As you may know by now, I’m a huge fan of food hopping – the more places I get to sample, the better! Singapore is perfect for food hopping because there are SO many snack and dessert (oh, the dessert!) stalls to try. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to have Singapore local and blog star Valerie show me some of her favorite food finds.
Our first stop was to Mr. Bean for some soya ice cream (first photo).
Ok, so Mr. Bean has a cute lil’ mascot, but how did the ice cream taste? After all, it is deemed a “Healthier Snack” – hmmm. I was delighted to discover that the ice cream was deeeelish. Not super sweet and lusciously creamy, it still retained the slightly nutty soy flavor. I would totally recommend for the taste, and hey, it’s healthy, right? So, no worries 😉
Because one dessert is just not enough, we next headed over for Gong Cha for some bubble tea.
Okay, sooooo if you click on the Gong Cha link, you’ll see it’s most definitely not in English. Luckily for me, the menu at the stall was. I have bubble tea on a regular basis in the big NYC, but I was curious – was the Asian version heads and tails above my regular tea? Valerie ordered the pudding milk tea (left) while I went with my standard tapioca milk tea (right). Since we had started with the ice cream and I didn’t want to get TOO crazy (yeah right) I opted for the “half sugar” version.
While I’m usually an “All sugar, all the time” girl, my bubble tea from Gong Cha held its own, with a strong tea flavor and perfectly textured, flavorful tapioca. I’m afraid this version has spoiled me a bit for when I return back to NYC!
Our third meal hop was to Scissors Cut Curry Rice where, as you may guess, we stuffed ourselves silly with curry, rice and various meats:
True to form, this hole-in-the-wall featured workers behind the counter cutting up chicken cutlet and other delectable delights with scissors. I let Valerie take the lead on ordering, and I ended up with a rice plate of chicken cutlet, cabbage and mussels, all finished off with a generous ladle-full of creamy, rich curry. Even though my plate looks like a hot mess, I assure you those mussels were awwwwwesome! If devouring that plate is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Hard to believe, but this jaunt wasn’t ALL about food – we browsed through mega-all-and-anything-store Mustafa – if you need to pick up hair dye, a yoga mat, a gold necklace and sari material at 3am (Haven’t we all been there? Ha!), Mustafa’s your store.
We also visited the offices of Nuffnang, Singapore’s first blog advertising community – the office had the young, fun vibe that you’d expect of a tech company – a fully stocked kitchen (Um, WIN!), a Rock Band drum set, a cushy stuffed animal “rest” area, and oh yeah, tons of computers for actual work :). The staff was super cool and gave me a copy of Nuffnang food blogger Leslie Tay’s (of ieatishootipost fame) new book – “The End of Char Kway Teow and Other Hawker Mysteries.” I know what I’ll be reading on the long plane ride back to NYC!
All in all, it was a super yummilicious and fun afternoon. There’s really nothing like a local (anywhere you go!) showing you the best places to eat and the fun and oft over-looked places on their own home turf. Thanks, Valerie, for making it happen! 🙂
Tell me, what’s your favorite “hidden gem” from your hometown?
