Singapore 2

A lovely few days in Singapore. A few last food stops today and then on to India tomorrow. Hard to believe. It's been a mix of wandering and bee-lining to various food-related destinations. Friday lunch brought us directly to a nearby hawker center for the most famous of the many Chicken Rice stalls - Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. The acclaimed locations can easily be picked out from the others by their numerous newspaper articles in the windows, and more importantly, by ever-present long lines (queues). 

Chicken rice, at its most basic, is little more than chicken that has been poached whole in a light, fragrant stock, sliced straight off the carcass and served over rice that has been cooked in that same stock. Ours was mild, aromatic, tender and quite delicate tasting, and was wonderfully complemented by a spicy, bright red chili sauce (locals insist that this is what separates the good from the the mediocre in the world of Singaporean chicken rice). After digesting a bit and hiding out from the daily afternoon downpour, we visited another stall in the same Chinatown center for another chicken rice from a Thai-muslim stall that had caught our eye - a deep fried version served with sambal sauce. Nicely fried, accompanied by lovely little bits of fried crispies and the sambal was deep, appropriately spicy, and sweet. A nice contrast to the first one. 

After a brief break back at the Hostel, we took the long walk along the Singapore river, by all the overpriced, heavily stylized restaurants and themed pubs, under the giant pastel-lit mushroom sculptures and across from what appeared to be an enormous bubble fountain, on our way for the famous Chili Crab. One of many iconic dishes for the city, Cindhu found a restaurant called Red House that seemed to promise one of the best experience for the dish. The experience was a little befuddling - being seated in a corner next to a service station, realizing too late that there were extra charges for the tea that was poured for us, the peanuts placed in front of us, and for using the two (not even close to being enough) small towels available on our table, and service that was at some times pushy and others non-existent. But in the end, the enormous chili-sauce/crab meat filled bowl with a pre-cracked, tender whole crab lurking amidst the richness was worth the Singapore prices and weird service. A quite messy experience. One can only do so much with chopsticks in this type of situation. The sauce had just the right amount of spice and was balanced richly with well cooked down tomatoes. The crab, despite the logistical challenge and general complete messiness, was flavorful and well cooked. We agreed that one of the real highlights were the steaming, crisp-outside, soft-fluffy-inside baked buns that were ordered along side (of course for another set of charges). The dough was nicely sweet (think funnel cake) and worked well for scooping up the huge excess of rich sauce.

Still sporting the 'stache. I've been going for 'old-timey', but I'm pretty sure it generally just comes off as 'weird uncle'. Travelling give me the luxury to experiment with goofy facial hair with some impunity - I promise it's not here to stay.

 Yesderday we met up with one of my dad's childhood friends who is has spent years in Singapore as a professor. Richard and his wife Mary have given us a wealth of local knowledge of opinions on food around the city and were very nice in taking us to one of their favorite Indian restaurants, Khansama, in Little India. The food was awesome (Cindhu insisted it's easily some of the most faithful Indian food she's found outside of India). Garlic naan, cauliflower stuffed roti, grilled kebabs, chicken sixty-five (one of Cindhu's favorites), aloo gobi, a rich, delicious fish curry and ginger tea. Of course between the humidity and the perfect spice level, I was sweating my way through the meal (thanks for the genes, dad), but for me, that's always a the perfect sign that they got the spice right and I can't stop eating.

We spent a few hours wandering the markets around Little India on Cindhu's ultimately successful quest for cheap leggings, then made it back to the hostel to relax and digest before, of course, more foooood.

We had a good recommendation to check out the alleys around Arab St - a relatively trendy, largely middle eastern populated area a few miles from us. It was a nice night, and with our general caloric intake here we thought the long walk would be nice.

Singapore loves Christmas

They love it so much they will risk electrocution for a kick-ass tree

I'm serious, they freaking love Christmas here

A few well decorated miles later, we found our general destination, which was full of charming, narrow alleys full of artsy clothes shops, laid back shisha-tea houses, a big hip jazz bar, and a sprinkly of smaller homey middle-eastern restaurants. We settled into a street side table at a Lebanese restaurant with a promising menu.  Hummus, grilled Haloumi (a super-savory sheeps milk cheese), some perfectly spiced lamb sausages, and a few Kofta skewers. A great meal - definitely has me salivating for our time in Egypt and Turkey. We find another quiet streetside spot for a few beers before taking the nice long stroll back to the hostel (it somehow seemed to get hotter and more humid by then). 

Today takes us to a remote part of town for the what has been promised to me as some of the best Laksa in town (another iconic Singapore street dish - rich curry soup with noodles, cockles, and prawns), and then back to Little India for the French Stall (an outdoor restaurant that evolved from a simple street stall that was started by a former Michelin starred French chef who came here to serve classic french fare in the Singapore hawker style).