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Singapore: New York in Twenty Years | Singapore, restaurant, food, marketplace | Tony sets out to find the real Singapore, with its multicultural restaurants and food markets. He samples prescription food dishes, explores the Geyland... | By No Reservations | Drinking tea. Things to know
about Singapore. It's hot. It's very very hot. It's an ultra
modern, ultra convenient city with a absolute minimum of
social problems. They figured out everything here, okay? No
traffic, no litter, no drug problem, no violent crime. I
mean, it's a kind of a benevolent coup neo
totalitarian thing going on here. I'm an old-time lefty and
yet, I'm ashamed to say this. I kind of like it here. Okay, so
Singapore is clean, orderly, and tightly regulated. But the
society is anything but homogenous. There's three
distinctive ethnic groups. Chinese, Malay, and Indian that
co-exist harmoniously while maintaining their own customs,
religions, and cuisine. It all makes for a pretty heady brew.
So where to start? Chinese sounds good. This is Imperial Herbal
Restaurant in Singapore. As you know in much of Asia, the line
between food and medicine can get pretty slim even permeable
and this is a really good example of that. Gonna give
myself a little doctor check up here. Couple of dishes
recommended and eat a really good meal. It's a fairly as you
will see wacky menu but good. At Imperial Herbal, you get
more than just general sauce chicken and some wontons. This
is Chinese food holistic style. Resident Chinese medicine
expert, Doctor Lee Levion Singh will not only assess the
balance of your yin and yang, he'll also help you figure out
what appetizer you should choose. I'm just hoping that my
menu selection doesn't involve the words painful swelling and
itching. Are you Tony? Everything's fine. Let's try
it. Well, at least I can expect an honest assessment. Your
time? The campus. Hi He says, the yin and yang is not
balanced. Your yang is more sort of a dark color. A dark
colored yang. I don't know if I like the sound of that. I have
been a little dizzy just for a little bit, maybe two, three
times a day. Two, three, two to three times a day. Yeah. This
is not going well at all. I'm tired looking. My yang's all
whacked out. At this rate, I'll be enjoying my meal in a
zip-front bag. What would you recommend I have tonight? Is it
try not to eat too much spicy fried food because your body is
too heat up. So, ginseng and also more vegged. A
prescription for good health. I feel my yang straightening up
already. Thank you. He's having the ginseng with fresh water
fish soup that Tony need to to build up his stamina and
energy. My friend in town told me that when I come to this
restaurant, well he said that the last time I was here he had
some special fish soup and he was unbelievably windy that I
think is he put in for 3 days. A little gin a little boiled
fish, some lychee nuts, it's great. And really what's three
days of flatulence for achieving inner balance.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, they're whipping up the next
dish. Fresh lily bulb and braised cod fish and a
fermented rice wine sauce. A fermental rice wine is one kind
of wines that make the fish taste delicious. Try It is
delicious. Taste like cherry. So far, they're batting a
thousand but I'm still looking for that unique item that rises
to the occasion. Oh, no. Here we go. Deer penis wine. I
haven't had this. Is this something I should be drinking?
Yeah, you can have the Superman wine. Yeah. It's called the
Deer Penis wine. And also help you for
circulation and also boost our energy. Oh, then definitely
I'll have a glass. Thank you. It was not part of my
prescription. Superman wine, an energy booster. I've had, you
know, two out of three parts of the three-piece unit. I think
it's time, don't you? What, what's that floating around in
there? What happens if it works? I mean do you wrap a
table cloth around your waist you know when you walk out of
the restaurant I feel something maybe it's fear Good to the last drop. Why you
drink so fast? Slowly, next time. Do you want to know?
Sure. Getting another glass. She looked worried which she
said, you want another glass? I said, yes. Yes. This is one of
the how special is the cold egg white scallop. Another house
specialty. Egg whites and dried scallops on a nest of shredded
potato. It's good for circulation and it'll give my
complexion that fresh scrub noxema girl look I've always
wanted. Oh, that's delicious. So, an hour from now, I'll have
clear skin, clean lungs, and I'll be farting like nobody's
business. Life is glamorous on the road. I think maybe one
more dish, what would you recommend? You want a deer
tendon? Have you tried a deer tendon? Deer tender is good for
you. Like masa. Oh good. That sounds terrific. I've been on
my feet for 28 years. I'm ready. I'm coming. Thank you.
Oh yeah. Some deer tendon with fresh Chinese yam to strengthen
the legs. I guess I won't have to hit the StairMaster
tomorrow. Not that I ever hit it. Dear Chinese. Beautiful. That's good and and texture is
not disturbing. It's like listen, it's really easy to
sneer at this stuff and god knows I love an opportunity for
a few penis jokes but honestly, I do feel my yang getting
brighter, my complexion clearing up. I feel well like
Superman. Last night's meal at Imperial
Herbalist almost made a believer out of me. I do feel
balanced, at peace, energized, and there's only a slight
tailwind. So what else does this kooky hypermodern
metropolis have to offer? Like I said before, Singapore is a
modern city in the most western sense of the world and like any
modern city, it's well represented in the consumer
culture department. Everybody seems to be shopping all the
time. It seems like a consumer paradise. We're just stock upon
stock upon stock of ultra modern buildings selling Prada
and Versace and Gucci and Tiffany and Starbucks. Tell you
this, by shopping through designer labels, this place is
for you. But fortunately, Singapore is not all about
brand names and chains. Case in point, the Gillang Sarai
section. Home to the island's Malay community. If you're
looking to avoid the air-conditioned oppression of
the downtown Uber malls, look no further than the Gillang
Sarai market. The Malaysian market is surprisingly enough
where Malaysians go to shop. It's bursting with good stuff.
Just look. My local guide Safia knows this place like the back
of her hand. She runs me like a rented mule through a near item
by item tour of the joint. The curry powder we can keep. Yeah.
Right. The curry for chicken, curry for mutton, and curry for
free. This is actually a shrimp taste. So this is what we call
down. Oh yes, I've tasted this, yes. Alright. Onward we go,
hurdling through the market, item after item, description
after description. Lemon lemon grass. Lemon grass. This is
called it's a rice flour. This is actually for breakfast.
Yeah, speaking of breakfast, what time is it? How long is
this gauntlet been going on? I'm just hungry. This is a
jackfruit, the young jackfruit. So hungry. This is a Wait a
minute. Wait a minute. What's that? It's ota ota. It's mixed
fishes, coconut, chili, and onion and put it into the
coconut leaf and then barbecue. Okay. Brothers. Delicious.
Careful. I think the ravenous glint in my eye was making
Sapia a little nervous. But what could I do? The last thing
I had to eat was a hunk of deer tendon 15 hours ago. Well, that
was delightful but it's not just about the food at Galang
Sarai. It's also about the fashion. What hot trends are
burning up the Malay fashion scene this year you ask. Let's
check it out. Right, I think Tony will like it this and it
looks so airy, baggy and comfortable when you are
relaxing at home at your balcony. Yeah, this is
something like how are you? Okay, before I wind up with
some sort of a thing, I think maybe some lunch is in order.
Should I go for? Yo, let's eat. Let's eat a lot. A lot. So,
let's hit a traditional Malaysian restaurant that Sapia
says is the real deal. It's a home cookie. Good. I like that
kind. Home cooking. That's what the specialty of this
restaurant. You know, I'm not sure if it's the florescent
lighting, the cafeteria-style trays or the steam table
offerings which have always been a well a sign of bad
things to come. For whatever the reason the words home
cooking aren't suddenly leaping to mind here. There's a certain
prepared in bulk quality to the lineup. We should've eaten at
the market. Feeling unprepared to negotiate the selections. I
fall back and let Sapia make the calls. Cuz I understand
it's over where you get some barbecue fish, some pickles,
some oxtail soup, and some other stuff. But you know I might have
spoken too soon. We bring the stuff outside and it looks
pretty good. She's assembled a mammoth spread for me
consisting of barbecue fish and an onion and chili sauce. Beef
rendang and Malaysian beef stew cooked with spices and coconut
milk. Fried salt fish, beef liver with fried chilies,
oxtail soup, and stewed unripened jackfruit. Okay, so
am I can mean like six. The food is astonishingly
good but you know, I think sapi is somewhat taken aback by my
Jethro Bodin-like eating technique. You you use the four
fingers together. Yeah. Right hand only. Yeah, right hand.
Top down for lefties. My favorite so far, I love this.
Delicious. And that fish is sensational too. Mmm. You
almost can do it. Yeah. Especially we do this in the
kitchen all the time. With your food okay so Sapi around me
like Prince Butterbean in the third race at Belmont but my
god did she make the call on a really fine Malaysian meal good
meal worth waiting for hmm You know after that Mammoth
Malaysian feast with Sapia I should probably be walking back
to my hotel but why exert myself when one of the most
modern and efficient subway systems in the world is at my
disposal oh this place is like totally automated Oh, this is
so James Bond. Come on. When do you think my train will arrive?
Oh, exactly 2 minutes. Clean fast efficient on time New York
City Subway could definitely take a page from Singapore's
book this is mass transit while Singapore's future may be
define by its ultra modern technology it's still the
traditional ethnic enclaves that give this city state it's
unique flavor and the market is a great example of this it's
filled with hawker stands or food vendors who specialize in
one particular item so anyway I'm in little India right now
near the market I'm meeting my old friend Chroni and associate
Holango. Johnny B. How are you? Good to see you. Good to see
you again man. Welcome to little India. You going to show
me around? I'm going to show you around. I know we're
going to eat well. We're going to check out some birds
man. Some birds. Let's check out some birds, alright? We we
going to eat them or what? These are special birds. They
going to tell you a fortune, alright? I'm not sure if I
want to know my future. The birds going to pull out a car.
He's going to say your fortune, alright? Outstanding. Alright.
Looks like a very intelligent bird. Come on, Tony. Let's pick
number 20 out. He's gone back in again. Tony, this is
beautiful, man. What? This is goddess Lutchmi. She's the
goddess of wealth. Right. Wealth. Money is coming your
way. So, no matter what happens, I'm taking them. The
money is yours. The money is yours. Alright. Sure. Lucky
goddesses, obscene wealth. Not too bad. Yeah. So, what other
good things are coming my way. Ooh. You're going to develop a
terrible skin ranch, Tony. Stretching already. It's all be
rich but itchy. Itchy rich. I'll take it. Fortune knows
just the thing to help us celebrate my impending wealth.
Buttery delicious Indian pastry called Prada. It's almost our
answer to the croissant. It taste very good with leftover
curry from the previous night and ah it's my one of my
favourite dishes. Anything that smells as good I am eating. But
first perhaps a glass of traditional Indian stretch tea.
To cleanse our palates. What he is saying is stretch tea. When
I was young my mum used to serve me hot coffee or tea. I
used to complain that's very hot. I can't drink it. So what
she would do is she get another cup. She start pouring the tea
up in it cools and aerates it, you know. You also add a lot of
foam. You add flavor, becomes a good brew. It taste great but even better
than that, there are no animal genitals involved. At the Prada
stand, they're whipping up what a Lango calls the supreme Prada
or Prada stuffed with egg, minced lamb, and onion.
Everything gets wrapped up and after a couple of minutes on
the griddle, it's ready to eat. That's awesome. You're you're
hooking me up man. You are really looking out for me.
Cheers. Oh yeah, this product is sensational but it's nothing
compared to what this maniac is lined up for me next. So, I've
hit all three parts of the Singapore ethnic triad and had
some really amazing food at each one but Olango tells me
that I have not experienced Singapore until I've consulted
the master himself, chef, TV food show host, and author of
the definitive guide to restaurants and hawkers stands
in Singapore, Mister KF Sito. We're stepping out with Sito to
Singapore's Red Light District to check out his pick to the
ultimate Singapore food experience. Singwat eating
house. First of all, what's special about this place? Uh
okay, this Italy is the most expensive restaurant in
Singapore. Make no bones about it. Simply because he serves
some of the freshest seafood around and his signature is his
crab beehoon. Crab bijoon. Crab bihoon which you going to be
stuffing at your face later. Right. I think that covers
pretty much the whole menu. Alright, so the whole menu may
be a bit ambitious. The first offering of fresh steamed
scallops smothered in garlic and black bean sauce definitely
makes you believe anything is possible. Oh yeah. Oh, the
smell coming off of there is. You smell it? Yeah. Wipe all
over the chopstick thing. When the scallop is saying, I eat
meat. Look at that. Come on. Yeah. Little sauce. Oh, man.
Oh, come to mama. Oh, I think the disturbingly animal like
grown say it all. But you know what? This isn't even the tip
of the iceberg. That is a beautiful thing. Oh yes, I
remember these guys. Fresh steamed gong gong. Well, may
not seem so special but get a load of this. A honey chili
dipping sauce that'll have you drooling like the proverbial
Pavlovian dog. This guy takes half a day to prepare this.
He's got honey, chili, scallions, onions. And too much
of a good thing is good for you. Words of wisdom Words of
wisdom. It's always fun when you hook
up with an enthusiastic local who eats for a living. You know
get together, compare notes, commiserate, try to one up each
other. Like me Sito is a driven half TV guy, half foodie with
plenty to say on the subject. How often do you eat? Like if
you go out to eat. Breakfast, a bit of brunch, lunch and you do
a bit of tea and then dinner and then supper. Supper is BIG
in Singapore. Food is really twenty-four hours. Wake cup at
any time of the day or night. Think of any food, somebody is
selling it. I know you've eaten jelly grass. I know you've
eaten donkey butt. Donkey butt scorpions. And you had
scorpions? Yeah. Have you had a Denny's grand slam breakfast?
I'm afraid, dawg. You know what I love? When you have a big
crab, a female and you cook the head upside down and you got
that soupy fat and roll just the fat you take a piece of
bread and run that fat around on it. They'll be eating that
later. We could do this all night man. God died. One of the
downside of our job is that we eat too much. To you, it's fun
but we can be potential big business to the health doctors.
You're not frogs. I remember you're not into frog. No. Oh
man, he's got a memory like a steel trap. It's the French
thing, you know, the frogs like this. I cook and they taste
like fish tank to me. You got that little syrupy stuff at the
bottom? Not good. Now, I know what you're thinking. Tony,
you're a chef at a French restaurant. Isn't it like
illegal for you to not like frog's legs? In a word, no. But
Sito hasn't steered me wrong yet. And chef Danny Lee's
preparation steamed to perfection with loads of fresh
minced garlic gives me even more reason to suspend my
amphibian aversion. Uh this frogs steamed frogs if this
would turn your life around. There's something very
suggestive about this dish. I mean we were just talking about
you know Russell Andrews on the beach kind of see the legs?
Yeah oh that's going to hurt. I'm usually indifferent on
frog. I know this is going to be good. No no no. Live on
program. From there It's hot. It's hot lunchy. No problem. Yeah, it is great. Before I was
indifferent, eat it when it's hotter. That is some King Hell
frog. He's been ordained. Alright, so I never thought I'd
say it. Those were some damn tasty frogs. Sido has picked
the winner yet again. Finish it Anthony. It's got your name on
it. My meal with Sito and Alango
ain't over yet. Chef Danny Lee has more than a few surprises
up his sleeve including this one. A rare and extremely
expensive fresh spotted grouper. Steamed with ginger
and green onions and served with the chef's famous mystery
sauce with soy. If this number doesn't get you going, you
better check your pulse. Oh, the spotted grouper. Okay, so
show me exactly what is the absolute best part. Absolutely
best part. The Cantonese love the meat here, the cradles, the
stomach, you know. I'm in heaven. Oh, it's so tender. I'm
leaving you with the other cheek. He's speaking gibberish
now. Unbelievable. Look at me, I've been reduced to a
primitive almost federal level by this meal and who's to blame
for this wonderfully deranged state I'm in, this man. Head
chef and owner Danny Lee. A guy who at first glance looks like
he should be trying to help with Bushwood Country Club of
its gopher problem. But don't be fooled. Danny and his
semi-clad crew of kitchen mercenaries are flirting with
genius. Need more proof? Check this out. Steamed tiger prawns
on a bed of minced garlic with scallion garnish, fresh
stingray steamed with ginger and green onions served with a
generous helping of soy and garlic broth and finally an
entree that is both ingenious and outrageous. The
restaurant's signature dish, crab beef root. A savage blend
of Danny's secret garlic broth, rice vermicelli, fresh chili
pepper and Sri Lankan crabs the size of your head. And the
results well where does one begin? Man look at that. Look
at that. This is where he goes Brazil. Look at this bro. Oh.
This dish is invented right here in this restaurant close
to 15 years ago by Danny. Man look at this man. Look at this.
That's massive. That's a big crab. See it's about half the
size of my face. Wow. Oh yeah. That's hardcore. I'm home papa.
I'm home. Duncan with a bit of chili in there. And send it
home. And this is the this is the part of the program where I
I just lapsed into sort of a a trance like steak. This is this
is it. The PSD resistance. This is the single best dish I've
had. If if there's nothing better than this I'd be pretty
happy with that. Just speak on my language sir. We've reached
the mountain top. Touchdown has been achieved. So beneath the
shiny single
Tony sets out to find the real Singapore, with its multicultural restaurants and food markets. He samples prescription food dishes, explores the Geyland Serai Market, and rides the clean and efficient local subway.
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Sharla Dallas
I loved this guy! I had such a huge crush on him for years. RIP you smart creative and funny man. Gone too soon