Our arrival into Singapore was effortless. Having been in the third world country of Myanmar for 11 days (9 days cruising on a riverboat down the Irrawaddy River) we felt like we were reentering the 21st century once we landed in Singapore. Our good friend Yim was there to greet us and whisk us off to our hotel in the main city center on Orchard Road. Our 2 night stay at the Mandarin Orchard Hotel was perfect for our purpose of meeting Bart’s goal to try as many different kinds of food in Singapore. This city is high on the world “foodie” radar map of most creative foods offered from the mom and pop food stalls to high end restaurant cuisine. And who better to guide us through this city’s menagerie of ethnic foods but our friend Yim. With 15 years of experience in the food and beverage management of several 5 star hotels, Yim knows every nook and corner of the best ethnic food stalls and every top chef in the trendiest restaurants.Once we are checked into our hotel Yim waste no time to drive us to the newest hotel the Marina Sands and Casino for drinks at the roof top bar on the 57th floor. The hotel has 3 high rise towers for a total of 1000 rooms. What makes the architecture of this hotel like nothing I have ever seen is the horizontal structure that connects all 3 roof tops of each tower (see photos). At the far left end of this structure is the roof top bar. In the center is the hotel swimming pool. The far right end is the member’s only restaurant. The panoramic views are of a city that is booming economically. Their recession is over.
There are so many new high rise buildings since our last visit here 4 years ago. Billions of dollars daily are being poured into this small country to build it up to be the number one financial center of Asia. China is one of the biggest investors.
By the way this hotel is fully booked! A brand new casino is attached to the hotel which is the first of its kind since the government has finally allowed gambling. For a Singapore resident to go into the casino there is a fee of $100. per person for a 24 hour period. For tourist the admission is free. The casino is packed. If you are not a gambler than you can occupy your time in the enormous shopping mall with every designer brand store and then some that rivals Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. This mall is bigger than any mall in Los Angeles and Orange County. It’s not the only high end mall in this city. Every big hotel has a shopping mall attached to it with basically all the same stores.
After drinks and photos of the view Yim has reservations for us at a restaurant on the waterfront with a view of the 3 high rise tower Hotel that looks like a jewel against the dark sky with the spectacular exterior lighting. The restaurant is owned by a chef that use to work for him and has now become a well known Top Chef. Each dish that he prepares for us has such delicate favors. I think I liked the crabmeat soufflé the best.
Well, it’s been a full day and now we are ready to retire back to our hotel to get some rest and prepare ourselves for more food and fun starting at 8 am in the morning.
Dec. 7, 2010
It’s 8 am and Yim is on time to pick us up to take us to sample some of the different kinds of breakfast foods. There are many groups of mom and pop food stalls throughout the city. Yim has made ever effort to make sure we sample every group of ethnic open air food stall: Thai, Muslin, Korean, Chinese and Singaporean and some others that I can’t remember. From soup to nuts—chicken, pork, noodles, bakery, all in so many different variations of taste. Bart’s favorite was sucking the marrow from the bones of mutton (I watched and took pictures). I think he was trying to emulate the TV food show “Bazaar Foods” with Andrew Zimmer.
Next we are off to the food courts in the shopping malls (air conditioned, whew). The restaurants and fast food concessions are so impressive with beautiful displays of lunch specials, knacks and sweets. We sampled many taste treats. Bart is making metal notes of the most unique ones. So much more progressive than what we have in our malls at home. Of course, KFC, Carl’s Jr. and Subway chains are represented in the food court, but they pale in the midst of all the other food offerings.
After 4 hours of eating small taste of so many kinds of foods we take a break and Yim drops us off at our hotel.
It’s 5 pm, time to go out again and explore more food! Yim drives us out to the beach area where we relax at a modern Thai style restaurant to have drinks under the palm shaded patio overlooking the beach and park. Cool breezes are a nice change in the late afternoon. From cool to hot….. next stop we dine at a popular open air restaurant in a busy beach front strand of restaurants that are famous for Chili Crab and Hot Black Pepper Crab. Bart and Yim feast over one of each. Too spicy for me so I ordered the Buttered Prawns, mmmmm……..
We end the evening at an upscale Japanese wine bar. I went next door to the dessert shop and ordered mango sorbet.
Thanks to our friend Yim we have had a fabulous eating experience for the day and half that we spent in Singapore. Mission accomplished.
Dec. 8, 2010
6 am, Yim is back at our hotel to pick us up and whisk us off to the airport. I finally get to wear my coat and boots that I packed for our next and final stop of our vacation, Tokyo. We will be immersed into everything Japanese for the next 3 days. Food, of course we will at the top of the list. Yim has not forgotten to give us his recommedations. I am sitting in my Business Class seat on JAL using some of the 6 hour flight time to document our Food Odyssey in Singapore while it is still fresh in my mind and taste buds.
B
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