Aren’t these little dimsum candles adorable??? Of course, it also means I’ll never use them. And who but to give me this but my dear friend, A, who finally came to visit me in Singapore after knowing him all these years. It’s always been me making trips to Sydney and catching up with him whenever I’m there. It’s exactly a week ago that he flew back to Sydney.
Before spending a week in Singapore, A went to Bangkok with a friend and it was there that he spotted these candles and decided that he had to get them for me. I mean, seriously, it has my name written all over it.
A is a big fan of Hainan chicken rice and in the one week he was in Singapore, he must have had it at least five times. I’ll need to confirm the final tally with him. But I didn’t have chicken rice with him. On Monday night, I cooked Italian-style pork ribs for him. It’s a dish I learnt while working in a farm in Italy. It was only my second time making it but thankfully it turned out well! Here’s where we went and ate when I took him out:
1. Katong laksa at Queensway shopping centre – he wanted to buy a pair of Asics running shoes so I brought him to one of the cheapest places in Singapore to get it. But before shopping we grabbed a bite at one of the tiny stalls situated in the middle of the shopping centre. I ordered a bowl of Katong laksa each and introduced A to otah. I also somehow managed to charm and talk the Auntie there into treating A to a small plate of muah chee. I told the Auntie that it was A is visiting from Australia and has never tried this before and talked about how to make muah chee and what are the differences between the muah chee in Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. She probably found me very engaging and then decided to play food ambassador to A. Haha. After eating, we hit the shops and A ended up buying a pair of spiffy shoes and a Karrimor backpack.
2. From Queensway, we took a taxi to Chinatown. Walked around and then ended up at the hawker centre upstairs. Here, A promptly decided he wanted chicken rice. So he ordered a plate. While I introduced him to popiah and the drink which we call 黑白 (black-white) – a mix of soy bean milk and chin chow.
3. We then made our way to Orchard because I wanted to buy a pair of shoes. I bought my pair of red shoes and then we ended up at Food Republic at Wisma where he ate satay and I introduced him to rojak, which I like to deem as Singapore’s version of a salad. I had the Hokkein Mee but I wouldn’t bother queueing up for it again ‘cos it’s not nice.
4. The next afternoon, I took A to Little India and I went to Komala’s to eat Dosai. I call Komala’s the Indian version of McDonald’s but I’d say Komala’s food is healthier. It’s just that they are so efficient and the way the eatery operates is exactly like a fastfood restaurant. I enjoyed my Dosai but I thought the mango lassi I ordered was way too sweet. I left most of it untouched. A had the Indian dessert Gulab Jamun, those dough balls soaked in sugary syrup. I’m not a big fan of Indian dessert so I didn’t touch any of it.
5. On foot, we made our way to Bugis where we went to have some Cantonese dessert (‘cos A was craving for sesame paste) at 记得吃 located along Liang Seah Street. I had the barley gingko nut dessert. We were eating all these at 6pm when dinner with Monoceros was supposed to be at 7.30pm!
6. After eating we walked around the Arab Street here and A got excited at seeing graffiti along Haji Lane. Like wah, spanking clean Singapore has graffiti! At 7.25pm, strands of prayer music sounded from the mosque, enveloping the area with a sense of peace against the backdrop of a sky that was a deep-blue canvas. It was an almost magical moment as we rested at a pavilion at the Malay Heritage Centre. After the prayer music stopped, we made our way to Bumbu at Kandahar Street where we met Monoceros and had a feast! Finally two of my best friends meet and we had Tauhu Telor, Pomelo Salad, Bumbu Special Fish, and Sayur Lodeh.
7. On a Saturday morning, I took A to Toa Payoh Lorong 1 market for breakfast. Going to a place like is as local as one can get. He was the only tourist there of course. We had Hokkein mee from my favourite stall called Come Daily Hokkein Mee (天天来). We also had fried carrot cake, chwee kueh and soon kueh. A went even further and had fried doughsticks (油条) and a red bean bun 红豆饼. I really don’t know how he stuffed the last two in. I guess that’s why we’re good friends.
8. All too soon, it was time for him to head home to Sydney and at the airport (Terminal 3’s food court) I introduced one last new food to him – paper/tissue prata!
A, if you’re reading this, I hope you had enjoyed yourself and do come back soon!