notes from singapura

Hi everyone! Sorry for not writing sooner. It’s just that I’ve been doing more than I ever thought I’d be doing in the island country of Singapore.

Even though it’s only been two days into this trip, I’ve been to like six restaurants, five bars, seen two esteemed subscribers, only one museum thus far but also most of the island’s attractions.

But let’s just talk about the food! It started as soon as I got off the plane when esteemed subscriber Harish Bhaskar Sai picked me up from the airport and immediately set us off for Mr. Mrs. Moghan for some prata — a type of Indian(?) flatbread that you dip into curries and other things that has some filling.

When we get there, Mrs. Moghan is hard at work, taking orders and making prata. Though it’s 6:30am, a line (queue, as the people of Singapore say) has started to form as hungry diners wait to put in their prata orders.

Harish eventually settles on two orders of plain with a lamb and fish curry for dipping, an egg prata, and some coin pratas to finish the normal food. And as soon as we sit down, a guy comes up asking us what type of coffee we want leading us to trigger one of Singapore’s boss battles: ordering Singaporean coffee.

The ordering mostly takes place using words in Hokkien (of which Taiwanese is a variant) and one word in Malay, all of which are modifiers to kopi, the strong dark coffee drink base with sugar and condensed milk.

There a few ways to branch off here: kopi o would be kopi with just sugar, but adding kosong to the end would make give you a kopi o kosong — or kopi with no sugar. I do not really remember which one I got. But god damn it was good. I don’t usually drink sweetened coffee but for some reason it just made sense.

After a short walk around Joo Chiat Road, passing by the beautiful shop houses and the inexplicable number of pet-related stores, I was taken to Ya Kun for one of Singapore’s most iconic dishes: Kaya toast!

The standard Kaya toast breakfast seems to involve the following: some kopi-based drink, soft boiled eggs and the famous Kaya toast. At Ya Kun, one of Singapore’s most esteemed breakfast chains, the Kaya toast is the main character: two thin and crispy slices of bread sandwiching a spread of Kaya and two slices of butter.

It’s crazy. It’s so sweet and buttery that it almost hurts, but is also amazing in that regard. Kaya, aka coconut jam, is the spread I’ve been waiting for my entire life. I will somehow find a way to bring this home.

Shortly thereafter I bid farewell to Mr. Bhaskar and was transferred into the custody of esteemed subscriber and my college roommate MISTER Keith Chia.

Just off a crazy week as a bartender and one of Singapore’s once-hottest and up-and-coming bars NOST (RIP 🙏), Keith was a little tired. But we managed to get out of the house with his parents to eat another Singaporean staple: chicken rice.

I’ve had chicken rice at quite a few places now — none like this. Jinjin Tea Restaurant served us one plate of poached chicken for the table, along with family style portions of various Chinese foods. Tofu, dried pork, bean sprout were all amazing and brought me back to those memories of eating at banquet-style Chinese restaurants. But by god, their chicken rice was amazing.

Soaked in the broth of the chicken that just came out, each grain was packed and enveloped by so much flavor. Combined with a piece of chicken and a small dip of chili sauce, each spoonful is both a comforting taste of home AND a spicy new adventure.

Thankfully. I did not eat until much later that day. Keith’s dad drove us around to take a quick look at the famous sights, and since we were all feeling the food coma we headed home for a nap. We went to a few bars (talk about these guys in a later edition) and also dropped by NOST so Keith could do a little bit inventory.

Dinner I guess was supposed to be light. But ended up being fairly heavy. We were eating Bak Kut Teh (肉骨湯), a light and peppery Southern Chinese style pork soup with a big fat pork rib sticking out of the bowl. I noted readers of this newsletter will know me as a fan of lighter broths and this is no exception. The meat was also falling off the bone, and combined with the rest of the spread made for an amazing and light dinner.

After struggling through a night of sleep, I woke up for some chill breakfast with the Chia fam then was dropped off at Fort Canning to walk around before the National Museum of Singapore opened.

It’s a stunning patch of green for a city. Some might say the green of Central Park is great — I say that it fits the city. The lush and deep greenery of Singapore can’t compare (probably due to the large amount of rain the city gets compared to New York of late). Walking up and down the paths of Fort Canning bring the sense that you’re almost in a jungle. Which I think is what was happening. Did not see any animals though :(.

The National Museum of Singapore was a refreshing respite from the sticky humid air. Thank you to whoever brought AC to Singapore. When I got in the museum I was particularly taken by its attention to detail and the general focus it had on Singapore — similar to another one of my favorites, the Museum of the City of New York.

The history of the museum is fairly recent, with most of if not all of the exhibits taking place from the year 1000 and onwards. I think with this young of a history, it makes a lot of sense to have such detailed histories and great exhibits.

My favorite (behind the bikes that the Japanese used to invade Singapore) was the history around the inception of Singapore as a sovereign state. Learning about the three man guys (aka Lee Kwan Yew and the first two chief ministers) and how it took two chief ministers to negotiate sovereignty from the British made me wonder how some other territories could negotiate that today — or if it would ever be possible.

It did not, however, go into very deep detail about the causes for some major events. There was maybe one line of a mention of racial riots of 1955, but I didn’t see much on the 1964 riots that immediately followed Singapore’s merger with Malaysia. But as a first time visitor to Singapore, it was a pretty good overview into how and why Singapore came to govern the lives of its citizens.

And because I’m illiterate, I got really tired. Keith picked me up around then to hit up Blanco Court Fried Fish Soup. Something interesting about the food here is that despite everything being hot (the food, the weather) I’ve never felt weird about drinking soup. I’ve had soup twice now. And will probably have more! That’s just how good it is.

The broth of the fish soup is mixed with evaporated milk, Keith tells me, as we slurp down our food next to an increasingly long line of office workers hoping to grab a bite. The soup is accompanied by a bowl of rice and some fried fish cake and <ask Keith>, the latter of which had some chestnut mixed in to create a beautiful nutty flavor to bring some earthiness to the fishy meal.

Throughout all the meals and drinks (some alcoholic, some not), Keith and I were able to take a quick break in Singapore’s botanical garden. The lush greenery was in full force here. Chickens roamed the entrance courtyard as we entered a park full of paths twisting and turning throughout the park, showcasing many of the local fauna.

We entered a section called the National Orchid Garden expecting to see quite a bit more orchids, but still came away amazed. We saw some celebrity orchids (Joe Biden, Pope Francis and Ban-Ki Moon were all featured) but the best part I think was the “Cool House.” No, not JUST because I was dying for some AC, but also because of the beautiful beautiful plans contained within. A bright green moss carpeted the raised earth, creating serenely alien miniature landscapes with the occasional bright flower shining through. The almost overpowering drone of deep verdant green outside was replaced by a symphony of color. And also, AC.

The day’s food was capped off with some chili crab. Amazingly, I did not take any pictures here. So please imagine two distinct dishes: one with the spicy aroma of chili crab, each crack of the orange shell revealing the soft meat of the crab already infused with the flavorful oils. And the second black pepper crab: with the freshly cracked peppercorns infusing with the oil, the spice of it wafts through their air, hitting your nose with the crack and slithering retreat of a whip. The black-speckled claws might look somewhat intimidating, but the flavor of the pepper is there with you. Adding the 饅頭 (fried dough) provides an excellent fried carb to complete the whole experience.

It has been a very long two days! And I have many days to go — and things I haven’t even talked about yet. Enjoy these pictures for now and see you all in a day or two!