Ready… set… EAT!

I recently flew with Singapore Airlines to India for a friend’s wedding and decided to make the most of a layover in Singapore… by extending said layover out by an entire day. An extra cost was incurred to do so, but it was well worth it. There’s only a handful of countries that have me itching to go back so soon after visiting, and Singapore is one of these countries. After my first and most recent visit in 2018, the country stole my heart, or rather my taste buds, and I was keen to experience more of Singapore’s food scene.

ITINERARY

Day 1:

• Travel from Delhi to Singapore, touch down at 6.20pm.

• Make way into city, check into hotel (Park Regis Singapore)

• Dinner at Maxwell Food Centre (hawker food)

Day 2:

• Breakfast at Tong Ah Eating House (kaya toast)

• Walk and explore

• Snack - curry puffs at J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff (hawker food, Amoy Food Centre)

• Walk around Fort Canning Park

• Head back to hotel to freshen up before lunch, check out

• Lunch at Corner House Singapore

• Walk around Botanical Gardens

• Snack - egg tarts at Tong Heng Delicacies

• Depart city to make way to airport for departure/explore Jewel Changi Airport

THE ACCOMMODATION - PARK REGIS SINGAPORE

It’s a shame I got in as late as I did on day one and had to leave the next day - I had next to no time to explore the hotel’s facilities (I spied a well equipped and sizeable gym alongside the rooftop pool), but it was otherwise a lovely hotel where I got a wonderful night’s sleep. Check out was at a very decent time of 12pm, which meant we were able to go out in the morning and come back to shower/freshen up before checking out. Upon checking out, guests are also able to request access to the bathroom/shower facilities at a later point, which meant I could squeeze in another shower before collecting my luggage and making my way to the airport. A VERY welcome relief given Singapore’s humidity.

Park Regis Singapore

23 Merchant Rd,

Singapore 058268

DINNER - MAXWELL FOOD CENTRE

Hawker centres are all the rage in Singapore with both locals and tourists. And what’s not to love? Quality, tasty street food that’s often priced in the single digits! Not to mention the Michelin Star status earned by some of these stalls - a testament to how great these dishes taste. With its central location and close proximity to both our hotels, I met up with Wingchi and Aussiepharmer for a late-ish dinner. At 9, 9.30pm, several of the stalls were already closed including the famed, Michelin-Starred Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken. Never mind, plenty of other delicious local delights to feast on. We may have gone slightly overboard and over ordered… a little bit of this and that makes for one excellent first meal to reaquaint my taste buds with Singapore.

On the menu: salted egg crab, popiah (fresh spring roll), rojak (“salad” of mixed veggies, fruit and dough coated in a sticky sweet black sauce, topped with peanuts), char kway teow noodles (that beautiful charred wok hei aroma) and two plates of fried carrot cake (both the black and white versions… because I couldn’t decide!).

Maxwell Food Centre

1 Kadayanallur St,

Singapore 069184

BREAKFAST - TONG AH EATING HOUSE

After a good night’s sleep, we were ready for breakfast at Tong Ah Eating House. Kaya toast for breakfast was a no-brainer - I fell in love with the dish during my last visit, where I had spent many a day eating my way though the different kaya toast outlets (see my round up of eateries here). I now get to add Tong Ah Eating House to this list. Tong Ah Eating House has been serving customers their kaya toast since way back when (1939 to be exact) and you get a feel for this when you dine with them. There’s something downright charming about the stripped back decor and the simplicity of the food and plating. The quality of the food speaks for itself, and my order of the crispy kaya toast was spot on perfection. They also serve up yet another variation of the humble kaya toast: a french toast version. The kaya presence goes down a treat with the eggy bread, but I prefer the OG. Crispy toast all the way.

Tong Ah Eating House

35 Keong Saik Rd.

Singapore 089142

With some time to kill between breakfast and the next meal, we decided to stretch our legs with a leisurely stroll through down Keong Saik Road before eventually making our way to the city… and Amoy Food Centre for a mid morning snack from the J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff stall. Any guesses on what the snack was? :) We tried two flavours between the three of us, and the black pepper chicken was my favourite. The pastry was beautifully flaky - expect a mess - and the filling packed quite the peppery presence. We then walked to Fort Canning Park for… more walking. I quite enjoy strolling when on holiday - it’s a great way to explore and experience a foreign place. And plus we had some digesting to do before lunch. We did however work up quite a sweat from the walk, because… Singapore. Luckily we had some time to head back to our respective hotels, shower and freshen up before heading over to our lunch destination.

J2 Famous Crispy Curry Puff

7 Maxwell Road // Amoy St,

#01-21 Amoy Food Centre.

LUNCH - CORNER HOUSE SINGAPORE

On one end of Singapore’s dining spectrum lie the hawker centres, which offer tasty street eats at serious bang for buck value. And at the other end? Fine dining. Of which many have also acquired Michelin Starred heights and glory, among numerous other accolades. I usually like to squeeze in at least one fine dining experience when abroad. I was slightly on the fence about doing so this time around given our limited time (so little time, so much… too much… to eat) but the hesitation was fleeting as soon as I started looking into potential dining options. During my last visit to Singapore, we ticked off Odette from the list and that set the bar super high. This time around, we dined at Corner House Singapore, surrounded by the beautiful lush greenery of the Botanical Gardens. I’ll be posting a separate blog post recapping our lunch experience at Corner House, so watch this space.

Following our lunch, we took a stroll through the gardens - if you enjoy this sort of thing, be sure to allocate a decent chunk of time to really explore the gardens. And bring comfortable walking footwear. It’s by far the biggest Botanical Gardens I’ve visited, and there is really quite a bit to see.

Corner House Singapore

1 Cluny Rd,

E J H Corner House Singapore Botanic Gardens.

Singapore 259569

AN AFTERNOON SNACK - EGG TARTS

More eating… cos we apparently have bottomless pits for stomachs when on holiday. Or rather, when you’re trying to cram in as much of Singapore as you possibly can in a day. Following a one hour stroll around the Botanical Garden, we made our way back to the city to get ready for our departure. But before that, there was one last errand to run, and located a stone’s throw away was Tong Heng Delicacies. Renowned for their egg tarts, we had no choice but to try it. Good eggy custard but the pastry wasn’t quite as short as I would’ve liked it (like those from Maxims’ Cake in Melbourne’s Chinatown).

Tong Heng Delicacies

285 South Bridge Rd,

Singapore 058833

THE DEPARTURE - EXPLORING CHANGI AIRPORT

Our flight was scheduled to depart at 9.30pm but we decided to leave for the airport at around 3, 4pm to leave ample time for exploring Changi Airport’s Jewel extension. As it turns out, we got lucky. With the Singapore Marathon scheduled on the same day of our departure, it was utter chaos on the roads. Every turn our cab driver took seemed to lead to yet another road closure or detour, and what would have taken 20, 25 minutes on any other day became 1.5 hours stuck in a cab moving at glacial pace. As I said, we did luck out with our timing - we may not have had as much time as we would have liked to explore Jewel (barely any) but we also didn’t have to rush to make our flight. Thankfully, we also didn’t have to pay an arm and leg for our cab fare - a mere $50, phew!

By the time we arrived and checked in, we had about 2.5 hours before our flight - just enough time to quickly check out Jewel. But with the Christmas spectacular and it being a Saturday evening, we spent more of our 30 minutes here navigating through crowds. We managed to catch a glimpse of the famed indoor water feature from a distance. Many of the restaurants we were keen to check out were also filled to the brim, so we decided to play it safe by returning to our departure terminal and going through security before settling on a place to eat. Turns out food court Mee Pok noodles, also pretty tasty. And a great way to close out our Singapore layover. Or rather, 30 hour eating marathon.

Singapore, you’ve been great. And I look forward to revisiting again, hopefully some day soon.