FoodieChat

Part 2 of my trip away – Singapore, care of a $1 flight from Penang on Jetstar (which changed the carrier to Valuair ).

My friend recommended the new food court, called Food Republic in Wisma Atria for a well priced fresh cooked meal, and another friend recommended I tried the “Fried Carrot Cake”. It’s basically a chopped up turnip cake stir fried in sambal chilli, and fashioned into a tasty omelette.  Just S$3 a serve, I seriously loved it. The chilli was just a hint of what was to come!

When one thinks of Singapore, the one thing that comes to everyone’s mind is Singapore Chilli Crab.  What is acknowledged as the best place to get it not just by visitors and expats, but locals as well is Jumbo Seafood Restaurant.  It’s a chain, and we went to the one at Clarke Quay, which is Singapore’s take on Southbank or King Street Wharf or Darling Harbour.  The crab is sooooo meaty, with huge claws.  The sauce is sticky, sweet, tangy, tomato-ey, with a hint of chilli, with egg through it.  Order a mantou bun to dunk into the sauce!

Another unique dish in Singapore is cereal prawns. You can have them shelled or deshelled. Basically they are coated in a sweet, crispy crumb not really like KFC, but not really like tempura either. I must admit, I was so-so on these because the sweetness was a bit over powering. 

One of my favourite dishes is taro scallops, and Jumbo does a great version – fashioning them into mini abalone shapes!

Wandering around Clarke Quay and over our way to Robertson Quay, my friend took me to an amazing patisserie, Canelle. Also a chain, these unique creations that are so haute cuisine just look way too good to eat.  Having shared 1kg of crab between two and all those prawns and scallops, sadly our stomachs were groaning with the digestion task, and hence, we stood and looked and finally settled on one to share.

 

 

This amazing chocolate dome has such perfectly smooth glacage, topped with the tempured chocolate dome on top was in fact a dark chocolate mousse cake with a hint of sour cherry in the moist centre.  It was an architectural feat that the smooth creamy mousse could hold its structure so well.  It definitely deserves to be admired before it’s devoured. S$7 each which isn’t bad for what must be so much work.

I wasn’t that impressed with Boat Quay, which is also a waterfront area, as the restaurants seemed more touristy and less trendy. We had then reached the financial district, and thinking our lunch options were now finished, we stumbled upon this tiny restaurant on the street behind Boat Quay.  It was a nonya restaurant, and they had this terrific value S$10 meal deal, which included a drink, main and dessert.  Even without the deal, it would be inexpensive enough.  We had this traditional drink that was sour but sweet. Sour from refreshing lemon juice, sweet with sugar, and had some chewy pink agar bits in the bottom.  Actually I can’t exactly name what it was that made it a bit tart, it was kinda like sherbert even. Anyone know? 

Main choices included mee siam

But for me, what drew me to this restaurant was the popiah. It was the BEST. Nonya popiah apparently uses a different wrapper, with egg in it.  It was like a thin tortilla that was so soft, and not chewy at all.

Inside was the traditional turnip that was practically 100% of the yucky one I Had at Gurney Drive, but what made this one so amazing was the richness of the fresh prawns, the sweet crabmeat, and the generous peanut-hoisin sauce. Apparently 11 ingredients, this was made with TLC, and you know it’s gotta be good when they have to check the kitchen to see if there are any left! 

 For dessert, we had gula malacca.  A simple but delicious sago pudding served with coconut milk and palm sugar.

These crunchy cups of yumminess were similar to the popiah, with warm radish at the bottom, and topped again with crab, prawns and coriander.  

Singapore also does Hainan chicken rice too!

And finally, try the ice cream mochi balls!

 

 

 

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 10:12 pm and is filed under Asian, Eating out in Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.