Two weeks after arriving in India, we decided to take a weekend trip to Singapore. I’ve lived in Singapore for 3 months for work approximately 10 years ago, and have fond memories of my time there, most of which can be attributed to the food cultural in Singapore. Unfortunately, Singaporean food has not really caught on in the States, and it is extremely hard to find decent Singaporean food outside of Singapore. The husband has never been, so I made sure to plan a weekend packed with trying as many different types of dishes as we can possibly handle.
We took the red-eye and landed in Singapore around 8am. While we waited for our luggage to come out, the husband, who just visited the airport’s public restroom, enthusiastically stated “I really like Singapore, this place has the softest toilet paper!” Yep, that’s what excites him. As an aside, does anyone else use the “face palm” emoji on a daily basis?
I want to forewarn you, this post will be full of food pictures, as we mostly just stuffed our face for the next three days. We stayed at the Dorsett Hotel in the heart of Chinatown. For those who have never visited Singapore before, try to stay in Chinatown, as three well-known Hawker Centers are in close proximity, and a lively nightlife. The Dorsett is reasonably priced, centrally located and has a really adorable decor. The room itself is tiny, but you won’t be spending much time there. Also they let us check in at 10am! How many hotels have you been to that allow you to check in that early?!
For our first stop in our quest to try ALL of the food in Singapore, we went to my favorite during my prior stay here, Maxwell Road Hawker Center. This was where I’ve spent a lot of time as a lonely expat with a grand total of 2 friends for three months. We went straight for the “star attraction” of Maxwell, the world famous Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice Stall (#1-10), which reportedly serves the best Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore (I wrote reportedly because Singaporeans are very passionate about their chicken rice and generally have strong opinions as to which one is the “best”). I’ve also included all the stall numbers because I think it will come in handy if you try to go to those places yourself, it can be extremely hard to find a specific stall in a crowded hawker center teemed with vendors and people. Tian Tian was easy to spot because it usually has a really long line next to it. Fortunately, we got there at 3pm on a Friday, as such the line was not as crazy as say, noonish on a Sunday (which is when we went back the second time). We waited for approximately 15 minutes.
To be honest, I have never been a huge fan of Hainanese chicken, I mean it is basically just boiled chicken. I know it is a sacrilege to say that sentence out loud in Singapore. However, Tian Tian’s dish is definitely better than your average chicken rice, the chicken was extremely tender, almost to “melt in your mouth” soft, and the rice was flavorful. The husband liked it, but declared that he would not have waited more than 20 minutes for the dish (typical impatient man).
Across from Tian Tian is another famous stall called Marina South Delicious Food (#01-35), which is famous for a dish called Fried Kway Teow (translated as fried rice cake strips). This is another signature Singaporean dish that consists of egg, Chinese sausage, cockles and bean sprouts. I’ve also ordered one of my favorite dishes here, Fried Oyster, which is basically an oyster omelette.
I understand that fried oyster omelette does not sound super appetizing, but it is actually quite good as oysters and eggs pair surprisingly well together. Meanwhile, Fried Kway Teow is a tastier version of Chow Fun.
After washing down the three delicious dishes with a refreshing whole coconut, we ventured to our next stop, Chinatown Complex Food Center, conveniently located five minute away. I made a beeline for Hawker Chan Soya Chicken Rice stand (#02-126), dubbed as the cheapest Michelin Starred Meal in the world (that’s right, the worlddddd). Unfortunately, as a number of blogs had warned me, the stall displayed a “sold out” sign. But it’s not even 4pm yet, I wailed to no one in particular. We meandered around the hawker center, determined to try soya chicken, any soya chicken will do that this point. The husband picked a random stand toward the back, while I went to seek out An Ji Xiang Hua Ice Jelly (#02-183).
The Soya Chicken was not great, the chicken itself was dry and bland, while the soy sauce was weirdly sweet. The bright star of this hawker center for us was the amazingly delicious homemade Sour Plum drink and the grass jelly ice with logan from An Ji Xiang Hua Ice Jelly. I didn’t bother to take a picture of the drink as the brown drink was not very photogenic, however it was hand’s down my favorite drink on this trip (we tried a lot of drinks). The sour plum drink was the perfect combination of sweet and sour, the ideal refreshment after being out in the crazy Singapore humidity.
I was still feeling down about not getting to eat Hawker Chan’s soya chicken when we exited Chinatown Complex Food Center. What was the first thing that greeted us? A restaurant titled “Hawker Chan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle”! It was like someone heard my complaint (which never happens), and purposely put this restaurant in our path. I know, I know, that’s not how it works. It was an ingenious marketing plan to open up a brick & mortar store right next to the hawker center.
Even though we were stuffed to the grills, I decided that since we were already here, we have to try it. I didn’t even know that Hawker Chan started a chain of restaurants. We ordered the famous Soya Chicken with Rice, as well as Thai Style Tofu. The soya chicken was… well… better than the one we tried at the Chinatown Food Center, but it was not worth the hype. I would choose Tian Tian’s Hainanese Chicken Rice over Soya Chicken Rice any day, as the former is more tender and juicy. I did, however, enjoyed the tofu. It was spongy and light . The best part of this short excursion was being inside an air conditioned room. The hawker stands can be great for their amazing selection of food and reasonable prices, but they can also be brutal in terms of the heat and humidity. Singapore’s weather is no joke.
We decided to burn off the ridiculous amount of food we’ve had in just under 3 hours by taking the 20 minute walk to Clarke Quay. This was my first time seeing the current version of Clarke Quay complex, and I loved it. The complex holds a large variety of restaurants, bars and clubs, a perfect one-stop shop for a fun night out.
We took a leisurely stroll around the water and ended up in Clarke Quay Central Mall in order to get some more time in an air conditioned space. While the husband was busy looking for a place to get a haircut, I discovered the place of my dreams, L’Atelier TiramiSu. The cafe’s main focus was tiramisu, and it offered a large variety of flavors. It was heavenly for a tiramisu lover like me.
The flavor selections included lavender, Earl Grey, dark cherries, and more. I’ve opted for Lychee flavor. It was one of my favorite desserts on this trip. The mascarpone had just the right amount of sweetness and the perfect hint of lychee, while the lady fingers were moist, but not soggy. This cafe represented one of my favorite things about desserts in Asia, the pastry chefs’ ability to infuse unique flavors into otherwise traditional western desserts.
As we exited the mall, the sun was in the process of setting, casting a gorgeous glow on the Singapore River. It was the first way to end day one, stay tuned for days two and three!
