This is the second part of my food adventures from a recent trip to Singapore. I have also learnt in the last week that there’s a reasonable chance I’ll be heading back to Singapore next year which will provide ample opportunity to hit up a few other spots that I didn’t make it to this time.
Jumbo Seafood Restaurant
Anyone who has Google-d the famous Singaporean chilli crab knows that there a few top joints on the list to visit in Singapore – Jumbo, Red House, No Sign. My decision to go to Jumbo was purely logistical in terms of ease from the hotel (hey, it’s hot and humid in Singapore!) and ability to book online in advance. We booked a Saturday lunch session at the Riverwalk Jumbo, though I did spot another Jumbo just down the road at Clarke Quay.
The first tip here: if you’re like me and can’t eat peanuts, don’t accept the small plate of peanuts they give you when you first sit down. They’re not complimentary!
Moving on to the main event though, I could honestly eat the Jumbo chilli crab over and over again especially with the Mantou buns you can get on the side (a must-get to soak up all the delicious sauce!). We ordered 800 grams of crab (the standard size that day), and 6 buns between 2 people and it was about right. The sauce was a little spicy (about 4 / 10 on my spice odometer), sweet and tomato-ey with egg running through it. The star of the show, the crab, was well cooked, juicy with lots of meat. But that sauce is what dreams are made of… I am positive that I was eating spoonful after spoonful of it.
The service was better than what I expected with the service staff constantly coming over to refill our Chinese tea. The restaurant was completely full inside by about 1pm and was airy and cool, an important consideration when eating long meals like crab in Singapore.
Details: Jumbo Riverwalk, 20 Upper Circular Road, #B1-48 The Riverwalk, The Riverwalk, Singapore
Durian
Let me begin this section by saying I am no connoisseur of durians so I won’t even pretend here that I have done any research on the different types of durians or the most trust worthy durian vendors in Singapore. I was travelling with just 1 other person so our chances of finishing a whole durian were pretty slim (yes, even with my stomach capacity) and our love of durian didn’t translate to travelling far from our hotel in search of it unfortunately.
However, we were delighted to discover a fantastic fruit stall in the People’s Park Complex in Chinatown. There were several choices of durian from $10 to $18 to $28 and one can only assume in a trustworthy world, that the $28 durian must be fantastic compared to the $18. First tip here, they are open to friendly bargaining so we managed on the first day to buy the $18 for $15 and the next day, the $28 for $25. Second tip here, don’t bother with the $28 one, it wasn’t worth the extra $10. However, both trays of durian were sweet, creamy, with a slight bitterness. It was definitely expensive compared to other fruits but it’s one of the few fruits I can never resist. That same fruit stall also sells great paw paw ($0.70 a piece) as well as a whole array of other fruits already sliced up.
Hawker centres
By the way, the People’s Park Complex food court is an outstanding choice for a hawker centre if you want cheap, local eats as opposed to tourist spots like Lau Pa Sat. So I’ll digress here and talk a little about the hawker centres I went to.
Chinatown Complex
Chinatown Complex food court is on the second storey of a large building in Chinatown above a wet market. It’s huge and an absolute maze! Just when you think you’ve reached another dead end after an array of food stalls, you realise there is another corner and before you know it, there’s another array of food stalls! I went here on my first night in Singapore and found it a little overwhelming but luckily had a specific stall I was looking for (the claypot chicken and rice one, though this was a bad choice for the hangry due to the half hour wait).
Details: 335 Smith St, Chinatown Complex (U/C), Singapore 050335
Lau Pa Sat
Lau Pa Sat is at an awesome location, set amidst the tall office buildings in Downtown. It was the most festive of the hawker centres I went to and by 7pm on Friday night, the Satay vendors on Satay Street outside the main building had taken over the roads. I’d love to say at this point that I tried the Satay sticks but unfortunately, my peanut allergy precluded me. For those interested, all of the different vendors have the same pricing system which I think was 10 chicken satay sticks for $7 though they also sell other meats and seafood.
I did however try a Sambal BBQ Stingray. This was one of the highlights of eating at hawker centres for me. It was salty, a little shrimpy from the sambal and reminded me of simple fish and rice dishes that my mum used to cook.
Details: 18 Raffles Quay, Singapore 048582
People’s Park Complex
The People’s Park hawker centre is tucked between the People’s Park Complex (useful tip – there are quite a few currency exchange counters in that complex) and probably the cheapest hawker centre that I saw this trip. You can find everything here from soy milk, to baos, to Szechuan cuisine, to soup, to bbq meats, and to fish ball noodles. I had the Hainan chicken set which came with Chinese vegies and a bowl of soup as well as egg noodles with Char Siu pork. Both were good (but not to die for) but very cheap – $10 in total!
Details: 1 Park Road, Singapore 059108
I'm Hangry 