There is a vast selection of food buying options in Singapore. There are traditional and ethnic markets, health food stores, wet and dry markets, restaurants, street food, mall food courts and hawker stalls. We get most of our groceries from a traditional market, Swiss butcher and a health food store. We can comfortably lean on familiar munchies, but we also like to experiment with different culinary delights. That is one of the benefits of living in another country, trying new and exotic food! I get excited just thinking about all the tantalizing morsels, and I'm not even a Foodie!
(picture on left) Here is something I just bought yesterday. It is roasted Korean seaweed with wasabi. You get a nice temporary burn in the nose from the wasabi and the seaweed quickly dissolves in the mouth. It's quite good. Kevin recently discovered how much he likes the strong flavor of wasabi. So, whenever I see something with wasabi in it, I get it.
(picture on right) Most of the packaged food I buy is from Australia, New Zealand, UK and Singapore made products. The fruit puree is my favorite. They come in individual gold metallic containers.
We discovered a fantastic chicken paradise called Nando's. It is a heavenly restaurant with a Portuguese/Mozambique influence serving flame-grilled chicken spiced with Peri-Peri (red chilies). Pictured here is what I ordered. It is called Espetada, which is skewered chicken bathed in Peri-Peri sauce which was dripping in the potatoes. It was a tasty beast which is beckoning me to come back and indulge again. I think I shall.
There are basement level restaurants in malls and MRT stations everywhere. Din Tai Fung is one of those restaurants we discovered while walking around. There was a long queue, so we assumed this was a "don't miss" restaurant. We came back later when the queue dwindled. In front of the restaurant were two display areas where cooks prepare various dishes in the viewing eye of the public. We watched them prepare dumplings, stuff dim sum and chop ramen style noodles. We ordered 10 pork and vegetable dim sum. They came in a bamboo basket with dipping sauces consisting of red chilies and soy sauce. We split a bowl of hot and sour soup and steamed spinach with garlic. Jasmine tea complimented our late lunch quite nicely. Prices are much more reasonable in food courts, hawker stalls and basement restaurants.There is a Chinese festival called Mid-Autumn Festival, or Mooncake Festival. People get together with friends and family and exchange gifts to celebrate this festive season. Mooncakes are a favorite gift to give. Mooncakes are heavy pastries with a very thick filling which is traditionally made of lotus seed paste and one or two salted duck egg yolks. They are very rich and heavy cakes which are cut in wedges and served with Chinese tea, such as Oolong. Kevin was given a box of Mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival from one of his vendors. There are many variations of mooncakes with different colors and modern flavors. Kevin's was a traditional White Lotus Seed Paste with Single Yolk. He was told to drink plenty of hot Chinese tea with them to help with digestion. They are unusual and definitely require an acquired taste, at least for us. People love these! At least we can say we tried them, which is all part of our Singapore experience.
The Mid-Autumn Festival legendary fable....
According to a famous Chinese fable, the legendary archer Hou Yi and his kind-hearted wife Chang Er were a loving couple. To reward Hou Yi for his heroic deeds, the Goddess of Immortality granted him an elixir that promises eternal youth. One fateful day, the evil Feng Meng slipped into Hou Yi's residence to steal the heavenly elixir. To prevent the elixir from falling into the wrong hands, Chang Er swallowed it and immediately found herself drifting up towards the moon.
The common folk heard of Chang Er's sacrifice and flocked to ask for continued peace, showing their gratitude with sweet pastries and fruits. It is now said that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the moon is full and at it's brightest, you can see the willowy silhouette of Chang Er - now the Goddess of the Moon.
The common folk heard of Chang Er's sacrifice and flocked to ask for continued peace, showing their gratitude with sweet pastries and fruits. It is now said that during the Mid-Autumn Festival, when the moon is full and at it's brightest, you can see the willowy silhouette of Chang Er - now the Goddess of the Moon.
This was part of the Mooncake Festival at Ngee Ann City, one of Singapore's many large malls. Kevin and I didn't feel like squeezing into this space to join the buying frenzy of yummy Mooncakes. Instead, we watched people from our safe spot above without being squished by tons of people. It was interesting watching everyone from our bird's eye view.
So many freshly made pastries, breads, desserts, decadent chocolates, gelato, coffees, teas...oh my! There are fantastic aromas drifting around every corner...sweet, savory, fishy, smoky, spicy, fruity, comforting...and some aromas can be a pungent curiosity. What was that?! Ahhh food. Am I crossing over into becoming a Foodie? Time will tell...
