Singapore – Part 1

Ah, Singapore, what a great holiday with which to commence the I’m Hangry food blog.

Before launching straight in, apologies for the basic website, which yes, doesn’t even have an About Me section yet. But hey, I figured it was better to start with something than to keep procrastinating this blog with excuses. More bells and whistles and links to awesome things like social media to come over time. What I can promise from the start though, is honesty in reviews. Those who know me in my personal life outside of this food blog, will already be assured of this.

So where to begin in Singapore where I consumed everything from laksa, to claypot rice, to Hainan chicken, to durian, to bak kut teh to icecream sandwich? The answer was easy, with the two food items we ate more than once over the 5 days.

Frogs’ leg porridge: Tiong Shian Porridge Centre

It’s a humble place on the corner of a busy street near the Chinatown Complex. We were in search of claypot frog porridge and this place was perfect. The first time, we had the small size of the dried chilli frog ($8 for small, $16 for large) with porridge on the side (1 serving = 60 cents, what a bargain!). Extremely delicious chewy frogs legs in a salty soy-based sauce with dried chilli and ginger lined on the bottom – delivered to your table straight in the claypot. The saltiness of the sauce with just a tang of spice went very well with the simple porridge on the side. The second time, we came back and tried the ginger shallot frog with porridge on the side again. Of the two, the dried chilli frog was definitely the better of the two with just a bit more flavour and spice, and honestly the fact that ginger shallot frog had ginger in its name didn’t mean there was any extra ginger in the pot.

What does a frog‘s leg taste like? Honestly not too dissimilar to chicken i.e. white meat, though a little chewier with more leg bones (just don’t think about that too much).

Also, a tip for first timers going to Singapore, you won’t be given any napkins or tissues at most family restaurants or food courts, so don’t forget to bring some travel packs of tissues, particularly to eat slightly messy items like frogs legs.

Details:  Tiong Shian Porridge Centre, 265 New Bridge Road, Singapore

Kaya toast

After a few days of ‘heavy’ eating, I decided it was time to tone it down and try some traditional kaya toast and kopi for breakfast. Kaya is a spread of pandan, sugar, coconut milk and eggs common in Malaysia and Singapore. In Singapore, there were a few chains near our hotel in Clarke Quay that served the kaya on toast with a slice of butter and often, in a value set menu with soft eggs and coffee (kopi).

Barcook

Barcook is a chain of bakeries that also happened to serve kaya toast with butter (or peanut butter for those who prefer it). From memory, the kaya toast plus 2 coffees (regular kopi, black coffee with condensed milk) was a meagre 5 bucks. The thing that struck me to begin with was that the bread used wasn’t typical sandwich bread that had been toasted but had a flaky pastry-like consistency. The kaya was sweet but not too sweet and there was a slab of butter in the middle. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was that the butter hadn’t quite melted and it’s a personal preference of mine not to eat a mini mouthful of cold butter if I can avoid it.

Details: Barcook, Clarke Quay Central Mall

Ya Kun Kaya Toast

The next day we had discovered a chain nearby that specialised in kaya toast. The wall inside tells quite a story from humble beginnings with 1 stall to a family-run chain today.  Although famous for kaya toast, the coffee here was more to my taste than Barcook, i.e. less sweet. This time we also dared to try the kaya toast with the soft eggs. Apparently the two items are to be consumed together, using the toast to mop up the soft eggs to which you can add soy sauce for flavouring. However, at this point, at my very 1st blog post I should flag I have a huge aversion to most instances of mixing sweet and savoury dishes. Let me make this clear – I love love love salted chocolate and salted caramel. My nightmare is more along the lines of putting chow mein at a buffet on the same plate as your fruit or cheesecake slice and using the same fork to eat both.

Anyway, I digress… I gave the kaya toast and soft eggs together a go and decided they were better eaten in succession i.e. eggs first then the sweet kaya toast. The toast here is more your typical sandwich bread but still warm and comforting. 4.80 for the eggs, toast and coffee or tea.

We returned here to eat the following day for breakfast to try the steamed bread with kaya butter. Wow. This is a must try – there is something about the hot, steaming and extremely soft bread that just makes your morning a little more perfect. Also, with the steamed approach, the slab of butter in the middle actually fully melts so you get the full experience of a bit of creamy saltiness mixed in with the sweetness of the kaya.

 

 

 

 

 

Details: Ya Kun, Clarke Quay Central Mall

That’s it for now but keep an eye out for Part 2 this Easter weekend – chilli crab, durian, a note on hawker centres generally and more!