Singapore: Chinese, Indian and French toast
Singapore is a food city through and through. Dozens of covered food courts where you can get the most delicious dishes for just a few euros. There are especially many Chinese influences, but you should also come here for an over-the-top Western brunch.
A great many flights to Asia go via Singapore. If this ever happens to you, be sure to add a few days in this wonderful city.
Covered food fun
Singapore is full of so-called hawker centers. Since the city is so incredibly clean, all the street food has been brought indoors so everything could be regulated. Not a bad thing at all, except that when you walk into a hawker center, you want to run in every direction at once because everything smells so delicious. These three are our favorites.
ABC Brickworks – This is where you go for the tastiest claypot rice at Yuan Yuan, roast meat at Sin Heng Kee and the dessert with the best name ever: gangster mango ice at Jin Jin.
Old airport road food center – For egg tarts at Jia Mei, fried noodles at Dong Ji Fried Kway Teow and incredible pork satay at Chuan Kee Satay.
Maxwell – Dumplings filled with juicy meat at Special Shanghai Dim Sum, congee (Chinese rice porridge) at Zhen Zhen Porridge, wonton noodle soup at Huang Ji and the very best Hainanese chicken rice. But that deserves its own section.
Hainanese chicken rice
This is Singapore’s national dish, after all. Chicken is poached in water with ginger, spring onion and garlic. The rice is then cooked in this stock, resulting in a wonderfully fragrant dish that tastes of chicken through and through.
At Tian Tian in Maxwell, you can get the city’s most famous version. If you’re not nearby, you can also go to Wee Nam Kee or Loy Kee Best Chicken Rice.
Little India
Indian food in Singapore is an enormous celebration. It’s a wonderfully lively neighborhood to walk around in anyway, and the food is a hundred times more delicious than anything you’ve ever eaten in the Netherlands.
At Bismillah, you can eat an immensely satisfying, rich plate of biryani, while at Komola Vilas you should go for the paper thosai. A super-thin rice pancake with vegetables, lentils and chutneys, served on a large banana leaf. Fifth Season is a mix of Indian, Tibetan and Nepalese cuisine, and you can’t leave before you’ve tried the momo dumplings with spicy tomato sauce.
Peanut butter & jelly French toast
You can have a wonderful, leisurely lunch anywhere here, with burgers, sandwiches and hipster vegan salads. But what stayed with me most was the French toast at Artistry. Two slices of brioche bread with peanut butter and jam in between, dipped in a mixture of milk and egg and then fried. As if that weren’t enough, it comes with crumble, berry coulis and a scoop of ice cream.
Cereal milk ice cream
For a sweet treat, based on a famous ice cream from Momofuku in New York. Soft serve that tastes like the milk your cornflakes have been sitting in for too long, topped with crunchy, lightly salted cornflakes. You can get it at Honey Cream, which has several locations throughout the city.
