Yummy Eats (Singapore Edition)
/As Tyler mentioned in his Top 5 post, we were beyond excited to try the food in Singapore. After our time in New Zealand and Australia where we ate in as much as possible and 5 months in South America, where we got our fill of meat and potatoes, we could not wait to get our hands (or should I say mouths?) on rice, noodles, seafood, fruit... well everything really. You'll notice that we ate at hawker centers, complexes which house numerous, inexpensive food stalls, almost exclusively (save for the chili crab) because the food is cheaper there and just as delicious, if not more, as compared to restaurants.
Chicken Rice from Heng Ji at the Chinatown Food Centre & Tian Tian at the Maxwell Food Centre
Poached chicken on top of rice infused with chicken stock. We were just a few minutes walk away from the most popular chicken rice place in Singapore, Tian Tian, made famous by Anthony Bourdain's show, No Reservations. Although we tried Tian Tian, we actually preferred Heng Ji in the Chinatown Food Centre as we found the chicken more tender and the chili sauce more flavorful.
Always a line at the Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice stall
Kopi and kaya toast from Good Morning Nanyang Cafe
The coffee of choice in Singapore, known as kopi, is a dark and full-bodied brew (*beans are often roasted with butter or lard) served with a healthy dose of condensed or evaporated milk. There are quite a number of ways to order kopi: with or without condensed milk, with or without evaporated milk, with or without sugar or some combination of the above. We preferred it the regular way, coffee with condensed milk and we found our favorite at Good Morning Nanyang Cafe. While there, we also tried kaya toast: warm and crispy toasted bread served with butter and coconut jam made from eggs, sugar and coconut milk. It makes for a perfect breakfast or snack alongside a cup of kopi and some boiled eggs.
Chili Crab from Chinatown Seafood Restaurant
This is a messy one but oh so worth it: crab cooked in a tangy, sweet and sour, spicy tomato chili-based sauce. Make sure to get it with fried bread to soak up the sauce!
Black carrot cake (chai tow kway) from Chinatown Food Street
Cubes of steamed rice flour and radish fried with eggs to crispy perfection. Served white or dark. When served dark, like the picture below, it's seasoned with a thick sweet dark sauce.
Hokkien Mee from Chinatown Food Street
Noodles fried in seafood stock, egg and garlic and topped with fresh prawns. It was a bit too fishy for my taste but Tyler sure enjoyed the dish.
Too hungry to worry about taking a proper picture!
Satay Bee Hoon from Hock Leng
Satay sauce, a spicy peanut sauce, is a popular accompaniment in Singapore, especially with grilled meat skewers. We tried a different version of it, which consisted of rice vermicelli covered with satay sauce and topped with seafood.
Xia Long Bao from Chinatown Food Centre (stand 02-135)
The best steamed buns in Singapore. 10 for $4.40. What a deal.
Sweets
Mango ice cream (other flavors available) in a multicolored piece of bread from a street cart.
Ice Kachang from the Maxwell Food Centre
Shaved ice with colored syrups and condensed milk + jelly, beans, sweet corn, palm seeds. This one also came with mango!