OMG, has it really been almost 3 months since Asia? Never mind that, I shall continue my steadfast chronicling of my Asia trip. Slow and steady wins the race! Which race, I'm not sure. But I shall win!
On to Singapore! If you love to gorge yourself silly on food and are looking for an one stop shop to sample the best smorgasbord of food, go now to Singapore. Now. Why are you still here? Go!
We had one precious precious day in Singapore, mainly to eat. I kid you not. I squeezed in Singapore in the name of culinary education. Singapore is full of hawker centers, which are the kind of food courts that I imagine gods and angels frequent in heaven. Beyond hawker centers, you can pretty much head to any one of their ginormous malls and hit up a food court. By 10:30, J-me and I made our way to a hawker center for our first meal. Yes, 10:30, we wanted to get a head start on feasting. Don't judge us. We only had one day, remember?!
Maxwell Hawker Center was a must eat on my list because my culinary soul mate, Anthony Bourdain, ate there for a Singapore episode of No Reservations. We went there to seek out not only the uber famous Tian Tian Chicken, but to get other culinary delights that won street food awards in Singapore I discovered during my obsessive research.
First up, Lim Kee banana fritters - basically deep fried banana breaded in a tempura like crust. We got a fresh piece straight out of the fryer. The banana was ripe and sweet. The breading offered an awesome crunch contrasting the softness of the ripe banana. I was pleasantly surprised that the breading was not at all greasy. This was a win.
Anything stuffed pancake-like needs to be digested in my tummy. Tanglin curry puff fit that description and went into my tummy. This was yum too, flaky crust and a savory curry stuffing. I liked it.
Hong Jia oyster pancake was an impulse by, meaning, it was not on my researched list. But Tony ate there! and his picture was on the stall! how could I not eat it. This was good as well, very different from any other oyster pancake I've had. It was studded with shrimp and peanuts. And... I can't remember the rest. Argh, slow and steady does not win the race in recalling food memories.
Onde onde are these mochi like things. Anything mochi, I like. So I ate these too.
Finally, the main event - Tian Tian chicken rice. After waiting for 30 minutes for the place to open (the line was already 10 deep by the time we got there) and another 20 minutes for my turn, we were rewarded with a bland looking plate of boiled chicken over rice. But it was everything everyone said it was. Awesome. How could a dish that is so deceptively simple have so many tasty nuances. The chicken was oily in the best way. But that's only an accompaniment to the depth of flavor that was the rice. The rice was cooked in the stock that the chicken was braised in. It had the same oiliness, the fragrant spices, an what can only be described as umami. Tender, sweet, salty. We mixed in some soy sauce and ginger sauce to bring out the flavor even more. We licked that plate dry. Should have gotten a large!
After Maxwell, we sampled random food at random food courts. At one, we stopped at The Breadbox stand and got some toast with a slab of butter. No, that's not cheese you see between the two slices. That was butter. Enough said. Yum.
For our dinner at Singapore, we headed over to No Sign Board Seafood per our cab driver's recommendation. White pepper crab? Sold! I gotta say.. this was one of the top 3 crabs ever. And I've eaten lots of them. I've never even heard of white pepper crab. Most spicy crab dishes are cooked with red chillies, but using white pepper is ingenious. It was so spicy and peppery but the subtle sweetness of the pepper (yes, pepper is sweet) really complemented the sweetness of the crab meat. It was expertly cooked, firm and delicious.
Along with the crab, we also got 2 of the largest razor clams I've ever seen. These were the size of three clams in one. They were simply dressed with garlic, ginger, scallions, and soy sauce. Just enough to bring out the natural sweetness of the clams. I heart.
To assuage my gluttonous guilt, we also ordered water spinach stir fried with dried fish. I love this dish. I must have had water spinach every other meal here in Asia.
There was so much to eat and so little time. The story of my life.
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