We found the little food plaza at the triangle made by the intersection of Cantonment Rd and Yan Kit Rd, simply because it was adjacent to the open-air parking lot we decided to use for our errand this afternoon. We went to some community center because it was the nearest place to work that would supply us with our SingPass (http://www.singpass.gov.sg/) - the one-stop login password for all governmental agencies in Singapore. I call this place a food plaza and not a food court or center, because it was really small with about 4-5 stalls and was all along a single wall so not an enclosed court per se. And I make a point of noting that we parked in an open-air parking lot, because that is a blog entry onto itself - the different kinds of parking systems employed and deployed island-wide.
The food plaza, which I will henceforth dub the SingPass Plaza, was nestled inside the eastern wall of a family-owned ancestral temple, where several people were burning loads of fake paper money. When we arrived at the adjacent parking lot, water started sprinkling from several exit points along the second floor of this temple and onto the tarp that served as an awning and shade for the plaza's sitting area. From the tarp, the water trickled down onto the edge of this area like a little waterfall, maybe creating a cozier and cooler feel in the open space. The plaza consisted of a Claypot and Ramen stall, a Fishball Noodle stall, a misc noodle stall, and a Vietnamese Pho stall at the end that we only spotted after ordering from the first and third stalls. I ordered Claypot Pork Ribs ($4) and Connie got Carrot (radish) & Fungus (fungus) Soup ($3.50).
The pork ribs were limited in number but succulent. The moist claypot rice was covered in a thick black soy-ish sauce that was burning into the side of the charcoal-hot clay dish it was in. This sauce managed to be both subtle (for all its blackness) and a bit overwhelming in texture. Almost like the soy sauce version of fermented bean curd. There were bits of green leafy veggies and thin cuts of sausage here and there, but a bit on the stingy side. The sambal and red chili sauces that came along with this dish had some odd way of bringing out the umami-ness that was trapped inside the rice. I really enjoyed the combination, despite the black sauce covering it all.
The soup was also quite delicious, with an uncomplicated broth and lots of big vegetable pieces that had room to breathe without the usual noodles taking up all the liquid's surface areas. The soup came with boiled white rice, which I stubbornly disdained for its relative simplicity. The fungus was fungusy - it was cooked to a soft yet bouncy consistency, just the way I like it. I am still burping happily from this meal.
Lunch was $7.30. Parking was $1.00. ERP (tolls) was $2.00. At $10.50, this was not a bad lunch adventure considering we came back with a SingPass registered. Driving around is fun!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Mee So-Soto
Connie had to go straight back to work after we ran some errands today, so I went to explore Market Street Food Centre on my own. This is a 2nd-floor food court a block away from our office that we noticed last week but had not visited yet. It was extremely crowded today, and hard to move through. Lines were long in most stalls. I think the chief reason is that everything here is cheaper - many items under $3. Based on the fact that most signs had stickers with prices covering older prices on the original signs, it seems they've all hiked up prices recently, but it's still cheaper than all the other nearby food courts.
I went to a stall with a short line and the sign over it saying "Food of Islam," I think. There were crescents and women in scarves serving food. There was a whole row of stalls like this - like the Halal carts on 53rd Street corner in NY, but Malaysian-style. The stall I chose had Mee Prawn, Mee Siam, Mee Rebus, and Mee Soto as well as something called Roti John (that looked like a sandwich - google confirms). Last week I had Mee Siam so this week I went for Mee Soto (http://lifestylewiki.com/Mee_
The best part of the meal was that they took the only currency I had - a $100 bill - after giving me the evil eyes. They also didn't charge me for takeaway like many other places do... At $2.50 for a big bowl of soup, noodles and chicken, can you really complain about the quality of the meat?
I went to a stall with a short line and the sign over it saying "Food of Islam," I think. There were crescents and women in scarves serving food. There was a whole row of stalls like this - like the Halal carts on 53rd Street corner in NY, but Malaysian-style. The stall I chose had Mee Prawn, Mee Siam, Mee Rebus, and Mee Soto as well as something called Roti John (that looked like a sandwich - google confirms). Last week I had Mee Siam so this week I went for Mee Soto (http://lifestylewiki.com/Mee_
The best part of the meal was that they took the only currency I had - a $100 bill - after giving me the evil eyes. They also didn't charge me for takeaway like many other places do... At $2.50 for a big bowl of soup, noodles and chicken, can you really complain about the quality of the meat?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Beng Hiang
On Friday, my boss took us all out to a celebratory lunch (reasons: new joiners including myself, as well as a teammate getting married). We went to a Fujianese place around the block called Beng Hiang that is situated along history-rich Amoy Street. BTW, the geographic region is called Fujian, but the people, their dialect and their food style is called Hokkien. Very confusing. Anyways, my team is currently made up of people from India, Indonesia and Malaysia. The Indians don't eat beef and pork and seafood except fish, the Indonesian guy is a vegan. It was very hard to order here as even vegetables and bean curd dishes came with some animalea. We ended up with leafy greens (with salted fish), bean curd (with prawns), batter-fried prawns, and two different orders of chicken (roasted and steamed).
The chicken was good, except most of my team had a hard time getting past the chicken head staring them down from the edge of the large round serving dishes. I've had better chicken at Cantonese restaurants back home, but never with the assorted condiments of raw spicy peppers (green and red), sambal, etc. The leafy greens were extremely oily and delicious - but the poor vegan had nothing else to eat other than a bowl of rice, so I hardly touched it except to pick out the salted fish pieces on top. The bean curd was a bit slimy for my liking and covered in too much bland sauce. The prawns were covered in a crunchy, yet flaky batter that easily gave way. I liked those and I wish I had some sriracha mayo to dip them in. By the way you only ever order prawns here. Never shrimp. "Shrimp" here means the little tiny floaters that get mashed into a dried, pungent paste - not something you would order on its own, but a condiment. So don't ask for shrimp, as the waiters will not understand you.
The chicken was good, except most of my team had a hard time getting past the chicken head staring them down from the edge of the large round serving dishes. I've had better chicken at Cantonese restaurants back home, but never with the assorted condiments of raw spicy peppers (green and red), sambal, etc. The leafy greens were extremely oily and delicious - but the poor vegan had nothing else to eat other than a bowl of rice, so I hardly touched it except to pick out the salted fish pieces on top. The bean curd was a bit slimy for my liking and covered in too much bland sauce. The prawns were covered in a crunchy, yet flaky batter that easily gave way. I liked those and I wish I had some sriracha mayo to dip them in. By the way you only ever order prawns here. Never shrimp. "Shrimp" here means the little tiny floaters that get mashed into a dried, pungent paste - not something you would order on its own, but a condiment. So don't ask for shrimp, as the waiters will not understand you.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - What Goes In, Must Come Out
First bout of diarrhea over here... Not sure if it's all the spicy food, or an unclean spoon in one of the hawker centers/food courts. Anyways, charcoal and lots of water are the main things on the menu for next 24 hours.
I had a 7am meeting with NY (7pm EST) here that got cancelled at 7am (grrr!) and so the boss brought everyone breakfast - from Toast Box I believe. Mine was a plastic container filled with Mee Siam - thin cellophane noodles doused in a sweet & sour curry sauce with half a hard-boiled egg thrown in for good measure. In Cantonese, mein (pronounced like mean) is noodles, but here they use "mee", which Connie guesses is the Hokkien dialect version. Hokkien is a widely-used Chinese dialect in Singapore. Mandarin, which also uses some kind of n sound though not quite the same as in the Cantonese \version of mein, is the predominant dialect but Hokkien is ubiquitous. Siam refers to Thailand. Mee Siam. It was a bit too sour for my liking, but I did enjoy the slick noodles, and somehow the egg manages to stay white and taste very much like an egg, which provides a much needed relief to the complexity of flavors in this dish. Might try it again one day, if I ever run out of other things to try.
On the way back from the clinic with our tummy medicine, Connie and I stopped at Banquet food court (right next to Raffles Hospital, so we know it really well by now) for lunch - got some fish porridge ($4.50 and mediocre) and Yong Tau Fu ($3.90 with a good variety of leafy greens at this particular counter). The seaweed Connie chose was a bit tough and maybe not best for our current digestive state). But just cause I'm sick it doesn't mean I'm gonna stop sampling the goods...
I had a 7am meeting with NY (7pm EST) here that got cancelled at 7am (grrr!) and so the boss brought everyone breakfast - from Toast Box I believe. Mine was a plastic container filled with Mee Siam - thin cellophane noodles doused in a sweet & sour curry sauce with half a hard-boiled egg thrown in for good measure. In Cantonese, mein (pronounced like mean) is noodles, but here they use "mee", which Connie guesses is the Hokkien dialect version. Hokkien is a widely-used Chinese dialect in Singapore. Mandarin, which also uses some kind of n sound though not quite the same as in the Cantonese \version of mein, is the predominant dialect but Hokkien is ubiquitous. Siam refers to Thailand. Mee Siam. It was a bit too sour for my liking, but I did enjoy the slick noodles, and somehow the egg manages to stay white and taste very much like an egg, which provides a much needed relief to the complexity of flavors in this dish. Might try it again one day, if I ever run out of other things to try.
On the way back from the clinic with our tummy medicine, Connie and I stopped at Banquet food court (right next to Raffles Hospital, so we know it really well by now) for lunch - got some fish porridge ($4.50 and mediocre) and Yong Tau Fu ($3.90 with a good variety of leafy greens at this particular counter). The seaweed Connie chose was a bit tough and maybe not best for our current digestive state). But just cause I'm sick it doesn't mean I'm gonna stop sampling the goods...
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Rain & Chaos Ruin Lunch Program
There was a bit of flooding in the city center today due to heavy-ish rainfall:
http://www.straitstimes.com/
In the middle of this rainstorm, I had my appointment at the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Employment Pass Service Center (EPSC) for registering and fingerprinting for my Employment Pass (EP). The cool efficiency that surrounds the work visa process here is, I guess, a must in a country that employs foreigners for over 1/3 of its workforce. In fact, the least efficient part of the process was the 3rd party vendor that runs interference between me, HR and MOM. I applied for my appointment online and printed a sheet of paper, which had a barcode to be scanned by kiosks upon arrival at MOM. My name was immediately placed on top of a LED signboard and I was called up for immediate servicing by a well-mannered bureaucrat. The whole thing lasted 5-10 minutes (not including the 5 minutes spent at a photo booth in the conveniently placed photo lab next door to the MOM EPSC).
Still, with all the rain and my daughter in tow for her Dependant's Pass (DP) and my mother to help with my daughter, I ended up being quite late for work and did a brunch together with them at HarbourFront/Vivocity mall(s) where I was trying to also help register my daughter for a Gymboree class. Most places are closed until 11am, so ended up in another Kopitiam food court, where we had Pig's Organs Congee (rice porridge), and a helping of steamed rice with 3 vegetables. The rice + stuff stalls basically have barrels of meat, fish and veggie toppings and the menu reads something like: rice + 1 meat $2.00, rice + 1 meat/1 veg $2.50, rice + 1 fish/1 veg $2.50, etc... I ordered from a surly lady the rice + 3 veg choice ($2.90) and pointed at 3 green-looking heaps - I think bok choy, water crest (sort of), and long beans (Chinese cousin of green beans). Rice was plopped down on the plate from some measuring utensil that looked like a towel...
The rice porridge ($4) contained mostly bits of liver, and had a good congee consistency. But it was wanting for more variety of organs, so I was slightly disappointed. Also the porridge didn't reek of intestines as I had hoped... The green beans were delicious - when done right, these are salty and crunchy and sometimes tangy when fried with good preserved veggies and pork bits, and once you start you can't stop popping them in. The leafy greens were less appetizing but went down well with the rice and a good helping of a spicy satay sauce that was surprisingly bitter and reminiscent of middle-eastern s'chug.
We were approached by some high school kids who wanted to survey us about the "problem" of customers leaving trays of food behind in food courts for the cleaners to take care of, and how this creates a problem with turnover of available seats. Apparently this system did not seem efficient enough for these kids, and they had some crazy suggestions about LED signaling systems, advertisements to change cultural mindsets, and deposits-returned-upon-tray-
Connie was meanwhile guided to a legendary hawker stall serving Wonton Mee by one of her new colleagues and points us to this blog entry for a 3rd-party review, should you be inclined:
http://ieatishootipost.sg/
http://www.straitstimes.com/
In the middle of this rainstorm, I had my appointment at the Ministry of Manpower's (MOM) Employment Pass Service Center (EPSC) for registering and fingerprinting for my Employment Pass (EP). The cool efficiency that surrounds the work visa process here is, I guess, a must in a country that employs foreigners for over 1/3 of its workforce. In fact, the least efficient part of the process was the 3rd party vendor that runs interference between me, HR and MOM. I applied for my appointment online and printed a sheet of paper, which had a barcode to be scanned by kiosks upon arrival at MOM. My name was immediately placed on top of a LED signboard and I was called up for immediate servicing by a well-mannered bureaucrat. The whole thing lasted 5-10 minutes (not including the 5 minutes spent at a photo booth in the conveniently placed photo lab next door to the MOM EPSC).
Still, with all the rain and my daughter in tow for her Dependant's Pass (DP) and my mother to help with my daughter, I ended up being quite late for work and did a brunch together with them at HarbourFront/Vivocity mall(s) where I was trying to also help register my daughter for a Gymboree class. Most places are closed until 11am, so ended up in another Kopitiam food court, where we had Pig's Organs Congee (rice porridge), and a helping of steamed rice with 3 vegetables. The rice + stuff stalls basically have barrels of meat, fish and veggie toppings and the menu reads something like: rice + 1 meat $2.00, rice + 1 meat/1 veg $2.50, rice + 1 fish/1 veg $2.50, etc... I ordered from a surly lady the rice + 3 veg choice ($2.90) and pointed at 3 green-looking heaps - I think bok choy, water crest (sort of), and long beans (Chinese cousin of green beans). Rice was plopped down on the plate from some measuring utensil that looked like a towel...
The rice porridge ($4) contained mostly bits of liver, and had a good congee consistency. But it was wanting for more variety of organs, so I was slightly disappointed. Also the porridge didn't reek of intestines as I had hoped... The green beans were delicious - when done right, these are salty and crunchy and sometimes tangy when fried with good preserved veggies and pork bits, and once you start you can't stop popping them in. The leafy greens were less appetizing but went down well with the rice and a good helping of a spicy satay sauce that was surprisingly bitter and reminiscent of middle-eastern s'chug.
We were approached by some high school kids who wanted to survey us about the "problem" of customers leaving trays of food behind in food courts for the cleaners to take care of, and how this creates a problem with turnover of available seats. Apparently this system did not seem efficient enough for these kids, and they had some crazy suggestions about LED signaling systems, advertisements to change cultural mindsets, and deposits-returned-upon-tray-
Connie was meanwhile guided to a legendary hawker stall serving Wonton Mee by one of her new colleagues and points us to this blog entry for a 3rd-party review, should you be inclined:
http://ieatishootipost.sg/
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Too Many Choices!
At lunch time, we were already 3/4 of the way to LauPaSat at the end of an appointment at the local daycare, but still tried to head to A/C'd M11 @ China Square for another shot at Yong Tau Foo - we spotted vegetable choices hidden from our original view that demanded a retry. But we got lost and ended up at LauPaSat anyways...
We didn't wander too far from the entrance, it's the only area I've ventured to so far. I went back to try the Chinese Burger - some dry parts and not nearly as good as Momofuku's, the only redeeming touch was the spicy satay sauce provided on the side. Connie got orders of roasted duck over herbal soup with thick flat noodles, as well as an order of 5 juicy/soup buns - both from the center chinese stall that you can't miss as there are only 2-3 center stalls and everything else is along the walls. The soup was earthy, well-salted, and had a good amount of fatty duck. We didn't like the thick noodles, though, as they felt a bit undercooked or over-dried. I missed the juicy buns in my first 4 visits. At $4.00 for 5, it's by far one of the more expensive items you can get here along with Korean and Japanese food that I still have not tried. For a better value, you can have 10 pcs for $7. But I am happy to report the buns are steamed to order, the soup is rich and hot, the pork filling deliciously savory, and the dumpling itself is thin yet can withstand shaky chopstick manipulation... If you don't know what I'm talking about, get some at New Green Bo in Chinatown NY. At least we can have some common ground for this review!
Chinese Burger (Pork) - $2.50
Duck Herbal Soup - $4.50
5 Xiao Long Bao - $4.00
Whoa went a bit over-budget with $5.50 per person - still, it is much better to do LauPaSat family style... With Connie in tow I might just be able to sample all the stalls by year's end. We spotted a stall - Qiu Lian Ban Mian (seems like a franchise of homemade noodles shop) - that had a line wrapping around tables and other stalls that we vowed to try next time it's not so crowded. Plus, on the way back home we passed yet another A/C food court (Kou Fu) that looks good. Damn! Not enough meals in a day...
We didn't wander too far from the entrance, it's the only area I've ventured to so far. I went back to try the Chinese Burger - some dry parts and not nearly as good as Momofuku's, the only redeeming touch was the spicy satay sauce provided on the side. Connie got orders of roasted duck over herbal soup with thick flat noodles, as well as an order of 5 juicy/soup buns - both from the center chinese stall that you can't miss as there are only 2-3 center stalls and everything else is along the walls. The soup was earthy, well-salted, and had a good amount of fatty duck. We didn't like the thick noodles, though, as they felt a bit undercooked or over-dried. I missed the juicy buns in my first 4 visits. At $4.00 for 5, it's by far one of the more expensive items you can get here along with Korean and Japanese food that I still have not tried. For a better value, you can have 10 pcs for $7. But I am happy to report the buns are steamed to order, the soup is rich and hot, the pork filling deliciously savory, and the dumpling itself is thin yet can withstand shaky chopstick manipulation... If you don't know what I'm talking about, get some at New Green Bo in Chinatown NY. At least we can have some common ground for this review!
Chinese Burger (Pork) - $2.50
Duck Herbal Soup - $4.50
5 Xiao Long Bao - $4.00
Whoa went a bit over-budget with $5.50 per person - still, it is much better to do LauPaSat family style... With Connie in tow I might just be able to sample all the stalls by year's end. We spotted a stall - Qiu Lian Ban Mian (seems like a franchise of homemade noodles shop) - that had a line wrapping around tables and other stalls that we vowed to try next time it's not so crowded. Plus, on the way back home we passed yet another A/C food court (Kou Fu) that looks good. Damn! Not enough meals in a day...
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Food + A/C = M11
Spent another entire weekend between apartment hunting and hospitals... Still too overwhelmed to report on the rest of our affairs here so far. I can say that we like our temporary apartment and the facilities in the building - rooftop pools and playground, gym, and breakfast dining hall. Our small shockproof camera got shocked (by the humidity?) so we're photo-documenting a lot less than we would otherwise, which also explains the lack of food pictures amidst all the food blogging. We are a bit stressed out about a lot of things, but we are settling into some kind of routine if that is even remotely possible in our current situation. Too much is going on and I have not been able to digest it - unlike the food we've been sampling, so...
After sweating it out in LauPaSat last week I discovered that you can get similar foods (not as varied or exciting, but similar, and at the same prices) in little food courts in the first floor of various office buildings in the area - with A/C included! Today, Connie and I met for lunch. We work in the same building, but it actually took a few phone calls, several more emails, and much coordination to meet roughly at the same time in our shared lobby. I really tried to time it right so that she would catch my elevator (I'm on 13, she's on 11 but has to climb the stairs to take the elevator from 12 - Bloomberg!@#!), but somehow we missed each other and in fact she had to wait for me on the plush leather couch in the lobby.
We walked out to an averagely humid day, immediately beginning to wilt. After some hesitation involving new shoes and sore feet we still opted on further-afield LauPaSat. However, as we were trying to cut across one of the buildings we happened upon M11 @ China Square. M11 seems to be another food court franchise like Kopitiam - we've sampled some foods from the M11 @ Bencoolen across the street from our apartment building. This M11 has about 8-10 food stands so it is easier to actually report on what you can get: Korean, Ramen, Dim Sum, Cantonese-style BBQ & Chicken, Beverages (this is always separate from other stands, so for a meal with a drink you have to order from 2 stalls, although sometimes these food courts have someone walking around taking drink orders), and Yong Tau Foo. The neat thing about most Yong Tau Foo stands is that it is do-it-yourself. You get a bowl and choose a minimum of 7 ingredients from a selection of 20-30 veggies, tofus, and fish balls/cakes. Each is 50 cents. You also choose your broth or curry, the type of noodles if any (50 cents extra), and wallah - soup or curry at SGD$3.50-$4 to be enjoyed with some dipping sauces, fried-dried scallions, and your choice of sesame oil or soy sauce added to the soup or sauces. If you can find a seating place in the A/C court all the better. Still a decided lack of napkins - good thing we both carry packs of tissues everywhere now - but a fairly civilized affair here at M11.
After sweating it out in LauPaSat last week I discovered that you can get similar foods (not as varied or exciting, but similar, and at the same prices) in little food courts in the first floor of various office buildings in the area - with A/C included! Today, Connie and I met for lunch. We work in the same building, but it actually took a few phone calls, several more emails, and much coordination to meet roughly at the same time in our shared lobby. I really tried to time it right so that she would catch my elevator (I'm on 13, she's on 11 but has to climb the stairs to take the elevator from 12 - Bloomberg!@#!), but somehow we missed each other and in fact she had to wait for me on the plush leather couch in the lobby.
We walked out to an averagely humid day, immediately beginning to wilt. After some hesitation involving new shoes and sore feet we still opted on further-afield LauPaSat. However, as we were trying to cut across one of the buildings we happened upon M11 @ China Square. M11 seems to be another food court franchise like Kopitiam - we've sampled some foods from the M11 @ Bencoolen across the street from our apartment building. This M11 has about 8-10 food stands so it is easier to actually report on what you can get: Korean, Ramen, Dim Sum, Cantonese-style BBQ & Chicken, Beverages (this is always separate from other stands, so for a meal with a drink you have to order from 2 stalls, although sometimes these food courts have someone walking around taking drink orders), and Yong Tau Foo. The neat thing about most Yong Tau Foo stands is that it is do-it-yourself. You get a bowl and choose a minimum of 7 ingredients from a selection of 20-30 veggies, tofus, and fish balls/cakes. Each is 50 cents. You also choose your broth or curry, the type of noodles if any (50 cents extra), and wallah - soup or curry at SGD$3.50-$4 to be enjoyed with some dipping sauces, fried-dried scallions, and your choice of sesame oil or soy sauce added to the soup or sauces. If you can find a seating place in the A/C court all the better. Still a decided lack of napkins - good thing we both carry packs of tissues everywhere now - but a fairly civilized affair here at M11.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Apartment Hunt - Day 3 (and change)
Connie had gotten in touch with an old college friend who is soon moving to Singapore to get married after finishing a business school degree in China. Her fiance is in Singapore and his mother is in real estate, so he has kindly offered to look for apartments for us and serve as our agent. We saw five places with him on Saturday and one more today:
Tiong Bahru MRT
Central Green - We saw two units in this condo. It may have been the weather that day or something in the air, but for some reason the neighborhood and the condominium gave us the hibby jibbies. The units were big enough, the buildings really close to the MRT, the facilities seemed adequate; maybe the place felt a bit run-down, but I can't point to a real issue that caused us to not give these apartments any consideration.
LUNCH: In-between viewings we had lunch at Vivocity (a huge mall in the South where you can catch the train to Sentosa Island) at the chain restaurant Soup Restaurant. Great steamed chicken with ginger sauce...
HarbourFront MRT
Harbour Light - We saw two units in this condo as well. Again, very close to MRT and shopping (Vivocity mall where we just came out of lunch), just like we asked. This condo was on a major road canopied with overground train tracks. So busy and noisy, but on the other side it was facing Mount Faber, the local big hill, and a hiking destination. The units were a bit dated but not bad and a good size. The facilities int he condo were limited to a small pool and a gym, I think. I actually liked this place, but it didn't seem very child-friendly and there were little things wrong in the apartments that gave us the excuse to cross these out and keep going.
Buona Vista MRT
One North Residence - The condo was really nice. Great facilities - it had one of those playground caves with bubble domes for kids to pretend they are moles peering up at gushing parents. But it was too far from MRT, rooms were tiny, and it had no real maid's room. On of these "new constructions" we're growing to hate.
So some doable places, but no bull's eyes yet.
The next day we met our new amateur realtor friend again to see a place in a condo 7 mins walking distance from work:
Raffles Place MRT
The Sail - this is a swanky new building and the apartment we saw was on the 50th floor with amazing views of the bay. If I were single or without a kid, this place would be it. But it was not a 3BR, did not have maid's room, and was a bit too modern feeling for my taste.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Tub O' Rice
Yes, back to LauPaSat again with my colleagues. Connie is still home sick...
Before I forget, the Pig Organ Soup stall at the 24-hour Kopitiam food court on Bencoolen Street (corner of Bras Basah) was a big hit last night for dinner. Connie chose for us a portion of Pig's Trotters (comes in a vinegar sauce that is spiced with star anis and possibly the complete 5-spice powder) with some Pig Organ Broth on the side. The broth had this funky sourness extremely reminiscent of pork intestines - delicious with some white rice. Come to think of it, the same intestiny funk also permeates a 1-2 meter radius around the stall. I don't know how the folks at the Viet Kitchen booth next door can handle it all day long. The trotters were fatty and succulent, and Connie used the vinegar sauce to douse whatever rice was left, which soaked up all the leftover goodness. Lizzy enjoyed both the fatty and more meaty parts. Need to explore more offal at this counter next time. Well, on to today's lunch...
The line at Jia Xin Kitchen (Stall #76) was short today with just one person in front of me, but I remembered it as a potential stop wondering around looking for queues yesterday. I may have not noticed that the only customers were light-skinned foreigners attracted by the word "burger" on the simple menu. The Chinese Burger on offer seemed like a steamed pork belly bun (man tao) in the pictorial menu, but not seeing any obvious pork belly in the pictures I opted to pass. The impatient lady taking orders in this stall was constantly urging me to make a choice ("yes sir? excuse me sir? ready sir?") as I was perusing the menu. When I was good and ready I signaled my decision by raising four fingers on my right hand to avoid shouting it over the head of the lone customer in front of me who was busy sorting out his utensils and condiments. Set #4 (what we in the States know as a meal or a combo is generally referred to as a set here) is an order of Wood Tub Rice with Minced Meat/Tofu (SGD$3), basically MaPau Tofu over rice.
The "wood tub" in this case was a metal bowl encased in a faux-wood bucket giving the romantic appearance of a rural, home-made dish and also an illusion of enormous portions - the metal bowl is actually only half the size of the tub. The minced/meat tofu was in a thick XO-style sauce with a poor quality of black beans adding insult to an already over-salted affair. Good thing there was a big rice-to-sauce ratio. The tub also came with a bowl of clear corn broth with a thin slice of corn on the cob approximately 2-kernels wide, which tasted like a saltier version of the water you throw away after boiling some corn on the cob in a pot. This time I knew to prepare my utensils and condiments (pickled radish and tiny salted peanuts, as well as some spicy chili oil with even smaller peanuts), which unfortunately were the highlight of the meal. I might come back for the "burger" but not for the "tub".
BTW, my colleague got a veg dish from the Indian stall, so I was wrong about the constancy of the biriyani...
Before I forget, the Pig Organ Soup stall at the 24-hour Kopitiam food court on Bencoolen Street (corner of Bras Basah) was a big hit last night for dinner. Connie chose for us a portion of Pig's Trotters (comes in a vinegar sauce that is spiced with star anis and possibly the complete 5-spice powder) with some Pig Organ Broth on the side. The broth had this funky sourness extremely reminiscent of pork intestines - delicious with some white rice. Come to think of it, the same intestiny funk also permeates a 1-2 meter radius around the stall. I don't know how the folks at the Viet Kitchen booth next door can handle it all day long. The trotters were fatty and succulent, and Connie used the vinegar sauce to douse whatever rice was left, which soaked up all the leftover goodness. Lizzy enjoyed both the fatty and more meaty parts. Need to explore more offal at this counter next time. Well, on to today's lunch...
The line at Jia Xin Kitchen (Stall #76) was short today with just one person in front of me, but I remembered it as a potential stop wondering around looking for queues yesterday. I may have not noticed that the only customers were light-skinned foreigners attracted by the word "burger" on the simple menu. The Chinese Burger on offer seemed like a steamed pork belly bun (man tao) in the pictorial menu, but not seeing any obvious pork belly in the pictures I opted to pass. The impatient lady taking orders in this stall was constantly urging me to make a choice ("yes sir? excuse me sir? ready sir?") as I was perusing the menu. When I was good and ready I signaled my decision by raising four fingers on my right hand to avoid shouting it over the head of the lone customer in front of me who was busy sorting out his utensils and condiments. Set #4 (what we in the States know as a meal or a combo is generally referred to as a set here) is an order of Wood Tub Rice with Minced Meat/Tofu (SGD$3), basically MaPau Tofu over rice.
The "wood tub" in this case was a metal bowl encased in a faux-wood bucket giving the romantic appearance of a rural, home-made dish and also an illusion of enormous portions - the metal bowl is actually only half the size of the tub. The minced/meat tofu was in a thick XO-style sauce with a poor quality of black beans adding insult to an already over-salted affair. Good thing there was a big rice-to-sauce ratio. The tub also came with a bowl of clear corn broth with a thin slice of corn on the cob approximately 2-kernels wide, which tasted like a saltier version of the water you throw away after boiling some corn on the cob in a pot. This time I knew to prepare my utensils and condiments (pickled radish and tiny salted peanuts, as well as some spicy chili oil with even smaller peanuts), which unfortunately were the highlight of the meal. I might come back for the "burger" but not for the "tub".
BTW, my colleague got a veg dish from the Indian stall, so I was wrong about the constancy of the biriyani...
Friday, June 11, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Oodles of Noodles
My entire family has been stricken by the mycoplasma bacterium (factoid: this sucker has no cell wall so penicillin doesn't work on it). We are all on antibiotics of one kind or another (dictated by age group and allergies). At 7 days into living here, I can give you better reviews of the Raffles Hospital Walk-In Clinic (good) and Children's Centre (fantastic) than the midtown lunch places...
My new boss continues to tease me about the weather and my commitment to learn to live with it. He is originally from Malaysia, but only eats at air-conditioned venues or brings back food to the office, which is nicely A/C'd. Thus, as an act of stubbornness on my part (and also because the rest of my colleagues eat there, and because Connie is home sick and not here to accompany me for lunch, AND because takeaway is 20-30 cents extra!, and because I think my sweat glands WILL adjust imminently) I went back to LauPaSat Festival Market to sample some more exotica sans A/C. Today was a bit rainy and cool and I was not nearly as hot and sweaty as Monday so I opted for soup. My teammates headed straight back to their usual Indian food stall and left me to wander with instructions to only eat where there is already a line formed and waiting...
Xin Xiong Ji (stall #74) lists about 5 items on the menu - Fish ball Noodle Soup, Prawn Noodle Soup, Minced Meat Noodle Soup, Laksa (spicy Malaysian noodle soup), and Mini Wok Noodle/Rice. I am not sure what that last one is (picture showed 3 bowls - soup, noodles, rice), but at $4.50 just seemed too out-of-budget - hey, if I am going to sweat, at least I shouldn't be paying much for it.
I am pretty sure the rest of the people in front of me ordered something completely off-menu and much better-tasting than the standard selection - I think this because the head chef (old guy standing in front of 4 boiling pots tossing noodles and broth and other ingredients like some crazed juggler) seemed to take longer on their dishes and did more flashy things with his ladle. I went for Prawn Noodle Soup at SGD$3.50. I discovered too late that I had not followed the assembly line correctly and neglected to collect utensils (chop sticks and plastic spoon), and a small plastic container which you can then fill up with all sorts of condiments from the counter. By that point I had a heavy bowl of hot soup to carry and I was just lucky that another person in line was good enough to supply me with utensils - the line was now too thick to penetrate for the condiments. With heavy feelings of loss over condiments not to be tried and reviewed (possibly the lost highlight of the meal) I sulked away to find a free table to sit with my colleagues: chicken biriyani again - I now assume I will see them with this very meal every single time I follow them to LauPaSat).
The broth was reminiscent of Cantonese noodle soups in NYC, the noodles slightly thicker and bouncier than the ones I'm used to (handmade fresh on premises, supposedly). The soup had two boiled prawns. Not sure what made it a prawn soup, as there were two of many other ingredients - fish cake slices, pork, etc. Without the imagined extraordinary condiments, the soup felt bland - and yet still mildly satisfying. At least I didn't need a napkin/tissue to wipe rivulets of sweat today. In order to properly investigate the foodstuffs in this madhouse of a food court, I need to bring Connie with me so we can sample more dishes per visit. Today I discovered that there are even more stalls than I thought, as the outer walls also offer pockets of food-serving locations; this food court is like an inside-out sushi roll.
A least I can look forward to dinner - I plan to try the Pig Organ Soup counter at the Kopitiam food court (A/C included) near our temporary apartment... and sample whatever the rest of my family is having too!
My new boss continues to tease me about the weather and my commitment to learn to live with it. He is originally from Malaysia, but only eats at air-conditioned venues or brings back food to the office, which is nicely A/C'd. Thus, as an act of stubbornness on my part (and also because the rest of my colleagues eat there, and because Connie is home sick and not here to accompany me for lunch, AND because takeaway is 20-30 cents extra!, and because I think my sweat glands WILL adjust imminently) I went back to LauPaSat Festival Market to sample some more exotica sans A/C. Today was a bit rainy and cool and I was not nearly as hot and sweaty as Monday so I opted for soup. My teammates headed straight back to their usual Indian food stall and left me to wander with instructions to only eat where there is already a line formed and waiting...
Xin Xiong Ji (stall #74) lists about 5 items on the menu - Fish ball Noodle Soup, Prawn Noodle Soup, Minced Meat Noodle Soup, Laksa (spicy Malaysian noodle soup), and Mini Wok Noodle/Rice. I am not sure what that last one is (picture showed 3 bowls - soup, noodles, rice), but at $4.50 just seemed too out-of-budget - hey, if I am going to sweat, at least I shouldn't be paying much for it.
I am pretty sure the rest of the people in front of me ordered something completely off-menu and much better-tasting than the standard selection - I think this because the head chef (old guy standing in front of 4 boiling pots tossing noodles and broth and other ingredients like some crazed juggler) seemed to take longer on their dishes and did more flashy things with his ladle. I went for Prawn Noodle Soup at SGD$3.50. I discovered too late that I had not followed the assembly line correctly and neglected to collect utensils (chop sticks and plastic spoon), and a small plastic container which you can then fill up with all sorts of condiments from the counter. By that point I had a heavy bowl of hot soup to carry and I was just lucky that another person in line was good enough to supply me with utensils - the line was now too thick to penetrate for the condiments. With heavy feelings of loss over condiments not to be tried and reviewed (possibly the lost highlight of the meal) I sulked away to find a free table to sit with my colleagues: chicken biriyani again - I now assume I will see them with this very meal every single time I follow them to LauPaSat).
The broth was reminiscent of Cantonese noodle soups in NYC, the noodles slightly thicker and bouncier than the ones I'm used to (handmade fresh on premises, supposedly). The soup had two boiled prawns. Not sure what made it a prawn soup, as there were two of many other ingredients - fish cake slices, pork, etc. Without the imagined extraordinary condiments, the soup felt bland - and yet still mildly satisfying. At least I didn't need a napkin/tissue to wipe rivulets of sweat today. In order to properly investigate the foodstuffs in this madhouse of a food court, I need to bring Connie with me so we can sample more dishes per visit. Today I discovered that there are even more stalls than I thought, as the outer walls also offer pockets of food-serving locations; this food court is like an inside-out sushi roll.
A least I can look forward to dinner - I plan to try the Pig Organ Soup counter at the Kopitiam food court (A/C included) near our temporary apartment... and sample whatever the rest of my family is having too!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Apartment Hunt - Day 2
After our first disastrous apartment hunting trip, which ended with high fever and a sinking feeling of hopelessness, we resumed our search with cautious pessimism. Despite seeing six inappropriate apartments on this next expedition, our spirits were actually re-lifted. We saw apartments in buildings that were just beginning to be filled, construction having finished within weeks before. One had a swank living room that opened completely into a magnificent outdoor patio space, another had an amazing high-end finish in every room, another with sprawling city vistas and an infinity pool in a deck overlooking a narrow river and a luscious lawn. Many occupied half the floor in the new narrow buildings they were built inside and the elevator opened directly into the apartment! Clean, fresh, and the only smells we could detect were of drying paint and caulk. But of course like most things in life it was too good to be true:
Novena MRT
Pavilion 11 - The one with the living room that turned into a massive outdoor deck - unfortunately it was overlooking two major and active construction sites and the wonderful city view beyond was being overtaken by the mad pace of building. It was not that near the MRT station and the bedrooms were tiny.
Kallang MRT
Riverine - Dust just settling from end-of-construction here; the apartment and building are newer than the iPad. I'm not sure what they call the little tributary extending from Singapore Bay/River on top of which the building is situated, but the view from the apartment and the pool deck (just over the infinity pool's horizon) is quite nice. Probably there will be some construction starting around this place very soon, but for now it is quiet. No real maid's room. MRT station is far away and you'd have to walk along a major highway to get there. No real shopping walking distance away. Too expensive.
Lavender MRT
Southbank - Another newly-built building. This one practically seats on top of the MRT. Open-plan kitchen. Tiny, tiny bedrooms. Very limited living room and dining room area. No real maid's room.
Newton MRT
Suites at Cairnhill - Really high-end finish, from kitchen to bathrooms. 4 bedrooms plus a real maid's room. 5-min walk from Newton MRT, 5 stops to work. Bedrooms are very small; king size bed wouldn't fit comfortably in the master bedroom. No convenient shopping in the vicinity, and too expensive. Pool deck overlooks busy street and construction sites, so constant buzz.
Orchard/Somerset MRT's - kind of...
Spring Grove - Older with outdated finish, really smelly and rundown. Felt like a basement. Lots of westerners in condo. Limited facilities. Far far away from MRT.
Aspen Heights - Scary, claustrophobia-inducing condominium. Have you seen "Dark Water"?
Issues with newly-built places: they are too expensive for the space and location you get, and most will not conveniently fit a king size bed in the master bedroom. There are also either regulations or some fashion mandate to build rooms with sitting spaces built into the window walls that dig into the already small rooms. Also they have to come with a bomb shelter, which is proposed as the maid's room but has no ventilation (duh!). Some smarter developers make bomb shelters be common spaces in the building, but they probably paid less per sq foot (psf), which means the location sucks... These almost ok ones are too costly to also be able to afford a car.
Issues with old places: they are too smelly. I guess upkeep is expensive with all the humidity, so you just hope someone won't notice? Anyways, it is really hard to consider a place seriously, even with all the luxury of large spaces and good location, when you're holding your breath to avoid inhaling dampness and musk.
After musing thusly to our agent at the end of the day, we were told that there are renovated units in older buildings, but those are hard to come by. Right... Well, let's just keep looking, then...
Novena MRT
Pavilion 11 - The one with the living room that turned into a massive outdoor deck - unfortunately it was overlooking two major and active construction sites and the wonderful city view beyond was being overtaken by the mad pace of building. It was not that near the MRT station and the bedrooms were tiny.
Kallang MRT
Riverine - Dust just settling from end-of-construction here; the apartment and building are newer than the iPad. I'm not sure what they call the little tributary extending from Singapore Bay/River on top of which the building is situated, but the view from the apartment and the pool deck (just over the infinity pool's horizon) is quite nice. Probably there will be some construction starting around this place very soon, but for now it is quiet. No real maid's room. MRT station is far away and you'd have to walk along a major highway to get there. No real shopping walking distance away. Too expensive.
Lavender MRT
Southbank - Another newly-built building. This one practically seats on top of the MRT. Open-plan kitchen. Tiny, tiny bedrooms. Very limited living room and dining room area. No real maid's room.
Newton MRT
Suites at Cairnhill - Really high-end finish, from kitchen to bathrooms. 4 bedrooms plus a real maid's room. 5-min walk from Newton MRT, 5 stops to work. Bedrooms are very small; king size bed wouldn't fit comfortably in the master bedroom. No convenient shopping in the vicinity, and too expensive. Pool deck overlooks busy street and construction sites, so constant buzz.
Orchard/Somerset MRT's - kind of...
Spring Grove - Older with outdated finish, really smelly and rundown. Felt like a basement. Lots of westerners in condo. Limited facilities. Far far away from MRT.
Aspen Heights - Scary, claustrophobia-inducing condominium. Have you seen "Dark Water"?
Issues with newly-built places: they are too expensive for the space and location you get, and most will not conveniently fit a king size bed in the master bedroom. There are also either regulations or some fashion mandate to build rooms with sitting spaces built into the window walls that dig into the already small rooms. Also they have to come with a bomb shelter, which is proposed as the maid's room but has no ventilation (duh!). Some smarter developers make bomb shelters be common spaces in the building, but they probably paid less per sq foot (psf), which means the location sucks... These almost ok ones are too costly to also be able to afford a car.
Issues with old places: they are too smelly. I guess upkeep is expensive with all the humidity, so you just hope someone won't notice? Anyways, it is really hard to consider a place seriously, even with all the luxury of large spaces and good location, when you're holding your breath to avoid inhaling dampness and musk.
After musing thusly to our agent at the end of the day, we were told that there are renovated units in older buildings, but those are hard to come by. Right... Well, let's just keep looking, then...
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Singapore Midtown Lunch - Humid Spice
I just came back from my first "midtown lunch" here in Singapore. Midtown Lunch was my favorite food site when working in Manhattan, so for lack of other coherent things to say at the moment about my new country of domicile, here is my imitation of Zach Brooks - my hero and passive mentor...
So for my first review, my new colleagues here invited to to eat lunch with them at a local hawker center called LaPaSa . It will take me months to try all the "carts" in just this one food court...
The unassuming AS North Indian Cuisine stall at LaPaSa food court (booth #64 - felt like 50-60 of them) uses strong spices in its Chicken Biriyani - a satisfying meal of fried rice, two chicken thighs covered in a chili-based marinade, raita, and 2 small papadums with a curry-based dipping sauce. The only thing lacking in the meal is missing for all the rest of the meals available in this abundant and varied food court - A/C. By the time lunch was over, I had lost at least half a pint of water and my single tissue - I need to find out more about the napkin situation here - was sitting soaked tabletop emanating an evil vibe.. At SGD$2 (~USD$1.5) I have plenty of change for a SGD$3-bottle of Evian (Starbucks price) to replenish my reservoirs, but who's going to replace my sweat-ruined shirt?
The unassuming AS North Indian Cuisine stall at LaPaSa food court (booth #64 - felt like 50-60 of them) uses strong spices in its Chicken Biriyani - a satisfying meal of fried rice, two chicken thighs covered in a chili-based marinade, raita, and 2 small papadums with a curry-based dipping sauce. The only thing lacking in the meal is missing for all the rest of the meals available in this abundant and varied food court - A/C. By the time lunch was over, I had lost at least half a pint of water and my single tissue - I need to find out more about the napkin situation here - was sitting soaked tabletop emanating an evil vibe.. At SGD$2 (~USD$1.5) I have plenty of change for a SGD$3-bottle of Evian (Starbucks price) to replenish my reservoirs, but who's going to replace my sweat-ruined shirt?
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Apartment Hunt - Day 1
We've been looking for apartments literally since two months before we even arrived here. I contacted 2 real estate agents while still in NY with our arrival dates, estimated container shipment dates, our budget and set of priorities, which read roughly like this:
1) Condominium with a pool
2) 3 + 1 (this refers to 3 Bedrooms + maid's room) at > 1200 sq ft (really, we ended up figuring we need closer to 1300 sq ft minimum given extra space for utility areas and maid's facilities)
3) Close to a North/South or East/West MRT station (trains with direct connections into work) with total commute times under 30 mins
4) Close to shopping
5) Close to pre-schools (especially the Jewish school where we pre-registered Elizabeth even before getting our airline tickets confirmed)
I spoke with the agents about what they thought were good locations based on my criteria (Novena Square and East Coast, and some other possibilities in West and North areas), and they started to look around in general and give me ideas about specific available condos, that I could sort of research online (google maps/sattelite + street view, condo reviews and listings online), and I thought wow this is simple and it's going to be so easy to get a place just after stepping one foot down from the airplane... And then we stepped one foot down from the airplane.
In our first apartment hunting trip around the city we saw 4 properties:
West
Commonwealth MRT - The Anchorage (over-budget, dark, and run-down)
Holland Village - Leedon (smelly and run-down with paint chipping off apartment walls and common areas)
North
Bishan MRT - Raffles Loft (weird built-in furniture, not really a 3 + 1, didn't really like the neighborhood)
East Coast
Tanjong Rhu (Stadium MRT) - The Waterplace (swanky, good condition, but a little too small, and with some built-in furniture that took up what space there was, and long walk to MRT)
Bayshore - ...
Didn't get to the next place, because Elizabeth was running a high fever and we were all jet-lagged, so instead we ended up at the Raffles Hospital Walk-In Clinic (more on that in another blog entry).
Summary Report: The Anchorage and Leedon were actually nauseating, and until we saw The Waterplace we were feeling like we made a big mistake moving! At least we ended on a high note, and we got a better sense of how far money could stretch (and contract) in some of these areas.
1) Condominium with a pool
2) 3 + 1 (this refers to 3 Bedrooms + maid's room) at > 1200 sq ft (really, we ended up figuring we need closer to 1300 sq ft minimum given extra space for utility areas and maid's facilities)
3) Close to a North/South or East/West MRT station (trains with direct connections into work) with total commute times under 30 mins
4) Close to shopping
5) Close to pre-schools (especially the Jewish school where we pre-registered Elizabeth even before getting our airline tickets confirmed)
I spoke with the agents about what they thought were good locations based on my criteria (Novena Square and East Coast, and some other possibilities in West and North areas), and they started to look around in general and give me ideas about specific available condos, that I could sort of research online (google maps/sattelite + street view, condo reviews and listings online), and I thought wow this is simple and it's going to be so easy to get a place just after stepping one foot down from the airplane... And then we stepped one foot down from the airplane.
In our first apartment hunting trip around the city we saw 4 properties:
West
Commonwealth MRT - The Anchorage (over-budget, dark, and run-down)
Holland Village - Leedon (smelly and run-down with paint chipping off apartment walls and common areas)
North
Bishan MRT - Raffles Loft (weird built-in furniture, not really a 3 + 1, didn't really like the neighborhood)
East Coast
Tanjong Rhu (Stadium MRT) - The Waterplace (swanky, good condition, but a little too small, and with some built-in furniture that took up what space there was, and long walk to MRT)
Bayshore - ...
Didn't get to the next place, because Elizabeth was running a high fever and we were all jet-lagged, so instead we ended up at the Raffles Hospital Walk-In Clinic (more on that in another blog entry).
Summary Report: The Anchorage and Leedon were actually nauseating, and until we saw The Waterplace we were feeling like we made a big mistake moving! At least we ended on a high note, and we got a better sense of how far money could stretch (and contract) in some of these areas.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Shalom Ni Hao
Our family just moved to Singapore from New York City. We're eating a lot of new and interesting things. Experiencing a new culture. Driving on the wrong side of the road. This is as good as any time to start blogging about the Garbourg family adventure in the great, wide world starting in a tiny lil' island in South-East Asia.
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