Originally Posted by BaldEmu
1) My current plan is to go the Botanical Gardens, Zoo and Night Safari all in a day, interspersed with food runs. Should this be doable? Should I add something else as well?
This might be a minority opinion, but you can go to zoos and gardens anywhere, and don't underestimate how exhausting it is to slog around the zoo or botanical gardens in the midday tropical heat. I'd drop at least one of those and go to Chinatown or Little India instead; this also has the added advantage of lots of eating places handy.
2) As for the food runs - given the limited amount of stomach space available for such a short time
, I've been trying to figure out which dishes to target. My short list is Pepper Crab, Chicken Rice, Satay, Bak Kut Teh, Laksa, Char Kway Teow, Nasi Lemak, Roti John and Fried Hokkien Mie. Even with my best efforts I anticipate only being able to try 5 of these at most. So - are there any that are 'less spectacular' and can be left out, or are there any that I MUST add? And given where the good food can be found, does it seem doable to travel to and from food as well as the zoos and garden?
Good food can be found anywhere in Singapore, but the best is harder to track down.
I'd definitely drop Roti John from the list (deep-fried dough with ground meat and ketchup, whoop-de-doo), would warn that Bak Kut Teh may be a bit of an acquired taste, and note that eating Pepper Crab by yourself is expensive and boring. Hokkien Mee is also in my book a second to Char Kway Teow, and any Malay will tell you that the Nasi Lemak is better in Malaysia. As for omissions, Curry Fish Head should be on your list! But this is also usually not a single-person dish.