food & there’s nothing better than travelling overseas & eating like the locals
Love the look of the laksa & the pork belly especially!
Mmm… I LOVE Singaporean food
And yes… I like to eat where the locals do and try new foods! What’s the point of travelling if you dont?
I’ve never heard of the golden egg fruit, I wonder when that came about. I can’t keep up with all these new foods/fruit!
I loved this story, Lorraine. I lived in Singapore for more than two years and I loved the diversity of food and I loved the hawkers. Singapore is so clean, you could pretty much eat off the ground (…ok, slight exaggeration, but could be true). You didn’t have to worry about catching bugs, so you could eat anything and everything. You could try so many different types of foods for next to nothing. Laksa remains my favourite food to this day. I always go native when I am on holiday and I try something new at least once.
it’s a little weird reading about your own country from someone else’s perspective! but really nice and heartwarming too. i’m glad you had a great time in singapore!
and – thanks for the 5B tip. i live in the west, joo chiat is in the east (i know, singapore is so small why do we even bother). i shall make me a trip there sometime to check out the kitchen goodies.
Loved your photos Lorraine, total trip down memory lane. My parents lived in Singapore for many years, and I was a frequent visitor. I really do need to go back.
Lived in Singapore for a few years – this brings back memories of so much food that I miss! They don’t do it quite the same here in Sydney. Got to go back there someday – even if only to eat day in and day out! In between shopping, of course. lol
So jealous of you eating all that lovely food!
perfect timing – back there for week of eating very soon….
I can honestly say that the best haianese chicken I’ve ever had was at that same hawker center in little India! My fondest memories of Singapore involve the enthusiasm of my newfound local friends who would suggest the best eatery in town! I can’t wait to go back!
Reading this post makes me really homesick. Currently I get the best of both world I guess, half my time in Sydney and the other half in Singapore. Love what you posted. Yes we are insanely obsessed with food and eat 6 meals a day. And yes we will tell total strangers how to eat something and where to eat it. I love love my kaya toast and eggs. Let’s see if I get the craving to make some kaya.
Just returned last weekend from Singapore (and Malaysia and Hong Kong ) – aaah! I loved the food, the drinks, the variety color and smells……great to read your highlights Lorraine….brings back good memories
I love this post! I was in Sing last year and loved my hawker centre experience!
Cannot get enough of cereal prawns!
Reading your post makes me so happy that I’m not the only one who’s adventurous with food
Hi there – will be in Singapore in Feb 2012 – does Tony Tan lead daytimefood tours on Friday 10/02/12 covering Joo Chiat, Tiong Bahru, Chinatown and Little India or any combination of these. Would be most interested in a half day or whole day tour either 10am-1pm or 2pm – 6pm or a “double” tour of both combined. Looking forward to your response.Best regards,Arnie Gelber
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[...] want to go back to continue with the food obsession. Soon I hope! I might even consider taking this Singapore Fling: The Local’s Guide To Singapore’s Best Food tour next time, that my buddy Joshua Samuel Brown also blogged about [...]
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