Time now for the second in the Singapore series: the post about food.
I never thought of it that way before leaving, but once I got there, my Singapore visit began to resemble an exposition of animals- with one new variety of our dumb chums ending up on my plate or in my bowl at every meal. The list of animals I ate:
- Fish
- Crab
- Prawn
- Chicken
- Duck
- Oyster
- Squid
- Cow
- Pig
- Sheep
Much to MadMan’s likely disgust, the first thing I ever ate in Singapore was a mushroom bun, which my brother bought for me for breakfast after I landed. However, this weak start was made up by a visit to Marche for my birthday lunch.
Amit Varma would like Marche. It is decorated with life-size cow replicas, and there are pictures of happy cows on all the menus. The motto of the place is- I kid you not- Moo, moo.
So, what were the highlights of my gastronomic journey?
First off, calamansi juice. A calamansi is a lime from the Phillipines, and its fresh juice makes brilliant nimbu pani- without any need for sugar or salt. You just juice it, and it’s perfect.
Then, the two ‘meal in a bowl’s. There’s Laksa, a soup stew filled with whatever you like- I always thulped the seafood laksa- and fishball soup– that’s balls made of fish meat, and not literally, er, fish balls.
The green tea cans in the YMCA minibar were just the thing when you’d walked back from the food court.
Sushi was good too, and I only wish I’d had a more comprehensive range than the five piece set you get at food courts. Someday, I too will visit the temple of Yumski!
And on the subject of fish, I had this delightful mango and red chilli flavoured fish. The fish was okay, but the chilli did amazing things to the mango. I shall strongly recommend the combination to all my vegetarian friends.
As to deserts- there was the ten scoop sundae at Svensens which comes with its own container of dry ice to ensure that the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth scoops don’t melt while you’re finishing the first five. And, waffles with kaya paste/ blueberry sauce.
Kaya paste, incidentally, is the one thing the vegetarians actually liked in Singapore (besides the dosai at Little India). Plemi wanted to carry back lots and lots of kaya, but had already exceeded his baggage allowance. This inspired me to think of a Kaya pipeline from Singapore to Chennai, following the route of Bharti’s undersea cable. It isn’t all that original an idea- my uncle had once imagined a whisky pipeline from Dubai’s Duty Free Zone to Greater Kailash. Sadly nothing ever came of it.
It wasn’t a complete experience, of course. As I mentioned before, I never went to a proper sushi bar. I was also too chicken to try out durian and pig organ soup, and I completely forgot about the chocolate buffet at Fullertons.
That finishes the food. Next up, posts on Singaporean Mainstream Media, Blogs, and Blogger Meets.
Posted by Aadisht 