Seemingly Odd Tapioca Combo

This entry is dedicated to my boyfriend Jeremy.

Jeremy's favorite tapioca is Vanilla Cookie Swirl or something like that at Tapioca Express, because it pretty much tastes like candy. When I told him tapioca/bubble tea here is S$1-S$2, he was very excited.  There are many options for that price, but who in their right mind would choose banana oreo? Answer: my boyfriend.  I'll admit I thought he was crazy when he said he wanted to try it, but his reasoning was why not be a little more adventurous when its cheap?  It made sense and although I was EXTREMELY skeptical, I tried it and it was actually not bad! The first sip I took, it was just ok, but I must admit that it grew on me the more sips I took.  So today I ended up buying one of my own. It was good still, but it was

a bit too much after a while.  I couldn't finish a whole thing all by myself, so for myself in the future, I prefer passionfruit tea or something not as sweet (and healthier). 

Food often tastes better when you steal a few bites off of someone else's plate, so maybe this drink was one of those cases. I wouldn't buy it again for myself, but I'd take a few sips of someone else's banana oreo tapioca again any time :)

More New Foods For Lyzz

Lyzz tried a lot of new things while she was in Singapore with me.  She wanted to try durian and some local desserts, so we combined them and ate a durian ice kacang at Maxwell Hawker Center. She thought durian was good too!  The smell wan't too bad to her either, so I'm not the only abnormal foreigner that likes the fruit!  The ice kacang was better than the last one I tried because it wasn't as sweet as the last one.  The really bright colors still aren't ideal in things I consume, but it's good with the items on the bottom.  There are red beans, grass jelly, fruit jellies, and surprisingly corn! I love having shaved ice in hot times!

Another thing I had her eat, was a literal ice cream sandwich.  All the uncles with the ice cream carts on the street give you a selection of ice creams that they cut 

for you from a block of ice cream. Then, you can choose to put it between wafers, in a cup, or in a slice of colorful bread!  Before, I tried the sweet corn ice cream with Jeremy, but this time I tried the yam ice cream (I have liked all the yam desserts here).  Lyzz just got a strawberry-vanilla swirl, but we both enjoyed the sandwich.  The bread has a hint of sweetness on its own, but I'm not sure if that is just plain white asian bread.  Who knows, but all I can say the combination seems odd but its fantastic!

Mos Burger & Thai Express

Friday lunch time was a serving of Mos Burger. I must say I hadn't had anything from Mos Burger since my childhood summer days in Japan every now and then.  The burgers are actually QUITE small, especially compared to American burger sizes.  My Singaporean friends have said that the sizes are still smaller than the American fast food chains here as well.  

I tried the Unagi Rice burger, which is actually quite tasty.  They shape the rice to basically hold in the shape of buns and sandwich unagi pieces in between.  I like Unagi bowls, so it was exactly like that but you can eat it with your hands!  As I said, it's pretty small so you have to get a side of fries to share with your friends or you can go get a bubble tea (tapioca) afterwards to fill you up!  Take your pick :)  We ended up gettin

g fries, and I like eating them with a mix of the chili sauce and ketchup they give you!

For dinner time, Lyzz had mentioned wanting some Thai food, so we ended up going to Thai Express at the bottom of Paragon. **Apologies now for pictures of food that has already started to be eaten.** We got their "popular" Mango salad.  It was delicious!  I'm not sure if it is a different type of mango, like green mango (similar to their green papaya salad), but it was a great combination of a slightly crunchy texture, that is slightly sweet with a hint of sour.   Plus the slightly tangy/sweet sauce that goes with it was really refreshing.  

Our 2nd dish was Pad Thai to see what the flavor here on this classic dish was.  I was a little 

disappointed because it came out so quick and it was not piping hot... it seemed like they make a lot because many people order it, but it isn't freshly made after an order is placed.  The taste was good with chilis on the side that you could add in yourself. Not the best Pad Thai I have had, but not the worst either.  I guess you can't expect too much out of a chain restaurant.  The mango salad is a definite recommendation to try though!

Gluttons Bay With Lyzz

Lyzz is visiting for a few days and we're having a fabulous time!

We went local the first night and went to Gluttons Bay Hawker Center next to the Esplanade. It tends to be a litle more expensive than usual hawker centers, because of the beautiful view by the water and it is supposed to be where good stalls are brought together.  It was only two of us so I couldn't have her eat everything, but we tried some of the unique/unusual stuff.  Of course I forgot to take a picture of the most unusual one, grilled stingray with chili.  It actually just tastes like white fish, but I like it with some of the chili sauce grilled in.  It's good to balance the spice with plain white rice, but the rice isn't very good here... very dry...  But my tolerance for spicy has definitely gone up since living here! 

I also had her try Kaya toast even though it is usually a breakfast or snack food, but hey if we don't have much time, who cares when we eat it!  It is a type of jam I would say made with coconut and egg (plus sugar obviously). I really like it but I've heard that coconut is high in cholesterol because of the high fat content, but there's much debate, so I'll go with my usual motto: "Everything in moderation!" (or at least try)

We also had carrot cake which isn't the American carrot cake 

dessert we would immediately think of.  It is actually like the radish cakes that they serve at dim sum places- I love that stuff!  In Singapore, they offer a black kind that is a bit sweeter.  They cut up the cake pieces and pan fry it with a sweet black sauce and other little veggies.  This time though, we tried the white version which we were told was more salty, and since neither of us had tried it, we said let's try it!  We thought it was just going to be pan fried cake without the sweet sauce, but it actually ended up being more of a radish cake omelet.  I'm not a huge egg fan, so I personally like the black version better, but it was still okay.

Also, this goes for the next post as well, but apologies for not remembering to take a picture before we started eating... but better than nothing right??

Durian

So many people have asked if I have tried Durian, the king of fruits, so here is my answer:

Yes I have, and I liked it!  People gasp and tell me I'm pretty much abnormal.  Apparently most first timers, especially Japanese people don't like it.  But, Jeremy had it and didn't think it was too bad, and my family liked it as well.  It's very sweet and creamy, so I can't eat very much at once, nor do I want to because I believe 

the caloric content is pretty high. I actually thing it's good though and I liked the durian pancake snacks that are sold in malls as well.  The bad thing is that when you burp or something hours later, you smell the durian again... though I don't think the smell is THAT bad, it's just very strong.  I also made the mistake of taking durian home with me into my fridge for a few days.  Thankfully it was packed well so it didn't smell up my whole fridge and home!  For anyone that wants to try it but is scared, I'd say definitely try it and don't be turned off by the smell!

Coca Restaurant

This week is going to be the week of eating out.  Tuesday I went to dinner with Alvin and Christina at Coca Restaurant, a Thai steam boat restaurant on the 4th Floor of Takashimaya Ngee Ann City.  We ended up getting the buffet dinner so they brought out whatever we asked for, ranging from crab, house special wontons, thinly sliced beef, greens, fishballs, to noodles. After everything cooked together, the chicken broth was so delicious!  The only bad thing is that the broth is the best at the end, but you're so full that you can't drink anymore!  Next time I'll eat slower just so I can have more of the yummy soup.  They also serve a delicious chili sauce with the steam boat/hot pot. It reminded me a little of the chili crab sauce because it isn't too spicy but a good combination of spicy with a little hint of sweetness.  My favorite items were the greens, the fish goo, the crab (even though it's a chore to get to the crab meat), and the thin slices of beef.  The fish ravioli isn't too great because there isn't much filling, and it uses a thicker, pasta-like wrapper.  I much prefer the soft wonton wrapper.  It was a very satisfying meal, especially because I have been getting tired of greasy foods and I love soup! Thanks Alvin & Christina!

Din Tai Fung

On Monday, I had dinner at Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese dim sum chain, with Vivien after work.  I had liked the xiao lon bao last time so we got those again.  I also had the Dan Dan Mian that I had wanted to try last time.  I thought it was going to be a bit spicy but it ended up actually being a sweet peanutty taste with a hint of chili.  It was a bit thick and had much more of a peanut taste than I expected.  I'm not sure if I would get it again, but I still enjoyed it. 

The previous time I had gone to Din Tai Fung with my family and Jeremy, I tried a lot of their selection such as xiao lon bao, black bean noodles, wonton soup noodles, shrimp dumplings, shrimp fried rice, and yam dumplings.  My favorite was the xiao lon bao, which I'm still amazed at how they wrap it so none of the delicious juice gets out until you so desire.  AND I love the ginger and vinegar to go along with it- what a great accompaniment!  The noodles are really good as well, cooked to the right texture with a slight bite still to it. I liked the dry noodles with black bean sauce better than the soup noodles, because it didn't let the noodles get too soft and the flavor was a good amount of salty without being overly flavorful.  Sadly I forgot my camera both times, but I would recommend this place to people that want not too oily but a lighter, flavorful meal!

Chinatown Eats

Intrigued by the Japanese Singapore guidebook/magazine's recommendation for some stores on Chinatown's food street, I went for a Sunday night food adventure. 

First stop, Lanzhou Lamian for some Dha Zhang Mien...

I'm not sure if that's how it is actually spelled...  At first I was a bit disappointed because it came out really quick, they didn't hand make my noodles at the point of order like I had read would happen.  It meant it wasn't as fresh, but let's not get hung up on it and go on to taste.  It's a simple dish with noodles, cucumbers, black bean sauce with minced meat, and some chili sauce on the side.  The noodles were not too soft and had a good chewy-ness to them, so the noodles were to my liking.  The sauce was quite nice as well with a hint of sweetness to the saltiness.  It tasted even better with a bit of the slightly spicy side sauce, which wasn't as spicy as I was expecting, mixed in. Overall, quite tasty, but the dish was a bit on the small side, so if you're expecting a very filling dinner, get a few of the side items as well.  I guess it worked out perfectly for me, since I was going for dessert somewhere else anyway!

Second stop, Ah Balling Peanut Soup stall on Smith St aka Chinatown Food Street. I got the peanut soup (figured I'd go with the classic soup and shop name) and sampled 3 different kinds of the glutinous rice balls.  Out of the black sesame, yam, and green tea paste filled rice balls that I tried, the black sesame was my favorite (green tea pictured above). Maybe it is the Japanese in me liking that black sesame paste!  The soup was good because it was not too sweet and the soft peanuts are a great touch to accompany the paste oozing out of the perfectly soft balls.  Be warned though, that the dessert is quite filling if you eat all of it by yourself, so make sure to leave room after dinner! 

Some After Tennis Mee Siam

After 2 competitive sets of tennis under the sun, we went for some Mee Siam at Whampoa market.  It was "very nice" as they say here, meaning delicious!  The spicy, sour, and sweet all in one taste is one that I have grown to love.  

This shop only sells 2 items, what a great business!

Singapore Favorites (So Far)

I've been in Singapore for almost 2 months now, can you believe it? 

Sad to say I have no pictures at the moment of the foods but here are some of the delicious dishes I have had so far in no particular order:

Savory foods:

*Chili Crab (especially with mantou) & Black Pepper Crab

*Char Kway Teow

*Grilled Stingray with Chili

*Laksa- a spicy, coconut noodle soup

*Fish porridge

*Popiah- a fresh spring roll that uses a crepe like wrap

*Mee Siam

*Chicken Rice- Just as it sounds but simple and delicious!

Desserts:

*Delicious Exotic Fruits: Thai Mango, Mangosteen, Rambutan, and of course Durian

*Sweet Corn ice cream sandwiched in a slice of colorful bread- It sounds adventurous but it was REALLY good :)

*Sweet Yam Paste desserts

*Cold Aloe Vera dessert- consists of shaved ice, sweetened aloe vera and jellies

*Rojak- Many people don't like the tamarind-chili flavor, but I personally enjoy it!

*Cheng Tng

*Chendol

*S$1 (S$1.80 max) Bubble Tea (aka Tapioca in the US)- can't beat the price!

I've got a little over a month to go here, so I am going to take full advantage of eating to my heart's delight.  I'll try to narrow my favorites down to provide an "Amy's Top 10 Singapore Foods" by the end of my trip!

Intro & Purpose

Whenever I'm with friends and family, I always seem to get into some sort of food conversation.  Even with people I just met, we immediately connect over something related to food.  Coincidence? I think not!  Food has a magic ability to bring people together, especially when I meet people that love food as much as I do!  I've always dreamed about eating my way around the world... then I realized that I've already been to a lot of countries and eaten a LOT of good (as well as not so good) food, but I just don't have any evidence to remember all the adventures!  

Food writing has always been pushed to "I'll do it later when I have time" which is usually never. That stops now.  I'm currently in Singapore, a land of many good eats, and I have more time at night and on weekends then when I'm home in California, so no more excuses.  Amy's food blog has launched! 

In this blog, I'm going to write about anything and everything that makes me happy: pictures of tasty treats, restaurant reviews, experimental cooking adventures, foods and places that must be tried/visited in and outside of the US, special food events, funny signs... ANYTHING! So won't you join me as I aim to enjoy the tasty things in life?