my SG itinerary centres around food (part 3 - final)

Read part 1 here and part 2 here. My final week of gluttony in Singapore as below.

This humble-looking Lau Di Fang stall at Kitchener Road is my all-time favourite place for some scissor-cut curry rice. I did not take any photos of the food because as all who've been there will know, all the curries, gravies and dishes slapped messily on top of one another in a plate don't make a very appetising picture. There are people who request for the dishes and curries to be served on separate plates or bowls so that they may look more palatable. But trust me, having all of them veges and meat and gravy and all in a clump of gooey mess brings out the full flavour of the meal. For me, I always have the cabbage dish, curry chicken wings, braised pork belly and egg with rice and lots of curry and whatever other gravies they serve, all on one plate please. Try it if you haven't. It's good. You just have to disregard the not too clean-looking surrounding.



One hot weekday noon, I met up with an ex colleague for lunch. It's funny how we never met for meals when we were working together in Sydney but got together in SG in my short visit back home. As colleagues, I would say we were merely acquaintances who never bothered to interact much except for the occasional obligatory small talk only when necessary. Corresponding with each other through Facebook after she'd left the company followed by spending a full day together just eating, shopping and chatting in familiar SG actually sparked the bloom of a friendship. We accidentally discovered the bargain set lunches offered at Azabu Sabo in Central at Clarke Quay and settled there for lunch. For $7.80, you could choose from a list of options a bowl of noodles (udon or ramen) and a bowl of rice, a drink for an additional $1 and a dessert for an additional $2 - that's just one of the many combination options to choose from.



The two of us shared two set meals that included a spicy tantan ramen, a salmon and roe rice, an omelette curry rice, two salads, a miso soup, iced lemon tea, coffee and ice cream for about $25. I liked the ramen most and found the salmon rice dish very interesting.



Here you see us doing the obligatory pose with the food. My face looks a bit swollen from all the eating over the past few weeks.



Our coffee and ice cream. This place serves a huge variety of ice cream desserts!



Did you know the first and only laksa steamboat place in SG opposite Vivo City belongs to my Uncle's wife's sister? I didn't and only just found out the week before I left SG. Of course I had to go try the food there. So I brought the angels there for dinner. Here you see one angel covering the other angel who was having a bad brow day.







We had the laksa and clear soup combination.



It's ala carte steamboat, not buffet style. We ordered all the different kinds of balls they have - fishballs, mushroom balls, sotong balls, meat balls and more, a lot of quails' eggs, some chicken, some veges, and a lot more. We over ordered and had to call my Bro for emergency help to finish up the leftovers. Total bill was about $49, split up to about $16++ per person. Not as expensive as I initially thought. Thanks Angels for the treat.



I went to the CBD for lunch with my Aunt one day. She treated me to a simple meal of roast duck, mixed vege and tofu and fried rice at Cha Kuan. It's located in a building opposite Hong Leong building (Sorry I don't know the name of the building). We had a good chat that day. My heart totally went out to her when she confided in me the problems she's facing both at home and at work. I feel really bad that I can't be around her to give her support.



Met up with the gals from my JC class one evening, thanks to Strawberry for organising it. I was told to pick a restaurant from the row of shophouses along Purvis Street and I chose this one because of the brightly coloured walls.



It's called First Thai at 23 Purvis Street.



I liked the interior a lot too.



Here's a group shot of the pretty girls. All of them turned up in chic business attire after work and I felt quite underdressed in my denim skirt and Mama's polo tee.



We had the olive rice (this was so good we ordered a second plate), thai fish cakes, tom yum soup, chicken wings, papaya salad, minced pork with chilli and basil (the chilli padi almost killed me), red ruby and mango with glutinous rice for dessert (which was disappointing both in presentation and in taste). Overall, the atmosphere and food were alright but the service was atrocious. More then twice, the service staff tried to shoo us away when we were not done with catching up. Conscious that there may be a queue waiting for a table, we did check but there was none. So we couldn't understand why they were so eager to get rid of us. I have never been made to feel so unwelcome at any eating establishments before. I never want to go back to this place again.



My second last dinner was at the Soup Restaurant in Paragon with Tudi and Rae. They serve very good double boiled soups. I passed on the herbal soups and chose to try the soup of the day that came in the set dinner we ordered - corn soup with pork ribs and carrots (very very very sweet!).



The set dinner also included their signature dish - the samsui chicken. I thought I would be able to have all the chicken skins to myself as both Tudi and Rae don't normally take the skin. But Rae gobbled up the skins greedily! Made me happy for nothing, tsk tsk. Anyways, I have always enjoyed the food at Soup Restaurant because they serve very simple dishes like those Mama would cook at home - they give you the very homey feeling. A big thank you to Tudi who picked up the tab for this meal.



Tudi, Rae and I proceeded to Bakerzin in Paragon for dessert immediately after dinner. We had the Chocolate Amer, Cookies and Cream Cheesecake (OMG YOU HAVE GOT TO TRY THIS. IT'S PURE HEAVEN), a Creme Brulee, hot chocolate shooter with vanilla ice cream and a rum and raisin ice cream.



Very sinful. Thanks to Rae (or was it Tudi? I was too distracted by the cakes to remember but I know for sure I didn't pay) for the heavenly desserts.



You know what? We didn't stop at Bakerzin. We took a train to Bishan, then a cab to Thomson to The Roti Prata House for round 3! That was for Vin who used to hound Tudi and I for supper at his favourite haunt. This time I treated the ladies to a plain prata, a plaster prata and teh alia. The pratas were quite disappointing, either the standards have dropped drastically or we were too full from the first two rounds to appreciate anything else. But I'm sure their briyani still taste as good as I saw many other tables of customers having that - yes they are quite known for their briyani! In case you are wondering, no there wasn't a round 4. We reached puking point and left the Roti Prata House.



My last dinner was at Springleaf Taiwanese Porridge Restaurant in Thomson. I had a bowl of porridge with sweet potatoes, some cold tofu with pork floss, cockles, omelette and preserved veges. I was told this place served better food than Oasis. As I hadn't eaten in Oasis in a long time, I can't really make a fair comparison. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the raw cockles the most (I rarely eat cockles!).



Sadly, this marks the end of my three-week food itinerary in Singapore. Weight check: I gained 2 kgs in that whole period of feasting. Not too bad at all. I was thinking more of a 5 kg gain. It's now time for some serious dieting and an intensive weight loss program in Sydney!