SQ319

Unfortunately, many places in Singapore are getting gentrified....

jpatokal

Since you're calling the Indian food served in the UK "decent", I suspect you're looking for/expecting northern Indian food? If that's the case, you will certainly be disappointed, since Singapore's Indian community and its Indian foreign workers are overwhelmingly southern, and the restaurants in Little India reflect that.

But if you're telling me with a straight face that, say, the masala dosas at Komala Vilas or the curry fish head at Banana Leaf Apolo are not "as good as average", then... well... I'm not sure what to say. Your loss?

Sunday afternoons do get busy, but it's still positively bucolic compared to rush hour on the Delhi metro. And again, it's Little India, not Little Disneyland: the reason it feels "edgy" is because it's real and much of it is and/or caters to the poor. If you want air-conditioned shopping malls selling Western brands, then there's plenty of other places for that in Singapore.

I do agree that women are better off not visiting solo on Sundays after dark: they're unlikely to be in much actual danger, but they will certainly get more than their fair share of attention.

manneca

I finally overcame my aversion to Singapore heat and humidity and got out of the malls on my last visit (returned about two weeks ago). I was surprised at how much was going on at Marina. Stayed at the Conrad and walked to Marina Bay Sands for dinner at Cut. On the way back, just continued walking on the Marina Square side and found lots of young people around the theater that's there. Lots of western/tourist restaurants, a band playing, kids doing parcours. From there you can walk to the Fullerton and then on to Clarke Quay. Over on the Marina Bay Sands side, went to the gardens there.
On the weekends, I have found free outdoor movies at the marina bay sands mall. There's actually more in what I had thought was a basically dead area.

idaud

Some great responses - thank you all.

In terms of location for my stay, it sounds to me like the Intercon is going to be a good choice location wise and I'm sure it's a decent standard as well. I did consider Raffles but I think location wise it will be marginally less convenient than the IC...

Chipping in on the debate on Indian food, I have to admit that not many places I've been to so far (except India itself of course) have beaten the UK on my own taste tests but I also agree that there is some Noth Indian/punjabi/pakistani bias in the UK as jpatokal mentioned. Having said that, there are plenty of solid South Indian options in London and they are extremely popular amongs the Brits. My preference is to the North but I'm hopeful that the biryanis, "prata" and murtubak I keep hearing about hit the spot for me whilst I'm in Singapore. I also want to try the more Chinese/Malaysian/Indonesian influenced Singapore versions of dishes like chicken rice, Hokkien mee, Oyster omelette, nasi padang etc as long as I can find quality halal versions of these...

uk1

The Intercontinental is a great choice, and funnily enough we found an Indian Restaurant we really enjoyed a 10 minute walk away. This was the best Indian food we experienced in Singapore. Believe me I love my indian food and we're always desperate ......

http://www.shishmahal.com.sg/

Many of the hotels and many locals recommend places like the Banana Leaf Apollo to tourists. We've been to this place around half a dozen times or so along with a few of the other places close by and considered up market in the area. Try it. By all means listen to the enthusiasts and make up your own mind. I'm a Londoner, brought up in the East End and worked in Soho! I think you may conclude it to be a disappointment. They do sell fish head curry but much of the rest of the menu you will be familiar with. But try it if you wish.

A few minutes away is the Albert Center with a great variety and feels very local considering how close it is to the hotel.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qVHfXZJrEg4

Ask any questions you have.

SQ319

Since you mentioned halal versions of certain local dishes, technically, there is no Halal version of Hokkien Mee because the very item which makes the dish so wonderful is the prawn stock (which may include pork) and pork lard. Ditto for some other local hawker fare like Char Kway Teow, Prawn Mee, though the halal stalls can possibly to a chicken version of these dishes, but the taste may be vastly different.

For the other dishes you mentioned, I certainly would recommend the Geylang Serai area which is predominantly a Muslim enclave. There is an abundance of halal options in the markets in Geylang Serai. Within walking distance, the Arab Street area (5 minutes from the InterContinental) also has a wide array of Muslim food. Zam Zam is known for its mutabak. I like the briyani at the Islamic Restaurant (that's the name of the restaurant) along the same road.

uk1

Found a food piccy from our visit a couple of months ago ... gives an idea ...

YuropFlyer

Looks good

How much for a meal for 2 (excl. drinks) ?

uk1

I am sorry, i paid cash so can't check. It was reasonable restaurant prices but TA will give some idea. I am a bit of a flatbread fetish and they made really good naans. All home made freshly and straight out of the tandoor. Nice outside seating and we would go for lunch quite often. Beat the pants off of Banana Leaf ....

A few reviews from Indians are pretty positive including one from Mumbai who had all his meals there during his trip ... ... as usual listed more than once....

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaur...Singapore.html

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaur...Singapore.html

YuropFlyer

Thanks uk1. TA definitely has decent reviews, will visit it in 6 weeks when I'm next time in SIN.

Now I've to find the bar selling Tiger for 4S$ which was mentioned in the comments of being nearby

uk1

Actually, I remember that they have a sort of happy hour price for tiger advertised but can't remember the prices or times but i think it was early evening.

This place is in a quiet haven - really unusual for Singapore as some of the TA comments said and hopefully if you stay at the IC and ensure lounge access you will have unlimited free Tiger during Happy Hour(s) when you lurch back after your lunch and doze ....

We loved it at lunch times. Hope you like it. Report back!

idaud

SQ319 you make a very good point. I think there will be dishes which won't be authentic without pork etc being used. Prawn is ok by the way and so any fish or chicken based sauces shoulod have a halal equivalent which leads to my next question that you might be able to help with. Which Singapore foods which are not pork biased should be on my must try list?

@UK1 - I take it as an East Londoner you are aware of places like Tayyabs, Needo's, Lahore kebab house etc? If so I'd be interested to hear how some of your recommendations compare...

uk1

Very little of what you experience in Singapore re Indian food is going to come up to the best you experience back home imho. So why waste time? So the issue is simply choosing the best you can in Singapore.

Might I suggest philosophically to you, that as you are on a limited time frame, every meal you eat in Singapore that is something you can potentially eat better at home this is "eating" into the amount of eating opportunities that you could have tried more local food.

Singapore is genuine fusion food with all these immigrants stealing and adjusting from each other. I'd miss Indian food completely and use your time on Singapore food.

SQ319

I specifically mentioned prawn because in Singapore, quite a few prawn based dishes uses pork bone in their stock, so you can never be too sure.

Re your questions on local dishes which are not pork based, the first thing that came to my mind is chicken rice. It's tasty and it's popular with kids, and it almost certainly doesn't have any pork based ingredients so you can safely order it from a normal (non-halal) stall.

A bit of a personal question - are you stictly halal only (will only eat from halal-certified restaurants) or are you okay with no pork no lard ingredients (but no halal certificate). Some restaurants do not have the halal certificates, but they do not use any pork or lard in their ingredients. This is okay with some of my Muslim friends, but not with other stricter ones, so knowing your tolerance level for this will help with recommendations as well.

I did a search and found this 10 places to get halal Chinese hawker dishes. This list is an eye-opener for me, because I would not have recommended these dishes to you as they are all pork based. So there you go. You can have halal Hokkien Mee (and it's within walking distance from the InterCon)!

idaud

Ok so I guess this isn't strictly off topic because the question of what is halal has been raised. Some people are squeamish about or object to talk of animal slaughter so apologies in advance if any of this makes you uncomfortable but in short:

- Most meat can be halal except pork which can never be (as you probably all know already).
- No meat apart from fish is halal unless the animal in question has been killed in the name of God (sort of like saying grace at the beginning of the supply chain rather than at the end when it’s in the plate) and a sharp blade is used to cut the jugular vein to reduce undue distress and ensure that as much blood is drained
- Fish/seafood is always halal (probably as a result of the practicality of the way seafood is caught)

So I guess in answer to your question, just because there's no pork doesn't make it halal. Having non halal chicken or beef for example is just as non halal as pork in the ingredients so if you're not fussy about your chicken or other ingredients - you might as well eat what you want! Certification itself isn't a guarantee or requirement of halal but I guess it is a way of validating that all ingredients are halal and so a good starting point (don't get me started on dodgy certification)... Somewhere like Singapore there it is possible that by default, the meat used by a random Chinese vendor for example might well be halal (even if unwittingly so) just because of where the meat comes from and because no other non halal ingredients are used.

I guess out of simplicity for the purposes of this thread - maybe we should stick with either halal certified places or places where it is obvious that the vendor is providing halal food.

Is everyone still awake?