Eating out in Singapore; same old bleat about winter and a change of scenery; avo-smuggling and avo-PTSD; small, sweet sins; real food – Taiwanese dim sum, French rustic at Le Bistrot du Sommelier, superb Sri Lankan, Indian tandoori and more; cheap eggs and coffee; decadent Sunday champagne brunch
As I like to remind my husband and anyone else who will listen, I was never supposed to do winter. Roy and I were in tropical Singapore for 16 years, until he retired from shipping in 2016 and we embarked on travels that ensured we’d always be in the appropriate hemisphere to benefit from eternal summer. (If you have a moment, click here, here and here for some of my earlier blog posts.)
All that changed when COVID locked us down in WA in March 2020 – and now we’re into our fourth wet, blustery and frankly chilly Perth winter. Do I really hate winter here? I don’t, actually. It’s not like the UK’s dreary winter drizzle… we still have plenty of bright, warm sunshine and fresh sea breezes in between mercifully brief cold fronts.
Change of scenery
Fortunately, I’m never bored. But I do like a change of scenery, and that’s exactly what Singapore offers, less than a five-hour flight from Perth. And we’re so totally at home there – after a day or two of adjustment to the heat and humidity – that it doesn’t even feel like a “travel experience”. It’s more like a stay-cation, especially when friends let us stay with them… or without them, as was the case this time.
Extremely luckily for us, our friends Lynn and Kim were jetting off to Canada for a few weeks and offered us the use of their Wilkie Road rental apartment while they were away. Perfect! Not only is it super-comfortable, but the Selegie / Prinsep / Wilkie neighbourhood is beautifully located: it’s close to Orchard and within walking distance of at least three MRT train stations (Dhoby Gaut, Bencoolen and Rochor) and attractions like Little India, Fort Canning Park and the National Museum of Singapore.
Eating and drinking
We’re supposed to be the Low Carb, No Crap® couple, right? Fortunately, it’s not a religion. (What’s more, we’re eating more carbs nowadays than when I first developed the programme for Roy in early 2020, mainly in the form of fruit and vegetables. And dark chocolate. And, umm, Woolworths organic corn crisps. And, ah, tonic for my gin.)
I make sure to bring emergency staples with us – mixed raw nuts, dried fruit, pork crackling and so on. As odd as it no doubt sounds, I also carefully packed eight unripe avocados in my luggage. I suspect I have avo-PTSD from previous times. in those days, 90 percent of the expensive avos I’d buy would tragically either not ripen or simply rot before they ripened. This aspect has improved, in that CSFresh (the new name for Cold Storage supermarkets) was plentifully stocked with good quality Australian Hass avocados at reasonable prices.
Small sins
As usual I started off quite well, but by the end of the two weeks I’d been seduced by Singapore’s sybaritic culinary charms. I must admit that Roy is stronger in this regard than I am. If anything, I’m a bad influence – not so much at home, but while we’re on holiday.
From the first day in Singapore, I allowed myself “something bad” every day. Some examples:
- Day 1 – an almond croissant with coffee at Tiong Bahru Bakery (the branch at Plaza Singapura)
- Day 2 – a curry puff from Old Chang Kee, chased with a “sotong on stick” – deep-fried squid pieces on a bamboo skewer.
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Day 3 – an ice-cream from one of the Orchard Road carts, invariably durian-flavoured and sandwiched between wafer biscuits.
- Day 4 – kueh, deliciously wobbly Malay cakes from Bengawan Solo (there’s a branch at Plaza Singapura) made from coconut, glutinous rice, palm sugar and other fairly unobjectionable ingredients.
- Day 5 – ridiculously childish ais kacang (say ice ka-chang) from the food court on Level 3 of Raffles City: a pile of shaved ice topped with various jellies, fruit, cooked beans and colourful syrups. (I love this food court, as it was where I first discovered Singapore food courts when Roy first brought me to Singapore on a business trip back in the mid-1990s. We stayed at the neighbouring Westin Hotel the Stamford, or whatever it was called back then.)
Eating out in Singapore – real food
Mostly coincidentally, four of these five eateries were within walking distance of our Wilkie Road base. Yes, even for Roy!
#1 Taiwanese – Din Tai Fung, Plaza Singapura
We never eat fried rice at home; we rarely eat rice at all. But the addictive Fried Rice with Shrimps and Eggs ($17.50), made with brown rice at iconic Taiwanese chain restaurant Din Tai Fung is a special treat, with or without the shrimps. We made it here twice: first just the two of us at the Plaza Singapura outlet, and then with Roy’s lovely accountant Viv, at the Suntec City outlet.
We always start with the Oriental Salad in Special Vinegar Dressing ($7.60 – I remember when it was around $4); the beef tendon broth (no noodles) with bok choy, or the Original Hot and Sour Soup ($11.10). Steamed Shrimp and Pork wantons (6, $13), and/or Chilli Crab steamed xiao long bao (about $8 for four), which seemed to be especially available in honour of the Singapore National Day celebration period. To ward off scurvy, we’ll add on Stir-fried Dou Miao (pea shoots) with garlic ($17). And for a couple of dollars extra you get a free flow of refreshing green tea, which is the perfect accompaniment.
#2 French – Le Bistrot du Sommelier, Armenian Street
We go back a long way with Le Bistrot du Sommelier, which has had a chequered history since it was started in 2009 by chef Patrick Heuberger and sommelier Max Fedikiw. Chef Brandon Foo currently heads up the kitchen and is doing a great job. Heuberger can now be found at Atout (previously Au Petit Salut), located in rustic Dempsey, and we plan to go there on our next trip. (It was closed for renovation this time.)
What a great, laid-back meal! We started with duck rillettes ($12.50/150g) and pig’s head terrine ($15.50/200g); Heuberger is famous for his charcuterie skills. Then we shared a portion of duck confit and another of cassoulet ($38 and $40), plus a side order of broccolini ($12).
#3 Sri Lankan – Kotuwa at the Wanderlust Hotel, 2 Dickson Road, Little India
Paul and Florie booked a table at this wonderful place, the first (only?) Sri Lankan restaurant in Singapore. The Wanderlust is a four-star boutique hotel located in a 1920s Art Deco-style building. Kotuwa won a Bib Gourmand (for good quality, good value cooking) in the Michelin Guide – well deserved, I think.
It was all outstanding, from the crab cutlets ($16) and red lentil dahl ($12) to the fall-off-the-bone red curry lamb shank ($42), stir-fried prawns ($34) and light, crispy egg hoppers.
We could and should have ordered more, but were too busy catching up with our friends to realise it at the time. Not too busy talking to order two amazing desserts, however: watalappam tart and buffalo curd parfait ($16 each). Another one to return to!
#4 Brazilian churrascaria – Carnivore at Chijmes
Not actually a recommendation, but included here because Chijmes is a lovely venue with numerous bars and eateries – and this was where we met our great friend Sue. Though we’re keen on meat, the quality wasn’t uniformly great. But it was our last chance to catch up with Sue before she headed off somewhere for work, as usual.
#5 Indian – Zaffron Kitchen, Katong Road, East Coast
This is a favourite haunt of our friends Malinda and Bas, who live on the East Coast. The dahl puri, a yummy street snack, was outstanding, and the exquisite tandoori platter ($52) proves again that you don’t have to fill up on rice just because you’re eating Indian.
The three of us – Roy, Malinda and me (Bas was still piloting an SIA flight from Phuket and would join us later) – only managed two-thirds of it. No waste, though. According to the photo (below) that Malinda WhatsApped me, Bas had no problem polishing off the rest of it when he got home after our several drinks together at the nearby Mooloolabar.
How much do you want to pay?
Before we left this time, several people said to me: “Ah, Singapore, how nice – but it’s so expensive.” Well, it is and it isn’t. It can be pricey, but it doesn’t have to be.
Why it isn’t expensive
Anyone who knows Roy at all will be aware that he’s a coffee-head. He loved the coffee at the Plaza Singapura branch of Tiong Bahru Bakery, less than ten minutes’ walk from our Wilkie Road base. But he didn’t love the price. By the time he’d got them to add the necessary extra shot, plus tax and service charge, his smallish flat white cost him over S$8 – more than nine Australian dollars. Ouch.
Especially when he can get a Singapore kopitiam-style coffee for $2 at Killiney Kopitiam, or one of hundreds of similar local coffee shops. Along with two kopitiam-style “half-boiled” (very soft-boiled) eggs for another $2, his keto breakfast costs him a beggarly $4. Good luck trying to breakfast out for $4 in Australia!
Unfortunately, I find Singapore coffee too acidic or something. My stomach rebels. I’ll have kopitiam tea, though, especially the spicy assam tea or ginger tea, even though it’s stewed, sweetened and milky. Once in a blue moon, I’ll indulge in kaya toast on the side: crispy-thin toast sandwiched with a small, cold slab of real butter plus a thin layer of kaya, or coconut jam. (Never before noon, though – we stick to time-restricted feeding, even on holiday. So this breakfast is also lunch.)
Here’s another example of why Singapore doesn’t have to be expensive. 7-11s are everywhere you look, and they offer local food that’s on a par price-wise with food courts and hawker centres. Personally, I’d far rather get my lunch from anywhere but a 7-11, or any other fast-food chain.
Another welcome addition to the Singapore food scene: simply wave your debit card at the sensor to get four freshly squeezed, sweet Australian oranges in a cup… for $2! These i.Jooz vending machines are everywhere.
Transport can be cheap too, though to own a car is hellishly expensive. As a visitor, you can take a bus or an MRT train – or a combination of the two – to get just about anywhere. Most journeys will cost around a dollar.
Cabs are available, though far fewer of them are on the road than was the case only a few years ago; and yes: sometimes they’re a better option. Getting back to Wilkie Road by bus from Zaffron Kitchen in Katong Road, for example, would have taken too long after the copious amounts of Prosecco we’d put back with Malinda and Bas. The $20 fee was well worth it.
More often than not, however, we caught the bus. Insider tip: gothere.sg has a great app for getting around.
But yes, you can splash out…
Sunday Brunch at The Colony, Ritz-Carlton Hotel
The Colony remains our favourite free-flow champagne brunch. It works out around $250 a head, which is of course higher-end, but isn’t much more than your average wine-pairing dinner in WA.
From the stupendous choice, I had: oysters (big American ones and smaller French ones) plus a couple of crab claws; pan-fried foie gras served on tender beef entrecôte and topped with shaved truffle; duck thigh confit with aligote and giant green asparagus; laksa with a ball of chopped lobster meat; and various desserts. Roy remembers the oysters and the sashimi; cold lobster, the way he likes it; and cheese from the magnificent board.
It was awfully nice of Paul and Salinah to take us there in the Bentley. And especially to take us back home afterwards.
Coming soon…
You’d be right in thinking we spent most of our time eating – but there was the odd excursion to Sentosa, the National Museum and (for me, anyway) various parks. Potentially riveting stuff, coming up in Part 2!
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