Final SQ22 flight: pre-board party

I had no idea that my return flight to the US from Singapore was the final retirement flight of SQ22. This is the route that most US business travelers to Singapore loved the most - a direct flight from Newark, NJ to Singapore in 18.5 hours. The whole plane was Business Class and it was the most relaxing long-haul flight I have ever been on! Imagine - no screaming babies, only the loud snores of passengers in deep sleep. No wonder the ground staff said they loved the passengers arriving in Newark from this flight - everyone was in great moods due to restful sleep!

However, Singapore Airlines decided to retire the route. Perhaps due to cost (I did notice some empty seats on the flight) and the chief attendant mentioned that the plane had to be retired due to maintenance. But not without a farewell party!

When I arrived at the lounge gate, the jazz music was pumping, hor d'oeuves and drinks were served and polaroid photos were being taken with representative Singapore Airlines female attendants. In keeping with the theme of this Singapore trip, the food was excellent. I was especially fond of the macaron lollipops which was a very tidy way to eat this sometimes messy treat.

Delectable macaron lollipops - the blueberry was my favorite!

Various savory hor d'oeuvres

Scallops

Cold hor d'oeuvres

 

 

Party in full swing - drinks bar and wait staff passing around the hor d'ouevres

The requisite photo-op - with the plane in the background

Every passenger received a commemorative certificate!

Singapore = Amazing Food!

 I last visited Singapore approximately 10 years ago and I thought it paled in comparison to Hong Kong. I remembered a very sterilized version of Asia - great for families with young children only. It was a claustrophobic place where you had to walk when the green man said so and the streets of Chinatown were un-authentically clean!

Fast forward to 2013 and life in Singapore looked very enticing. With so many new structures - from Marina Bay Sands with its rooftop infinity pool; the modern Helix bridge to the beautiful Gardens by the Bay, suddenly Singapore seemed an exciting place to play.

It helps that the food in Singapore has always been incredible - a perfect melting pot of Malaysian, Chinese and everything else in-between. Foodies in Singapore have discerning palates; food blog-like mentalities and do not suffer from lack of choice.

I stuffed myself for one week and no meal was bad - although there were some exceptional highlights. Let's start with a photo of Makansutra Gluttons Bay - an outdoor hawker center that opens in the evening. The picture of a giant plate and chopstick epitomizes my mindset - FEED ME!

Landing in balmy humid Singapore was a deep contrast to frigid North-east US, so I was feeling a bit dazed and bloated as I followed Aunt Alice to the Ghim Moh Market for a hawker center lunch. We enjoyed wanton noodles, duck noodles with gravy and a braised five-spice tofu dish with broth.



Lining up for the food - no air con!

Yummy duck eggy noodles and a braised 5-spice tofu dish with broth - delicious!

Slurping up the noodles - my favorite pastime!

Wantons in broth and a char sui noodle - both very good



Looking hot, sweaty and bloated next to Aunt Alice - body still adjusting to the humidity

Later that day, Aunt Alice's maid cooked up a seafood feast. What an excellent cook she is! Although I enjoyed crab at a restaurant later that week with colleagues, the home-made crab and shrimp dishes were far superior in taste and quantity. We enjoyed cornmeal shrimp with fried curry leaves and home-cooked black pepper crab and curry crab dishes.

Spicy unami-laden black pepper crab

Cornmeal-crusted giant shrimp with fried curry leaves

Curry crab

With Aunt Alice living right behind Orchard Road, some shopping therapy was definitely on the agenda. Interspersed amongst all the brand-name clothing and cosmetic labels, an occasional food stall will catch my eye. Exotic fruits anyone? I couldn't resist this colorful display of ready-to-eat fruits - melon, pineapple, jackfruit, Chinese pear, mango. They had it all. My eyes beelined for the magenta dragonfruit - an incredible variation of the usual hot pink fruit but with grey flesh, this one had flesh the color of fluorescent magenta. I was told to eat quickly and neatly as the fruit juices can easily stain clothes. It was sweet and delicious.


Gorgeous fruits - pret a porter

Magenta dragon fruit

Throughout the week, there were lots of culinary adventures to be had. On our way to the monorail to Sentosa, I couldn't resist this sign I saw at a food court. Who could?



The pork came separate which meant you could use the braising sauce for dipping!

Perfect impromptu snack for two

The braised pork bun was incredible - just as its picture had promised. Now why no place in Boston can duplicate this and can only produce mediocre imitations, I do not know.

Other meals to highlight - one night out with colleagues to eat crab at New Ubin Seafood brought about this artery-clogging dish. Choice ribeye steak on a board with hand-cut fries. The best though was how they used the residual steak fat to cook a delicious fatty fried rice - the rich meaty savory flavors just exploded in your mouth.  Incredibly satisfying.

And finally some simple lunch meals to show how even lunch during a working day brings about immense culinary satisfaction. In one of the many office buildings in the Financial district, an Ippudo Ramen Express delivers hot and luscious ramen. This is the Akasaka  - my favorite Ippudo ramen in its signature red bowl. And to round off this post - a  simple yakitori snack meal at a shopping center food court - cheap but great.

Singapore - your food is amazing. I love you!!

The Akasaka ramen

Japanese yakitori on a bed of nori-laden soy sauce rice - simple but great

The power of Din Tai Fung

Taipei, 2001. My first experience at Din Tai Fung. Hectic lines outside, people mixed with parked scooters - managed chaos. Hungry eyes look into the clear shop front where a team of workers deftly folded dumplings round a table. Thirteen years on, I can't remember the work projects that led me to Taipei, nor the conversations with my work colleagues and I barely remember who was there at the table. But I can never forget the food -  hot soupy dumplings, black chicken and ginseng soup. Dish after dish of the best food I have ever tasted.

Little did I know that a place my Taiwanese colleagues insisted for lunch that day was the start of a long-distanced love. Long-distance as to this day, I still have not found a place in the US that can rival Din Tai Fung's succulent soup dumplings (Xiao lung bao). Delicious porky goodness, flavorful soup wrapped in a thin yet strong wrapper. Hong Kong now has two branches which are hard to get into. Crystal Jade in Hong Kong is a sure and steady runner-up but there is something about the mystique I have built up about Din Tai Fung that is hard to rival.

Perhaps no surprise then that my one culinary objective in Singapore was to visit one of the many Din Tai Fung branches that Singapore are so blessed to have! How much will have changed over the years? Can it beat the rosy memories of a lunch that is solidified as the "best ever" in my mind? With my Aunt Alice as menu guide, we ordered the following:

The dumpling makersIncredible appetizer - the Oriental salad - tangy and savory tofu, vermicelli, seaweed, Chinese vinegar dressing

Hot and sour soup - serviceable version

Gorgeous spicy rendition of wontons in black vinegar and chili oil

 Some greens to balance the meal - stir-fried dou miao with garlic. Note these are baby dou miao which were extra tender

Noodles in a sesame dressing - solid choice but did not stand out compared to the oriental salad, soup dumplings and the chili wontons

 The one and only - pork Xiao long bao. The thinnest, silkiest wrapper I have ever tasted - yet strong so the soup doesn't leak. Perfect soup dumplings.

 

 

 

 

The incredible truffle Xiao long bao - should have ordered more as one was not enough!

All in all, it was an incredibly satisfying meal and the stand-outs were the soup dumplings along with the oriental salad and chili wontons. If I lived in Singapore, I'm sure I would be here every week! Although there is something about visiting the original Din Tai Fung in Taipei and it being the very first time I bit into the dumpling that will glow in my mind forever.

Daily breakfast in Singapore

The joys of being in Asia! Why stick to bagels and yogurt when you can have noodles in broth for breakfast? And being in Singapore, the local broth variations presented comforting laksa, mee siam and mee rebus.

For one week in November while on a work trip, I skipped the overpriced hotel breakfast and found Toastbox - a local chain serving affordable breakfast to the local office crowd. Toastbox has a pleasing European-style décor, shabby chic with a white-washed color palette. However, the menu is local Singapore style! While you could  have toast including the local specialty Kaya Toast (toast with very sweet coconut jam and butter), it was the presence of laksa, mee siam and mee rebus on the menu that had me salivating. Although, I'm sure there are better versions of these dishes at the hawker stalls, you can't beat Toastbox for convenience as many are located in the shopping malls and office buildings.

Each morning, I tried something different. The mee rebus on my first morning was incredible. Coming from chilly Boston, my body was hardly adapting to humid and hot Singapore. And tackling a spicy mee rebus - let's just say I kicked my sweat pores into working overtime.

One morning, I tried the kaya toast - it was way too sweet for me. Another morning, I tried a variation whereby you dipped it in the soft boiled egg. I loved the laksa - the chefs had thoughtfully used "Mee Tai Bak" or silver needle noodles in the laksa which minimizes the chance of stains on your clothes through noodle-slurping.

These Singapore breakfast staples sure puts my usual greek yogurt breakfast to shame!

Mee rebus - spicy and sweet yellow egg noodles with fried shallots, cilantro, firm tofu, egg, green chillies, beansprouts and lime wedge.

Gorgeous seafood curry laksa - with tofu puffs, egg, shrimp, fish cake and silver needle noodles (mee tai bak)



Mee siam - spicy, sweet and tangy rice vermicelli with egg, chives, beansprouts and lime wedges.



Kaya Toast - way too sweet for me. You can also dip it in the soft boiled egg.



The Gelato Tour

Another food I was sampling throughout our Italy vacation - gelato! Before the trip, I researched the top places to visit for gelato. Although all were very good, I guess I'm still Asian when it comes to ice cream - where's the green tea flavor?

Frigidarium is right next door to the popular Baffetto pizzeria. For 2 Euros, Frigidarium was an excellent deal - 2 scoops of delicious gelato with cream, coconut shavings and a sugar cookie!

Near Trevi fountain, I sampled San Crispino's gelato - I chose more fruity flavors but for 3 Euros, the portion was not quite as generous as Frigidarium.

In Naples, Gay-Odin is the place to go for chocolates and they do good gelato as well!

The Quest for Pizza

The main reason I managed to convinced Paul to visit Italy was pizza. Regaling him with tales of the best pizza I ever had was in Italy - airy but thin and chewy dough, the sweetest tomato sauce, the creamiest mozzarella - it was easy to convince this pizza lover that Italy was where we had to be. Journeying from Rome to Amalfi Coast, I made sure we stopped a couple of days in Naples just to visit via Tribunali. After much internet research, the pizzerias we visited and our review...

1. Pizzarium (Rome)

Pizzarium slices

This hole-in-the-wall was featured in Antony Bourdain's No Reservations. Selling pizza by the weight, toppings are modern and varied. Although interesting, the dough was too crunchy and dry for our taste. 6.5/10

2. Baffeto (Rome)

Pizza Oven at work

One of the best pizzerias in Rome according to various sources, we soon discovered Romans like their pizza dough wafer-thin with a crunch instead of springy and chewy. Not our preference but this margherita was still delicious! Sauce was tangy and sweet with the romano cheese adding plenty of unami. We lapped it up even though our preferred pizza dough is not crunchy. 8.5/10

3. Roscioli Forno (Rome)

Slices for sale at Roscioli

Salmon and arugula, anyone?

Delectable fresh mozzarella and tomato

This bakery and pizza shop sells pizza by the slice - ideal for lunch and pizza on the go. Toppings are fresh and delicious - salmon, arugula and ricotta, fresh buffata mozzarella and tomato and so on. 8/10


4. Hosteria Dino (Rome)

Pizza bianco at Hosteria Dino

Deviating from my internet research, we took one restaurant recommendation from the B&B we stayed at. We should have ran away when we saw all the tourists inside. Food was uninspired including this pizza bianca Paul ordered 4/10

5. I Decumani (Naples)

Pizzas to go at I Decumani

Pizza in hand

First thing on the agenda for Naples - head into pizza central, otherwise known as via Tribunali. We picked up pizza on go - a whole pizza folded into quarters and wrapped! Hot, delicious and only 1 Euro! Finally, we were eating the dough of our dreams - springy dough but airy. Not enough sauce though - 7.5/10

6. Di Matteo (Naples)

Love the plates - yes, I leave the crusts - Paul hoovers those up

Gorgeous margherita! Spring, airy dough but thin in the middle, fresh and sweet Vesuvius tomato sauce with buffata mozzarella and basil. My absolute favorite style of pizza - soupy in the middle. With the pizza hot from the oven, I always eat the center first, leaving the crusts on the side at the end. I'm not a huge fan of the crust but Paul loves them. Only issue with the pizza ovens, have to avoid the charred black bits at the bottom 9/10

7. Pizzaiolo del Presidente

Enjoying his margherita

My capriciossa

Pizza and beer - not a bad combination

The oven master at work

Our final evening in Naples - we hit the pizzeria renamed after President Clinton visited. I deviated from the usual order for a capriciossa. Turned out that the dough at del Presidente was the best! The chewiest, springy-est I had on my whole trip - a 9.5/10. If I had the margherita - it would have been my 10/10. Paul did have the margherita but as he's not a fan of the soupy middle - it didn't get full marks for him.

8. Che Bonta (Praiano)

On the Amalfi Coast, we ate more seafood and pastas but Paul did find his favorite pizza of the whole trip in the village of Praiano. Although not my favorite by far, Che Bonta, you get Paul's 10/10!