Singapore before lunar new year

After four years of not being able to, I went to Singapore the week before Lunar New Year. I spent the whole time eating, swimming and arting. Here are the highlights: 

Green BA, Somerset. 

Look, don't be put off by how Green BA is a 'vegetarian dining concept.' It might have a vertical hydroponics wall and some weird aunties and a soundtrack of peking opera, but it is handily located (right next to an MRT entrance) and the food is great. I got a fish curry only because my original choice wasn't available. And this is fish curry was INCREDIBLE. Strong recommend, the curry came out on a bubbling hot flame, it was beautiful. I couldn’t finish it and took the leftovers home for breakfast the next morning. Beans, okra and a lovely mock fish. My only regret is that I didn’t eat it a second time.

Real Food, Orchard Central. 

Real Food used to be located in the basement of Clarke Quay Central, and I revisited an old favourite dish here, the wonton dry noodles. It was nice but honestly it was a bit boring, in the years intervening I'd forgotten that the wontons are weirdly healthy and the noodles are not strong in flavour. It was mostly nostalgia that brought me here (and hunger) and given how close Orchard Central is to Somerset, I'm unlikely to return again. Iced coffee was good.

Nom v Nom, Clarke Quay Central.

Here’s a repeat story: Nom v Nom used to be in the basement at Clarke Quay Central. Now it has a lovely view of Clarke Quay from the third floor. Again I revisited an old favourite, the ‘temptation satay’, which is a hunk of tempe with a very spicy satay sauce in a soft bun. It was greasy and sweet and very very spicy. And another repeat: honestly it was not as good as I remembered. It was nostalgia that brought me back and I could potentially return again, if I wanted a burger in Singapore. Nom v Nom also does a great iced matcha, and a lot of weird vegan merch.

Green Dot, Raffles Place. 

Green Dot is a chain across Singapore. You can do bainmarie or special dish order, and I went the laksa. It was so so good! Lunch queue is excessive but what can you expect in the CBD. I really enjoy Green Dot. The service is fast and all the non-soup meals come with a herbal soup which is such a Singapore mood.

Haidilao, Somerset 313 

Haidilao is an international chain, and is one of my favourite hotpot locations. I’ve never been to the Somerset 313 location before (I usually go to Clarke Quay lol), and it was great! Service was good, ingredients were fresh, and the robots were creepy but cute. Took the 2.5 year old and he was well-catered to (kids that small get a free plate of food to cook) The noodle dancer seemed like he was there only under duress. They have two vegan stocks: the mushroom broth and the tomato broth. Remember to check the ingredients on the condiments, and remember that in Singapore, just because something says tofu doesn't mean it's vegetarian ;P

Taiwanese Thunder Tea Rice, Lau Pa Sat. 

I haven’t had thunder tea rice in years! What a joy! Line was long but the food came out so so fast. I had it with the extra chickpeas and the soup on the side. So brilliant! I have never seen thunder tea rice in Australia so it was good to have this. Thunder tea rice is a Hakka dish, it’s hard to describe but it’s a tea soup on the side (I promise this is good!) serviced with rice and toppings. Just eat it okay. It’s good. Make sure you specify no anchovies or whatever, but the base one is veg.

Places at which I drank an iced coffee.

Long-time non-dairy drink travellers will know that often, when outside Australia, one must go to a Starbucks to get a caffeinated non-dairy beverage. This is particularly true in Asia, where if one asks for soy milk one gets Chinese soy milk. I obviously love fresh Chinese soy milk, but absolutely never in my coffee. For BDS reasons, I’m not currently drinking from Starbucks; fortunately, I was still able to get some iced soy lattes.  

Mavrk, Great World - This is a little hole in the wall at one of the exits. Coffee was good.  

The Social Space, Chinatown - I sat down in this cute cafe after a visit to the tooth relic temple. It was nice to sit inside. It’s a social enterprise so it also has some lovely little things for sale. This coffee was fine. 

Anyway ILU Singapore, see you next time.