Food in Singapore

[Raymond Lin]

Flight booked, hoping things don't change for the next 4 weeks...I will be there for 6 days, so recommendation of where to go?

Rather than, this Hawker Centre or that Hawker Centre, if you know the specific store that would be fantastic. Because a Hawker Centre can have anything from 20 to 100+ stores so it doesn't really narrow it down much lol.

Already on the itinerary are

Singapore hainanese chicken rice from China town. The one with Michelin Star.
Ritz Carlton Dinner Buffet (£45...cheap considering where it is and what's on offer).
Satay by the Bay
Lau Pa Sat Hawker Centre's 'Best Satay" stall out front.
Jollibee (yes, I know and it's a must!)

I am also considering the Dim Sum Buffet at the Marriot, but this one is a little more pricey at £60, although Lobster is on the menu and everything is cooked to order, not a true buffet set up style. You just get a menu and everything is included for £60, within a time limit.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Time was the High Tea at the Goodwood Park was worth the visit, looks a bit naff now.
Surely a Singapore Sling at the Raffles needs to be included.
A stop by Little India for some street food?

Been a long time since I've been to Singapore, strange and interesting place, nice for a short visit.

Singapore Sling at the Raffles...may be, I guess I should just do it and tick it off the bucket list even though I am not into alcohol.

I planned to drop by Little India, not into Indian cuisine as much as Chinese but I will give it a go. Got any particular favourites?

 

[Raymond Lin]

I feel like it's one of those things you just have to do in Singapore.

I did go to Bologna for a Spag Bol and Copenhagen for a Danish, Dublin Guinness Factory for a Guinness, Paris for snails, Pizza in Naples...

 

[Raymond Lin]

I was going to chime in with "don't bother with restaurants, just eat in the hawker centres" but considering you're there for 6 days I'm sure you've done your research on the restaurants! We stayed in Singapore for 3/4 nights as a stopover and loved it. We thought we'd stroll around Clarke Quay one night and just took a punt on a restaurants with was hands down the worse meal we had there, and cost 10x as much So we stuck to the Hawker centres and everything was great! Couldn't tell you what stalls we went to (besides below), but I'm sure the old adage works of following the queues...

We did this one. Funnily enough we went for a drink at the top of the Marina Bay Sands first*, so we were all dressed up. I remember my girlfriend being very annoyed we went from there down to the most smoky, smelly street food bit when she was wearing some plush white cotton dress

*Would recommend booking for a drink at the bar rather than paying for the viewing platform. Two drinks will cost you the same as the ticket to the viewing platform. And, well, you get a drink out of it. The view isn't quite as good because you're overlooking everyone who has paid for the viewing platform, but I thought it was fine. It's very windy up there which was disturbing!

Non-food related, we enjoyed the botanic gardens for something different.

I’ve thought about Burnt Ends (Aussie BBQ joint with Michelin stars) but it’s a bit too extravagant plus the fact that Singapore is full of Michelins star hawker stalls. I rather load up on Chilli Crabs for £5 a pop this time. There are just so many more options.

I am going to do the buffet at the Ritz, but it’s more a table menu service now due to Covid, still, it’s £50 or so for 2 hours of unlimited food off their menu cooked to order. Where else in the world is going to give me that kind of value? I’m hell doing it. I was going to go to the Marriott at St Regis for their Dim Sun buffet but I found out there are many others at 1/4 if the price (£20-25), so I’ll probably do that. I miss proper good dim sum.

Other than that, I’m just following the locals I think when I go to a Hawker Center. Although no doubt I will eat at food courts a couple of times to escape the heat, plus I’ve booked a hotel on Orchard Road and that’s where all the malls are. I have a few dishes off my head that’s a must eat. I’m hoping some of it (the Chinese dishes) will be very familiar to me, some of it won’t (Malay and Indian) so it’ll be a great food adventure.

Re Marina Bay Sands, can’t you just turn up and go to the bar? Do you have to make reservations? I think it’s the middle tower’s lifts isn’t it for the bar? Do you recall?

Ps I tried to download the EZ Link app for the MRT, do you have that or did you buy the card when you land at the airport?

 

[Raymond Lin]

We definitely had to book for the bar at Ce La Vie. (Thanks to the guy above who reminded me of the awful name ). There is a dress code too. I mean it's ok, worth trying to time it for sunset perhaps for an aperitif which is what we did. You won't get great photos of the view if you're at the bar, due to the viewing platform jutting out underneath you.

As for the MRT I honestly can't remember. It was never hard getting around though! Pretty sure we used a card, not an app.

My one regret is not buying 2-3 dishes at the markets. It's something silly like $4-5 a dish, feel like I could have tried 2-3 times more food at every meal rather than being conservative and worrying about waste

I do want a good view, I guess I will check out the bar first, if that doesn't satisfy my photos then I'll go pay to go up again the next evening or something for the viewing platform. I can't really afford to pay to stay the night just for the infinity pool, that alone will pay for like 4-5 nights of hotels...just have to let that one go.

Ce La Vi does have a limited walk in policy but it's first come first serve so probably best to make a reservation. I'm sure there used to be a 'deal' on the website where you could get a 'spot' and drinks for $SGDxxx but I can't find it now.

For the MRT / buses just buy a 3 day Singapore Tourist Pass





An alternative to Ce La Vi if you want views is booking Singapore Flyer, we booked the Singapore Sling Experience and there were only 2 other couples in the pod whereas the standard pods where absolutely packed. Obviously they might have greater limitations now due to Covid.

Ah, the Singapore Flyer, good up for the "experience", will look into that.

Not sure how busy it will be, when i get to go there will only be about 10 countries on their green list so hopefully it's not too bad.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Hawker Centre [/thread]

this

forget the restaurants just go round hawker stands the food is amazing and dirt dirt dirt cheap

Perhaps because I put it in small print…

 

[Raymond Lin]

Okay i am back!

Preface - Covid restrictions are VERY much in place in Singapore, dining inside are limited to 2 max per group and about 75% of seats are physically blocked off so lots of places encourages take aways, which explains why i ate in my room quite frequently in the photos.

My first meal was actually some take away delivered dim sum but forgot to take any photos as I had just landed after a restless flight, had a 4hr nap while waiting for my PCR test before I was released into the wild.

First meal out was Chicken Rice. Very nice, i think it cost me like £3.50



Random drink I got from the shop. Salted Lychee.



I then explored for the rest of the afternoon/evening, eventually got back at 10:30 to my area and right opposite the hotel was a Shake Shack. I got the Black Truffle Burger with Pandan Shake, which explains the bits on top of the milkshake.



My first morning at the hotel was some Nasi Lemark, which I think it' just means Coconut Milk Rice, usually served with some fried crispy anchovies, peanuts and cucumber and some kind of meat or protein.



Lunch I got some Calpis and a Sushi set from the supermarket.



An early dinner I went to Din Tai Fong









Later I got from one of the MANY MANY tea places some fruit tea. I think I got some summer fruit mix with pineapples.



A late night snack at a hawker centre, chicken and prawn satay skewers with Sugar Cane juice.







Next day I slept in so woke up late enough for lunch, went to Jollibee. I also got some spaghetti, which is surprising nice. Not amazing, but nicer than it has any right to be.





Went to China Town but it was dead, the China Town Hawker Centre was also shut for 2 days for cleaning, walked over to Maxwell and got Chicken rice.





Picked up some Lychee Tonic Coffee at Somerset @313 at Orchard.



Dinner I got an Australian grill thing. Was cheap like £6 but wasn't that filling so picked up some bread from a bakery.



Yes, that's a donut kind of dough, and that is also a sausage.



This now is the same dough but chicken curry.



Mentaiko with ham bread



Some kind of milk something cream pastry.







Hotel breakfast…western version, this was the last time I had hotel breakfast.



More Chicken rice, with watermelon juice.



Later i got a Mango Pie from McDonald's. It has real chunks of Mangos inside and it is amazing.





Nitro cold brew.





Picked up one of each egg tarts with boba tea.







This place actually has a Michelin Star.



For dinner I got some Indonesian stir fry, w which tastes very Cantonese to me.



Slept in again, went to get some Unagi sushi with some roast duck and wonton noodles.







Some Calpis and jelly for dessert.



Didn't eat anything at all until my dinner reservation at the Ritz Carlton, it's meant to be a buffet but due to covid it was table service and order from 55 items, you can order as many times as you like with no time limit. It became essentially like a taster menu because each dish is quite small.

I started it off with some sushi, some salmon, tuna and octopus. The wasabi is also real, not fake.



Some Oysters, they were alright, a bit anaemic, but went down easy.



A mini sea food platter with prawns, clams and crab.



I forgot what this was exactly but it's prawns, mandarins barley salad?



Got a piece of steak with some mash.





Then cow cheeks with truffles, this was the most surprising dish, VERY soft and tasty



Chinese roast meats, duck, char shui and roast pork.



Then the lady heard wrong what i said and also brought over some Chicken rice.



What i really wanted was some Chicken Satay



Then had some Soft Shell Crab with the classic chilli sauce, it comes with the bread that they are eaten with.



This is sweet chilli beef, salted egg fish skins (AMAZING) and chicken wing.



Got a serving of dim sum because i wanted this salted egg custard bun.





And I ordered 5 desserts…Lychee something on the left, Tiramisu, mango pudding and then a mocha cookie thing.



And also a chocolate lava cake with ice-cream.



Next day…I slept in AGAIN! this is some Laksa with chicken.



Some green tea drink.



For dinner I ate Tim Ho Wan.



Michelin Star for this bun from the HK branch, taste exactly the same.



Went to the hotel bar on the last night and had a couple of drinks.





Last meal before i headed to the airport i went in search for chilli crab, which was quite expensive considering this was at a Hawker Centre, it cost $38 sg, the meal at the Ritz was $98.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Oh, here is a not out of focus photo to prove that i did go to Singapore lol.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I've stayed in the 3rd tower, second row from the top. There was a firework display going on and they were exploding beneath us. Kids slept through the lot.

I thought about staying there, but the cost of 2 nights would get me another flight back to Singapore so I thought...not worth it.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Nice pics Raymond! Surprised at the chilli crab cost, I thought that would be on every menu and therefore cheap as everything else in the hawker centres?

Yeah, most dishes at the hawker Center is like $8 at most, but sea food just cost quite a lot more. I was going to get some Tiger Prawns but they were $16 each and I had my last $50 on me. Minimum withdrawal at the ATM is $100 so I just got the crab. It’s very nice though but for basically like £20, it’s not hawker Center prices like other meals.

The meal at the Ritz Carlton though…£50 a total bargain, if I live in Singapore I would treat myself there once a couple of months. I was there almost 3hrs, great service, food cooked to order, well most of it. I think some items are pre-prepared like the desserts and seafood plate, the prawns were cooked but cold.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Looks stunning Ray. Ritz Carlton seems great value.

didn’t go for a Sling at Raffles?

Narh, I thought about it but I want the whole experience with the peanuts which I hear is not being offered at the moment. I did go to basically everywhere else from Sentosa island (Universal Studio was shut that day), Little India, Clarke Quays. I did make a mistake and walk into immigration so I missed there Jewel....meaning I HAVE to go back.

I will make a stop over for 2 days when I eventually make my way to Aus/NZ.

 

[Raymond Lin]

All look's exquisite Raymond! The 2 photos of the Calpis had me pining hard... A friend brought me 2 bottles of the concentrate for my Birthday and whilst I like it a lot, it's not a patch on the OG standard bottled stuff. My absolute favorite drink of all time.

My last trip to Japan, my FIRST drink I got when I got off the plane was Calpis, before coffee, before Matcha, before Pocari Sweat. I think you can get Calpis here from Korean supermarket but it's expensive. That large bottle was £2? Not much different to a 2L bottled of coke.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Luckily Birmingham has quite a few Asian supermarkets where you can get it but it's never cheap. The standard 500ml bottle can set you back 2 quid and I've seen the concentrate go for anywhere between 10 to 17! It's the same with Milkis. It's like Sophies choice when they have both in stock and I'm on a budget

I've always found Pocari Sweat to be the most difficult to find and the most expensive which is a pain as I like to have some stored away for when I'm hungover...

H-Mart has Pocari Sweat online. In the store they sell them in larger bottles.

https://hmart.co.uk/shop/en/fruit-j...-dong-a-pocari-sweat-245ml-8801097150010.html