OMFG -- A Spore Food Experience

It's been a month already that I've been in the beautiful city of Singapore and I've fallen in love. Totally and helplessly head over heels, butterflies in my stomach, deeply breathy sighs and all that other good stuff that only happens during the first heavenly months. Nope, I'm not talking about some charming expat, but with all the amazingly beautiful FOOD. I'm not surprised, I've always loved Asian food (and Italian, and Japanese, and French...it's a wonder I'm still beanpole-esque) -- but my gastronomic experience here has really been something else. (If any of my bookers are reading this let me add that I've also been hitting the gym everyday and everything has been in moderation!)

Toronto definitely has an amazing food scene as well, and has cemented itself as a main food hub in Canada with exquisite specialty eateries such as the Hoof Cafe (meats and organs put into every dish) and high-end established experiences like Canoe. However, quite simply speaking, Toronto's opening of a highly buzzed-about restaurant every couple months just cannot compare to the on-going food experience that exists continually across the ocean. Singapore does not just have specialty restaurants; it has world-class hotels hosting a menagerie of drool-worthy and exquisitely decorated restaurants, it has chain fast-food places like those in America only spic and span and impossibly efficient, there are street delights made accessible via franchises that sell "sanitized" versions of local food and then there are the local food stands themselves, which are, in my opinion, the best and dirtiest food in the city.

Hakka food, as it's called, is local delights prepared by Singaporeans and sold in stands and mini-food courts the city over. These bustling markets host goodies such as the famed chicken rice (rice cooked in chicken-infused oil then served with the chicken itself, marinated cucumbers, broth and an assortment of sauces), salted pork with preserved mustard greens over rice, bean curd with fish paste and chillies, tropical fruit drinks such as iced lychee water with the actual fruits as well, papaya tapioca drinks and the desserts....ohhhh the desserts! The hakka desserts are simply to die for when it comes to a sweet-toothed person like myself. These treats are in the style of traditional Chinese desserts (think sweet pastes and glutinous consistencies as opposed to puffy pastries and fluffy cakes) and include tropical fruits which make for dessert heaven. Fresh mangoes over shaved ice with sweet jellies, sweetened peanut paste inside rice dough with shredded coconut sprinkled on top, and lotus seed paste inside rich flaky dough are a few of the popular choices at hakka stands. The desserts here are unique confections and as much as I search for suffice counterparts in Toronto, I just can't seem to find them. (Markham is the closest there is and come on -- it's going to take more than desserts for me to haul my bum to Markham.)

Singapore also boasts a detailed infrastructure that allows for it to host a bevy of beautiful dining places. The smartly architecturally-planned city has more pristine mega-malls than all of Canada combined it seems, the wide streets are lined with hotel after hotel and interesting facade after interesting facade. I had drinks the other night in a bar over water surrounded by sculptures and no one, except for me seemed to be stunned by my surroundings! In a sense, that's where Toronto has Singapore beat; in exclusivity. There are just so many decor-savvy and impeccable-serviced choices here that Singaporeans and expats alike barely blink an eye when they enter, say the exquisite lobby of the historical Fullerton hotel where I recently had a mouthwatering sushi lunch. Torontonians in the know, on the other hand, flock to whatever new hotspot with a pseudo-celebrity mogul name attached that opens. Oh, that's hardly a jab at my lovely hometown -- you pretentious darlings know exactly what I'm talking about, there's nothing like the glitz and glam of a properly marketed event. That's where our dear city wins. I was having a lychee martini one night on the 55th floor of an immaculate hotel bar when a bunch of messy rascals ran by me and just like some one had cut the music, the mood was gone. Nothing like kids to take the sparkle out of all things glittery. Don't get me wrong, children are adorable -- just not when I have a martini in hand.

Buffet dinner at the Mandarin Hotel! 

All in all, it's a good thing I have an amazing metabolism because the cuisine here is exotic, exquisite and just to die for. Between the local hakka food, ritzy five-star dinners and my limited-time access to chains they have here that we don't in Canada (um, get in my belly Carl's Jr. thick burger and fries!) it's been a journey and a half for me in getting to know the city through its food. I was having dinner with my dear friend Jeff Rustia the other night -- the famed black-pepper crab -- as the waiter brought over deep fried bread to soak up the delectable sauce. I'll pass on to you, bloggees, the same advice I said to Jeff as he tried to turn down the deep-fried goodness that awaited us: Shut up and enjoy it. Where ever you are lovelies, bon apetite!
x