Saturday, March 12, 2011

3 Nights in Singapore

Since Singapore is right in between India and Bali, we had to make a stop there if only to eat. We’ve heard stories about Singapore’s obsession with food so we had see for ourselves what the fuss was all about. We’ve been eating very clean and healthy in Auroville for almost 3 weeks, so now we’re craving some greasy and junky street food.

We’ve read about Singapore’s hawker food centers, so as soon as we checked into our hotel, we headed straight for Lavender Food Square, which just happens to be one block away. This open-air food court was surrounded by about 40 food vendors selling everything from frog porridge to turtle soup. There was Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and even Nepalese stands. No fusion crap here, this is pure authentic pan-Asian cuisine in its unadulterated form. This is food heaven.

Interestingly enough, there was very little direct competition between the vendors as each hawker had a specialty and no 2 food stalls sold the same dish. For the diner, the selection was overwhelming – it’s like putting together a meal by choosing the best dishes from 40 different restaurants. And since each restaurant has only one specialty, they must be really good at making it, right?

Years ago, these food vendors would have been pushing carts out on the street with no access to electricity and clean water. Today, they are licensed and don’t even have to do their own dishes as the food court employs a staff to bus the tables and keep things clean. Everything we ordered was delicious and affordable – a truly civilized way to enjoy tasty “street food” without any worries. We decided that this was the way to eat out and during our time in Singapore and we ended up not eating at a single “traditional” restaurant.

Hawker centers come in all shapes and sizes. Besides our neighborhood “Food Square,” we also ate at the famous Maxwell Food Centre (recommended by Anthony Bourdain) and several air-conditioned food courts inside shopping malls with names like Food Republic, Food Village and Food Opera (what ever happened to “Food Orgy”?). Each location had its own atmosphere and some unique dishes to offer. But we decided that most delicious and the most authentic place to eat was our first stop – the Lavender Food Square.

Singapore reminds me a lot of Chicago. It’s not too crowded, there’s an efficient mass transit system and a river runs right through the heart of the city. There’s even a giant Ferris wheel right on the waterfront. But the most distinguishing feature about Singapore is that it’s clean -- very clean. Even the tap water is drinkable (and it tastes pretty good, too).

Singapore is not a cheap city and we totally blew our budget here. Our hotel was over $100 a night and even though we ate at relatively cheap hawker centers, we paid Champaign-Urbana restaurant prices. As it turned out, 3 nights was just about the right amount of time to spend in Singapore. The experience was definitely worth it and with our bellies full, we’re off to Bali.

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