raffy
Mar 17, 02, 12:37 am
Source: SF Chronicle
I'm "Traveling in Comfort with F.M. Choy" in his Comfort Cab, heading from the airport into downtown Singapore, and already my Day-Timer is on my lap. I'm agonizing over how to squeeze as many meals as possible into the next five days - no easy task in this tiny city-state with its 900 restaurants and 18, 875 food court and hawker stalls. Its 3.2 million residents are food mad and savvy; even McDonald's serves Szechwan Black Pepper burgers.
Singapore may have mosques, temples and malls honoring the nation's trio of religions, but for 22 years I have come here simply to eat.
It's not only the number of eating establishments that is astonishing, it's the diversity and high quality of the cuisines. And it -doesn't have to be at five-star prices; ask Singaporeans about their favorite restaurant and it's likely some no-name sidewalk noodle joint or a certain stall at a hawker center.
The hawkers who used to push their food carts around Singapore's streets have been corralled into hygienic, health-inspected centers throughout the city where you can grab a gourmet Asian meal for under $5. Cuisines running Singapore's gamut are represented side by side. One person can have nasi goreng - Malay fried rice - while another can indulge in Indian biryani or Chinese seafood.
At riverside Clarke Quay or downtown at the Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center, in a converted Victorian market, hawkers grill Malay chicken satay - miniature kebabs - over charcoal brassiers and serve them with a dish of sliced cucumbers, squares of pressed rice cakes and a bowl of spicy peanut sauce for dipping.
Decisions, decisions. On a steamy moonlit night I'm tempted to get up to my elbows in plates of fresh chili crab or the spicier pepper crab at an outdoor table crowded with giant bottles of Tiger beer at the Long Beach Seafood Restaurant. (I know better than to wear white.)
Or I could start out at one of my favorite haunts in Little India. It's on Serangoon Road, with its sidewalk fortune tellers and barbers offering an open- air shave and haircut. At the Banana Leaf Apolo, a bent little man makes his way from table to table, plunking down rectangles of freshly cut banana leaf that serve as place mat and plate. Another server scoops papadams from a square metal tin, and the parade continues with spicy potatoes and saffron rice ladled onto the bright green waxy leaves. Then the piece de resistance arrives - wafting tamarind and turmeric, a feast of fish head curry that is the house specialty. Eating utensils are optional.
Singapore has an indigenous cuisine called Peranakan - which means "born here" in Malay - a sophisticated blend of Chinese and Malay. The Blue Ginger Restaurant is one of the best known, an elegant converted shophouse in Chinatown that serves distinctive curries with lemongrass, galangal and earthy Buah Keluak nuts.
Just as tasty are the simple sidewalk eateries in the Katong neighborhood known for their laksa, a rich blend of rice-flour noodles, bean curd and shrimp bathed in a silky, spicy coconut broth. Both Malays and Peranakans claim ownership to the original laksa, and it is highly addictive.
In the shadow of the cluster of golden domes at the Sultan's Mosque, where prayers ring down into narrow streets with names like Baghdad and Muscat, touts shout "Indian pizza" above the din with as much gusto as their Italian counterparts at two side by side cafes, the Victory and the Zam Zam. Each has a "murtabak man" out front who flings and stretches a ball of dough until it's thin as tissue then tosses it onto a sizzling grill. Onions, chopped chicken or mutton are added and an egg cracked over the lot. The murtabak is then deftly folded into a pocket and served with a strong coffee sweetened with condensed milk.
"Stick out your tongue," is one of the few English phrases Dr. Li knows, and he uttered it shortly after he took my various pulses when I entered the Imperial Herbal Restaurant. He then recommended dishes for dinner that would help me balance my out-of-whack yin and yang. Li is the in-house herbalist and acupuncturist at this popular medical clinic/eatery. He helped develop a menu that includes Double-boiled Crocodile Soup (good for lungs and asthma) and Ginseng Deer Penis Wine (I -didn't ask). The dishes are not all exotic, but they are uniformly delicious and healthy, many of them low-fat, low- cholesterol offerings.
Nearby is the 19th century colonial Raffles Hotel. Rudyard Kipling once wrote, "When in Singapore feed at Raffles." And so I did, at Doc Cheng's, the hotel's Asian-fusion restaurant whose Szechwan Rack of Lamp with a port wine ginger sauce is one of the single best contemporary indulgences in Asia.
The next morning I was back at the Raffles for their cooking class. Whether it's curry or simple mee goreng noodles, Singaporeans will swear it's easy to make. But having tackled Asian cooking in the past myself I know this is not true. I was hoping for insight, but the Raffles Culinary Academy was a disappointment. The room was too small for the 25 students, many of whom had to stand to watch the chef's demonstration, as there was no overhead mirror.
Far superior was the at-Sunrice Cooking Academy at Fort Canning, the original British colonial barracks on a downtown hilltop. The morning started with a walk through the spice gardens, past lemongrass and turmeric patches and into a plantation where green parrots flew amid nutmeg trees. Chef Madame Lee demonstrated three Chinese dishes, and then it was the students' turn. We fumbled with wontons, chopped unsteadily at shredded duck and steamed our way through ginger fish with shitakes.
But it was the best souvenir I could take home: now I can successfully re- create a little bit of Singapore's amazing cuisine in my own kitchen.
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IF YOU GO
RESTAURANTS: Note: all prices are in U.S. dollars. Imperial Herbal Restaurant, 3rd Floor, Metropole Hotel, 41 Seah Street; phone: 011-65-337-0491.
Open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 6:30-10:30 p.m. daily. Main courses, $8.20- $22. House of Sundanese (Indonesian cuisine), 55 & 55A Boat Quay; phone: 011- 65-534-3775; Web: www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/sundanese/. (http://www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/sundanese/.) Open Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and daily from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mains courses, $8.75 to $15.30. Banana Leaf Apolo (south Indian cuisine), 54-56-58 Race Course Rd.; phone: 011-65-293-8682. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Main courses, $3.80-$11. Long Beach Seafood Restaurant (chili and pepper crab), 1018 East Coast Parkway; phone: 011-65-445-8833; Web: www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/longbeach/. (http://www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/longbeach/.) Open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. Crab plates, $13.65 to $19.20. Katong Laksa, #216 215 East Coast Rd; no phone. Open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.. Under $2.75 per person. Doc Cheng's Restaurant (Asian fusion), The Raffles Hotel, 328 North Bridge Rd.; phone: 011-65-331-1612; e- mail: raffles@raffles.com; Web: www.raffleshotel.com. (http://www.raffleshotel.com.) Open daily from noon to 2 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. Main courses, $14.25 to $20.75. The Blue Ginger Restaurant (Peranakan cuisine), 97 Tanjong Pagar Rd.; phone: 011-65-222-3928; Web: www.theblueginger.com/. (http://www.theblueginger.com/.) Open 11:30 a.m to 3 p.m. and 6 to 10:30 p.m. to $12.60. Main courses, $7.10 to $12.60.
COOKING SCHOOLS: The Raffles Culinary Academy, The Raffles Hotel; phone: 011-65-331-1747; e-mail: rca@raffles.com; Web: www.raffleshotel.com. (http://www.raffleshotel.com.) Morning class, including lunch, is $32.80 per person. at-Sunrice Cooking Academy, Fort Canning Park; phone: 011-65-336-3307; e-mail: zeke@at-sunrice.com; Web: www.at-sunrice.com. (http://www.at-sunrice.com.) Spice garden walk and hands-on Asian cooking class, including lunch, is $41. Also offered are two-week Pan Asian culinary courses.
FOOD TOURS: A gastronomic tour of Singapore lasts 3 1/2 hours and costs $16. 40 per adult. Book it through RMG Tours, phone: 011-65-220-1661; fax: 011-65- 220-6530; e-mail: rmgops@singnet.com.sg
I'm "Traveling in Comfort with F.M. Choy" in his Comfort Cab, heading from the airport into downtown Singapore, and already my Day-Timer is on my lap. I'm agonizing over how to squeeze as many meals as possible into the next five days - no easy task in this tiny city-state with its 900 restaurants and 18, 875 food court and hawker stalls. Its 3.2 million residents are food mad and savvy; even McDonald's serves Szechwan Black Pepper burgers.
Singapore may have mosques, temples and malls honoring the nation's trio of religions, but for 22 years I have come here simply to eat.
It's not only the number of eating establishments that is astonishing, it's the diversity and high quality of the cuisines. And it -doesn't have to be at five-star prices; ask Singaporeans about their favorite restaurant and it's likely some no-name sidewalk noodle joint or a certain stall at a hawker center.
The hawkers who used to push their food carts around Singapore's streets have been corralled into hygienic, health-inspected centers throughout the city where you can grab a gourmet Asian meal for under $5. Cuisines running Singapore's gamut are represented side by side. One person can have nasi goreng - Malay fried rice - while another can indulge in Indian biryani or Chinese seafood.
At riverside Clarke Quay or downtown at the Lau Pa Sat Hawker Center, in a converted Victorian market, hawkers grill Malay chicken satay - miniature kebabs - over charcoal brassiers and serve them with a dish of sliced cucumbers, squares of pressed rice cakes and a bowl of spicy peanut sauce for dipping.
Decisions, decisions. On a steamy moonlit night I'm tempted to get up to my elbows in plates of fresh chili crab or the spicier pepper crab at an outdoor table crowded with giant bottles of Tiger beer at the Long Beach Seafood Restaurant. (I know better than to wear white.)
Or I could start out at one of my favorite haunts in Little India. It's on Serangoon Road, with its sidewalk fortune tellers and barbers offering an open- air shave and haircut. At the Banana Leaf Apolo, a bent little man makes his way from table to table, plunking down rectangles of freshly cut banana leaf that serve as place mat and plate. Another server scoops papadams from a square metal tin, and the parade continues with spicy potatoes and saffron rice ladled onto the bright green waxy leaves. Then the piece de resistance arrives - wafting tamarind and turmeric, a feast of fish head curry that is the house specialty. Eating utensils are optional.
Singapore has an indigenous cuisine called Peranakan - which means "born here" in Malay - a sophisticated blend of Chinese and Malay. The Blue Ginger Restaurant is one of the best known, an elegant converted shophouse in Chinatown that serves distinctive curries with lemongrass, galangal and earthy Buah Keluak nuts.
Just as tasty are the simple sidewalk eateries in the Katong neighborhood known for their laksa, a rich blend of rice-flour noodles, bean curd and shrimp bathed in a silky, spicy coconut broth. Both Malays and Peranakans claim ownership to the original laksa, and it is highly addictive.
In the shadow of the cluster of golden domes at the Sultan's Mosque, where prayers ring down into narrow streets with names like Baghdad and Muscat, touts shout "Indian pizza" above the din with as much gusto as their Italian counterparts at two side by side cafes, the Victory and the Zam Zam. Each has a "murtabak man" out front who flings and stretches a ball of dough until it's thin as tissue then tosses it onto a sizzling grill. Onions, chopped chicken or mutton are added and an egg cracked over the lot. The murtabak is then deftly folded into a pocket and served with a strong coffee sweetened with condensed milk.
"Stick out your tongue," is one of the few English phrases Dr. Li knows, and he uttered it shortly after he took my various pulses when I entered the Imperial Herbal Restaurant. He then recommended dishes for dinner that would help me balance my out-of-whack yin and yang. Li is the in-house herbalist and acupuncturist at this popular medical clinic/eatery. He helped develop a menu that includes Double-boiled Crocodile Soup (good for lungs and asthma) and Ginseng Deer Penis Wine (I -didn't ask). The dishes are not all exotic, but they are uniformly delicious and healthy, many of them low-fat, low- cholesterol offerings.
Nearby is the 19th century colonial Raffles Hotel. Rudyard Kipling once wrote, "When in Singapore feed at Raffles." And so I did, at Doc Cheng's, the hotel's Asian-fusion restaurant whose Szechwan Rack of Lamp with a port wine ginger sauce is one of the single best contemporary indulgences in Asia.
The next morning I was back at the Raffles for their cooking class. Whether it's curry or simple mee goreng noodles, Singaporeans will swear it's easy to make. But having tackled Asian cooking in the past myself I know this is not true. I was hoping for insight, but the Raffles Culinary Academy was a disappointment. The room was too small for the 25 students, many of whom had to stand to watch the chef's demonstration, as there was no overhead mirror.
Far superior was the at-Sunrice Cooking Academy at Fort Canning, the original British colonial barracks on a downtown hilltop. The morning started with a walk through the spice gardens, past lemongrass and turmeric patches and into a plantation where green parrots flew amid nutmeg trees. Chef Madame Lee demonstrated three Chinese dishes, and then it was the students' turn. We fumbled with wontons, chopped unsteadily at shredded duck and steamed our way through ginger fish with shitakes.
But it was the best souvenir I could take home: now I can successfully re- create a little bit of Singapore's amazing cuisine in my own kitchen.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF YOU GO
RESTAURANTS: Note: all prices are in U.S. dollars. Imperial Herbal Restaurant, 3rd Floor, Metropole Hotel, 41 Seah Street; phone: 011-65-337-0491.
Open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 6:30-10:30 p.m. daily. Main courses, $8.20- $22. House of Sundanese (Indonesian cuisine), 55 & 55A Boat Quay; phone: 011- 65-534-3775; Web: www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/sundanese/. (http://www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/sundanese/.) Open Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and daily from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mains courses, $8.75 to $15.30. Banana Leaf Apolo (south Indian cuisine), 54-56-58 Race Course Rd.; phone: 011-65-293-8682. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Main courses, $3.80-$11. Long Beach Seafood Restaurant (chili and pepper crab), 1018 East Coast Parkway; phone: 011-65-445-8833; Web: www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/longbeach/. (http://www.asia1.com.sg/asiatest/food/longbeach/.) Open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. Crab plates, $13.65 to $19.20. Katong Laksa, #216 215 East Coast Rd; no phone. Open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.. Under $2.75 per person. Doc Cheng's Restaurant (Asian fusion), The Raffles Hotel, 328 North Bridge Rd.; phone: 011-65-331-1612; e- mail: raffles@raffles.com; Web: www.raffleshotel.com. (http://www.raffleshotel.com.) Open daily from noon to 2 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. Main courses, $14.25 to $20.75. The Blue Ginger Restaurant (Peranakan cuisine), 97 Tanjong Pagar Rd.; phone: 011-65-222-3928; Web: www.theblueginger.com/. (http://www.theblueginger.com/.) Open 11:30 a.m to 3 p.m. and 6 to 10:30 p.m. to $12.60. Main courses, $7.10 to $12.60.
COOKING SCHOOLS: The Raffles Culinary Academy, The Raffles Hotel; phone: 011-65-331-1747; e-mail: rca@raffles.com; Web: www.raffleshotel.com. (http://www.raffleshotel.com.) Morning class, including lunch, is $32.80 per person. at-Sunrice Cooking Academy, Fort Canning Park; phone: 011-65-336-3307; e-mail: zeke@at-sunrice.com; Web: www.at-sunrice.com. (http://www.at-sunrice.com.) Spice garden walk and hands-on Asian cooking class, including lunch, is $41. Also offered are two-week Pan Asian culinary courses.
FOOD TOURS: A gastronomic tour of Singapore lasts 3 1/2 hours and costs $16. 40 per adult. Book it through RMG Tours, phone: 011-65-220-1661; fax: 011-65- 220-6530; e-mail: rmgops@singnet.com.sg