20 - An ode to Singaporean Food
I mean, you were waiting for this, right?
Strap in, it's a long one.
So after last year's #yolo #food trip to Hong Kong, we decided to go again across the Melbourne Cup weekend to Singapore to do another food trip! This time around, we went for a bit longer (thanks Qantas sales!) and it was a ripper time.
I haven't found the best way to show you the insane number of pictures I took of food (any suggestions?) - we had an average of 5 meals per day, with a crowdsourced list of hawker places, restaurants and Michelin recommended dishes from a variety of people (thanks to many - especially Laura, Alicia, Aleks and Bev!). If you want a look at the spreadsheet, here's a link!
This is just a brief selection of the type of food we ate - what a TRIP.
Crab
These 3 crabs you see before you were from Jumbo Seafood - one of the most amazing places that we went. Second day of our trip, I had scheduled about 5 different places to eat, and this was the last one of the day. It was the one I was most looking forward to, but when we arrived I was already feeling 80% full...of REGRETS that I wouldn't be able to enjoy such delicious food!
We started only with the two crabs (Singapore Chilli Crab, and Black Pepper - their two most popular crabs), some cereal prawn, some baby gai larn and a satay skewer set. I was holding back a lot because I was SO FULL - and my friends definitely picked up on it ("When has Vince ever said no to getting more food?!").
Until...that black pepper crab touched my lips - and then my hunger was REACTIVATED. 80% to 10% full in 6 seconds - can't get that performance from any other dish! Furthermore, that Singapore Chilli crab sauce was the most flavourful crab sauce I've ever had - beats any spring onion/ginger normal combination you can get at Chinese restaurants - please! The fried mini mantou (little buns) helped to mop up all the sauce from the crab, and probably was the better combination. Didn't even need the crab :D The black pepper complimented the fresh and tasty crab, giving a nice kick to each bite. I loved it so much.
And so obviously, we had to get another crab, another round of satay skewers, more vegies...I think I literally waddled out of that place I was so INCREDIBLY full. An absolutely delicious meal, and it didn't break the bank as much as we thought. Excellent choice all round!
Two notes:
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Did miss the crab noodles that I usually have - but the mantou did make up for it. Usually crab noodles soaked in the sauce is what I love when I'm out at a restaurant - this time, had to make do without :(
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If you haven't eaten cooked vegetables with your hands, you haven't lived. I'm pretty sure it's the definition of 'freedom'...the freedom of using (gloved) hands to pick up baby gai larn from a plate and shove it in my mouth...wow. Will anything ever top that feeling?!
Noodles
Three very different delicious seafood noodle dishes from three very different places.
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Lor Mee from Tiong Bahru market - you can see the very dark, viscous sauce that was bursting with flavour here. They added shark nuggets (probably just flake?) to this noodle dish, and each mouthful was an amazingly rich, complex, textural bite. This was such an interesting dish - the thick broth was something I don't usually get here in Australia!
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Prawn Mee from Haji St - this place is well known for it's Prawn Mee and it freaking DELIVERED. Jumbo prawns in an intensely flavoured broth - my dear god I thought it was just the best way to start a morning (it was our breakfast for that day!). I really want to know how to make this one because it didn't seem that difficult to make, but is probably just very time consuming. I don't normally eat prawn mee but it is SO flavourful - I've started having it down here in Australia as well :D Give me some recommendations if you know great places here!
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Lor Mee from Putien (Kitchener St) - we very nearly didn't come to this place. Last day on our trip, we were tired after a day of shopping and running around...we nearly decided to just get some Din Tai Fung and go to bed. And yet...we thought - why not? One more Michelin Starred place to round out our trip. And it was one of the best decisions we ever made. I have a bunch more photos from this place, but it was so fantastically delicious that we just kept ordering and ordering and ordering more food. Dumplings made with pork - both in the skin and the filling (what?!). Seaweed salad dishes. A perfectly cooked sweet and sour pork with lychee. Beautiful fall-off-the-bone ribs. And this DELICIOUS Lor Mee - another intensely flavoured dish that, contrary to previous noodle dishes, had a lightness to it that made the experience beautiful. I don't think I can find any better way to describe it - we just couldn't stop talking about it! A well deserved Michelin Star :D
Chicken
This is the best chicken I have ever had in my entire life.
I know, I know, big call. I also mentioned that the Shio Koji chicken from Kisume was the best chicken I have ever had. I stand by that previous claim, but due to the fact that the chicken above is more easily accessible, it has stolen that spot for me.
This Hainanese chicken here is from Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice. It's probably one of the most famous chicken rice places in Singapore, and has had lots of celebrities go to eat there (notably, Anthony Bourdain, who praised even their RICE for being amazing - CAN CONFIRM IT IS AMAZING).
I couldn't keep away from this place. From the first time we came here to eat, with a line snaking back for an at least half hour wait (I've heard it can be a lot longer but we came at a non-peak time), it absolutely captured my tongue. You order a whole chicken with a couple of rices (we stupidly ordered just chicken rice sets first time around - lesson learned), you take a few bites, and then you just bask in the glow of perfection.
This chicken is poached just to the point where it is cooked, but isn't tough. Every bite is slippery, it's nearly silky in it's quality of chicken, and it slides down your throat, leaving a delicious saucy taste in your mouth as it does. It's not really something you chew - it's something you sort of...slurp down? I smashed through like half a chicken in 2 minutes because I was literally inhaling its deliciousness (don't worry, I got more)...Not only that, but they serve the chicken with a premium stock (probably developed with the water of the poached chicken). Any cut of the chicken you eat, you get a perfect texture - it's not too soft, it's not too dry and cooked - it's the perfect balance of a delicious chicken. The skin is slightly fatty, enveloped in the flavour of the stock, and the meat is wrapped in amazing flavourful chicken flavour as well as having it's own super chicken-y flavour as well.
It's bliss.
Also, most places do a soup with the rice, but this rice was just...I don't know how to describe it (but I'll try). It was packed with flavour - something you don't really say about rice - and had the most amazing texture. I'm assuming they cooked it in the chicken water? I don't know!! I could literally just eat the rice and be happy. But with the chicken...I mean, name a better duo TBH.
Every time we went back, we ordered at least twice (as in, we thought we'd be okay with one set of chicken, but we weren't. We had to get MORE). We tried the chicken rice sets, the whole chicken, the chicken marylands, the chicken feet (which they take the bone out of!? WHAT AN INNOVATION)...it was a spectacular feast every single time we went. I'm salivating just thinking about it now.
It's the pinnacle of a family that has poured their heart and soul into perfecting the process of cooking a chicken, and giving you that for a super reasonable price. There's no need to get anything else in terms of side dishes - the chicken and rice itself is just simple, beautiful food. It's the essence of a beautiful chicken eating experience...and I'm still in awe of how amazing it was.
Now I know I've just spent a ridiculous number of words complimenting this place, and I'm sure others will have their opinions on the best chicken rice places around Singapore. Maybe it's not traditional, maybe it's not the right way to eat chicken rice.
But its the most incredible dish I had in Singapore.
I'm already planning my stopovers to get some more.
Chat soon :)
✔️ Real Life Recommendations
Just read the above post and go to all those places. Legitimately there is no reason to recommend anything else here today :D
🚌 Adventures on the Information Super-Highway
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Behind the Bib - interview with Tian Tian Chicken Rice founders - I mean, obviously have to research why they're so delicious, right?
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How Turkish coffee destroyed an empire - a nice short read about the importance of Turkish coffee and how the coffee houses were used as congregation areas to help socialise, protest, and gossip.
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Eating the same thing every day - another cute read about people who enjoy eating the same thing over and over again. It's sort of like a ritual for people? I guess it reduces the mental load of trying to think about new, exciting things that need to be done for meals! You can be efficient in other areas :D