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10 best Eats in Singapore by Camemberu !
September 3, 2010
Today’s Blogger in the Spotlight (BITS) is Catherine of Camemberu and she lives in Singapore. She is an incredibly cool food-blogger and a friend.. you need to look for this chick if you are in Singapore as she know ALL the great joints for superb food .. Here in no particular order, are her favourite Top 10 Eats in Singapore!
1. Best Way to Eat Wagyu: Waku Ghin (by Tetsuya – now I can say it’s open!)
There are many grades of wagyu, and many ways of preparing this fatty, marbled meat. We seek the one that will give us the “Oh my God!” euphoria, and it is surprisingly one of the simplest. Tetsuya uses the highest grade A9 beef, flash seared on the outside with just salt and pepper, so it stays medium rare in the centre. He may vary the accompaniment, perhaps sauteed mushrooms, a dash of ponzu-like sauce and freshly grated wasabi. The man is God indeed.
This is Tetsuya’s novel recreation of the oyster – made of scallop carpaccio wrapped around foie gras, doused with lime.
2. When You Need A Big Family Celebration Dinner: Ming Kee Live Seafood
Ming Kee may not look like much from the outside, but such seafood treasures lie within! They have so many good dishes and the seafood is extremely fresh, it’s hard to go wrong with any order. Indeed, you’ll want to order many things, so go with a big group or family. If you’re new, try the fried eel skin, flower clams with fried minced garlic, crab beehoon, bamboo clams with buttery garlic. Add on some Guiness pork or smoked duck for variety. The feast will make you feel like celebrating, even if there’s no occasion at all!
We were all very glad we did not have to wrestle these crabs while they were alive. Look at those man-sized pincers!
3. That Delicious Light Lunch Before You Rush Back To The Office: Blanco Court Sliced Fish Soup at Beach Road
Singaporeans work some of the longest hours in Asia. So that lunch has got to be not only nutritious and substantial yet light enough not to send people off into a carb-induced coma. But most importantly, it’s gotta be tasty. Perhaps that’s why this humble little fish soup stall sees a long queue every work day. The soup is umami and delicious, the sliced fish is fresh, and there’s lots of greens thrown in as well. Bits of fluffy fried egg and anchovies give you more protein and energy to last the day.
4. Best Sinful Treat from A Hawker: Hill Street Char Kway Teow at Bedok South
This is for people who love wok hei and lard. A plate of this char kway teow will delight your tongue, warm up your insides and satisfy that need for crunchy pork crackling. This stall serves it more dry and savoury, unlike the wet and sweet (from dark soy sauce) variety that seems to be more common in Singapore. Good Chinese sausage, lots of beansprouts and chives round up a really well-seasoned and garlicky dish.
Sinfully delicious CKT!
5. When You Feel Nostalgic For The Good Old Days… : Toa Payoh Hwa Heng Beef Noodles
Old timers wax lyrical about the “Odeon beef noodles” outside the Odeon cinema, where many a romantic date took place. While the stall is gone, the family has continued the business in food courts. One of the two sons later branched out to serve the beef noodles the old school way. You’ll even get the dingy coffeeshop for atmosphere. But the beef noodles in robust stock will set you awash in nostalgia. The best part? Prices are old school too!
Toa Payoh Hwa Heng Beef Noodle
6. The ULTIMATE Splurge: Goto Japanese Kaiseki
Want to pull out all stops to impress a date or celebrate a most special occasion? You can’t top Goto, which specialises in kaiseki cuisine. Fresh seasonal ingredients are shipped in from Japan four times weekly to create very traditional Kyoto-style kaiseki meals. A ten-course meal (S$280+ or US$193+ per person) will span three of the most delightful hours you’ll ever have. Each course is an operatic homage to the blessings from nature. Chef Hisao Goto formerly cooked for Japanese diplomats and ambassadors, and is used to the highest expectations for his cooking. He and his very sweet wife run the place at Ann Siang Road.
7. Best Darn Thing In This Hot Weather: Ye Lai Xiang “Special” Cheng Tng
Order the special, don’t stint on the S$1 difference with the regular cheng tng. The premium version is brimming with at least 12 different ingredients. Dried persimmon, dried longan, barley, salty boiled tapioca and sweet potato, snow fungus, ginkgo, lotus seed, candied melon strips, sago pearls, split mung beans, and that fuzzy brown stuff (sea olives/”pong da hai”/kembang semangkuk) floating in the sweet cold pandan-infused water.
Ye Lai Xiang’s Special Cheng Tng
8. Nicest beachside eatery: The Mango Tree
This is a tropical island. You should be able to enjoy good food and wine with the seabreeze, gorgeous views of sand and sea stretching out before you. The Mango Tree at Marine Cove comes close. It serves some of the best coastal Indian cuisine (typically from Goa and Kerala). Try their mushroom pepper fry, mussel masala, garlic crab, and Erachi Ularthiyathu – tender mutton roasted with garam masala and diced coconut. The East Coast Parkway is where lots of people spend recreational weekends, so it’s a great place to people-watch too.
9. Best Value Meal: Istimewa Nasi Padang
Take your pick from over 20 dishes at this stellar nasi padang stall hidden at Hoy Fatt Road. The rendang is good, the crispy fried chicken is snapped up really quick, and most of the vegetable dishes are excellent. We had seven dishes with rice and two complimentary gravies (assam fish and vegetable curry) plus some kickass sambal belachan, and it only came up to S$16! Note that they don’t open for dinner or on Sundays. In fact, they often close early because dishes sell out so fast.
10. Cutest Cake Shop Ever: Kki
It stands out from the rest by being totally minimalistic. There is a Muji-like zen aesthetic to the place, but the other half of the shop (shared with The Little Drom Store) is full of cute knick-knacks and vintage curios. OK, refreshing looks aside, Kki does have some of the best desserts in town. Kki or “ke-ki” is the way Japanese pronounce “cake” – and they focus on only half a dozen varieties at a time, in order to maintain high standards on each. The Little Red Riding Hood (LRRH) is a Valrhona chocolate mousse with raspberry centre, and the Kinabaru (play on a new Kinabalu) is an innovative pairing of incredibly light coconut mousse and passionfruit creme.
About this week’s guestwriter:
What’s “Camemberu”? Just the way Japanese pronounce Camembert, the French cheese. She love all things Japanese and the way they add their own twist to something foreign (and very often improving it)! Her blog is mainly about food in Singapore but also features Malaysia and Japan. She started this blog in 2007 with the philosophy – “Every meal an adventure!” Someday, she shall travel, eat and photograph her way through Japan and major food cities around the world. She tells me, she’s just a few million bucks short!
Her website: Camemberu
Follow Catherine on twitter: @camemberu
