Food Court @ Orchard Road

My Singapore food journal continues with my second last post; on a particularly value-for-money lunch at a food court located on Orchard Road.

(I promise that this is the last post on food court :)

The name of the place, as I can make out, is Food Court (yeah, what a good name!)

As mentioned in my previous post, one will come across many food courts of such nature; be it in the open or closed areas like these in Singapore, offering the local delights for the budget-conscious travellers (and locals).

It is not hard to locate a food court, with its buzzing crowd and the rows of stalls amidst the brightly lit environment.


Honestly, I'd recommend a hawker food court (this is better in hygiene) if you are a tourist in Asia, as truly, this is the place to experience the local culture and to eat like the locals (isn't that what all the travellers usually look for?)
When I stepped into this place, I was immediately surrounded by the local Singaporean dialects as the vendors and patrons alike were conversing with each other.

As usual, there were stalls lined next to each other with their food offers and we opted for the first stall which proved to be the right choice :)
We ordered a set meal; 3-in-1 including rice and it only cost about SGD$12!

The set comes with the Assam fish, vegetables and white rice (SGD$6-8)
The bowl of mixed fish soup was a separate order; at SGD$5
The set meal fed two, and maybe three!:)

Assam curry fish

(Assam curry is a type of sourish curry made with tamarind and is only spicy with a light note)
This is really good; with the generous slices of fish fillets with okra beans and made an appetizing dish with plain white rice.

The vegetables were boiled before being served with light oyster sauce and garnished with shallots


Since I loved the mixed fish soup (must have noticed from my previous post), we ordered this as an extra dish to complement the meal.
It costs only SGD$5 and comes with generous slices of fried and steamed fish slices and fried anchovies.

I loved this and was glad I could find them during my trip! :)
The serving was quite big, which was quite value for money.

We finished off the simple lunch with dessert; Aloe with Sea Coconut in shaved ice (SGD$2.50)

It was tad a bit too sweet, but I welcomed the cool ice and the lovely bites of aloe which was really refreshing after long walks on the streets in the humid weather.

This is a really good meal, and value-worthy, don't you think?

This is the last post on my food court meals in Singapore ;)

Sanga Teppanyaki Restaurant on Jurong Hilltop, Singapore

Teppanyaki is a popular concept of enjoying hot and freshly cooked food directly from the pan; and the chef is just right in front of you, demonstrating his skills in cooking and delivering your food according to your requests/orders.

Japanese restaurants serving the teppanyaki can be found everywhere in Malaysia too; in shopping malls and restaurants.
What makes one different from the other?
The answer lies in the quality of the food (of course!), skills of the chef and of course, the dining environment.

I was in for a surprise when we were treated to a wonderful and unforgettable teppanyaki dinner on the hilltop near Jurong Bird Park in Singapore by our kind hosts (Uncle and Aunty).


The restaurant is located on top of the hill as you take the route beside Jurong Bird Park which leads all the way to the top.
Take a short walk in the cyclindrical shaped building and you will come to the restaurant.

Sanga restaurant serves not only teppanyaki, but also Indonesian and Chinese cuisines as well.
They are well-known for their teppanyaki of course, as most of the customers are here for the teppanyaki.




The restaurant had been operating for almost 30 years or more, and is one of the oldest restaurants in Singapore; besides being the most popular.


It is advisable to make reservations for the teppanyaki section to ensure seating and to avoid disappointments as the restaurant can be quite crowded with eager patrons at the peak dinner hours.


Without reservation, one would have to settle for the dining at the normal tables away from the teppanyaki section or to wait behind a long line to get a place at the teppanyaki table.


It is truly a good and enriching experience to enjoy the front view as we watch the chef in action, whipping up our meals before our very eyes!





I'd never thought that I would enjoy the experience of the cooking in front of me, due to the smell the cooking could leave in my hair and clothes ( I do not want to walk around smelling like I came out of an oven or something), therefore I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying watching the chef whip up my whole meal; dish by dish before my eyes!
Furthermore, the feeling was priceless, as I felt like I was given the best attention with the chef constantly checking with how we would like our dish served; more garlic, less oil, less salt, etc.

Everyone had to put on an orange bib/apron when seated at the teppanyaki table.
I guess they did not want our clothes to be dirty in case the food from the cooking table fell on us? :P

Table setting for the Teppanyaki


For starters, there were side cold dishes such as the vegetable cold salad and seaweed



The chef preparing our salmon; the first dish


Other dishes ordered by the diners sharing the other side of the table



Pan fried salmon with sweet soy sauce and eggs

This was quite good, and the salmon tasted really smooth and soft. The fish was fresh and perhaps it was hot that made this such an appetizing start for our meal.

Grilled salmon

This was just as good, with the surface of the salmon grilled to a crisp texture and when I bit into it, the flesh was still quite tender and soft, yumz!

A bowl of Gohan (rice) to go with the meal; a typical Asian staple.


Chicken


Cooking up the teppanyaki prawns we ordered



Scrumptious and succulent juicy big prawns on my plate


Vegetables to wipe our palates (and plates) to end the teppanyaki meal



After the teppanyaki dinner, we left the table and proceeded to another area for the complimentary desserts by the restaurant.



There is a menu from which we can select from a list of desserts (there were at least 7-8 types of desserts, from ice cream to pudding).
Honeydew sago


Almond beancurd pudding (tau fu fah)


Mango Pudding


Grass jelly/Chin Chow


Enjoy a walk around the area after dinner, to enjoy the pleasant night view of Singapore and to walk off that huge dinner we had :)

Seafood galore at Newton Food Centre

Newton Food Centre or Newton Circus Hawker Centre is one of the many hawker centres in Singapore offering seafood and grills.
This hawker centre has garnered much media attention in the recent years due to the aggressive touting and overpriced food by the hawkers here.

Honestly, I was unaware of that before I came as I did not do much research on this recent trip to Singapore and I hopped off the MRT at Newton, which happened to be nearest station with a hawker food centre as stated in the guide.
(When you are in Singapore, hawker food centres are the way to go about to enjoy the local fare and at a lower budget too)

The spacious design of the food centre catered for the large number of hawker stalls here and also the patrons, who are mostly tourists with a small group of locals.


At a glance, the hawker centre looked like any that could be found in Singapore but this seemed to be more popular among the tourists than the locals, and I soon found out why...


When I stepped into open space area which is located in the middle of the food centre, I was approached by several food stall owners with menus in their hand who seemed to be swarming like bees around me and trying to usher me to a place while waving their menus at me at the same time!

It can be quite scary, as they are vying for attention on their stalls.
The last guy who managed to usher us to our place seemed to wane off the unwanted competition from the others who disappeared from the scene as quickly as they appeared.
The guy who led us to our place (or helped us to find our table) seemed like the winner of them all, and he placed his menu on our table as if to mark that this is his conquest. He whipped out his little notebook from his pocket and immediately asked us what would we like to order.

Fortunately for us Malaysians (and unfortunately for him), we are not totally strangers with hawker centres and we are not about to be pushed into ordering from him. We decided to take a walk and browse through the other hawker stalls around.

He waited around our table for a while, and seemed rather displeased that we are not ordering from him but we ignored his sour expression.

Walking around the stalls was another challenge as the stall owners would beckon and push you their menus as you are within a few metres from their stalls!
To be safe, try to stay as far as possible although it's not easy, with the tables set on the sides as well.
Anyway, keep on a blank expression (poker face) and keep walking, but keep your eyes open on the prices displayed as most of the stalls offer almost the same types of food.

We ordered a few things to sample the quality of the food here:
Fish Salad Popiah (SGD$2.50 per pc)

I found this to be rather unique albeit a little expensive compared to the usual/normal popiah.

Anyway, I was rather disappointed as there was nothing special in this popiah besides the overstuffing of mayonnaise-filled coleslaw with a really small and thin slice of fish.
Spot the thin brown slice inserted above?

Tasted like dried fish to me :(

Stir-fried Kangkung (Water Convulvus leaves) - a local favorite vegetable which goes especially well with the spicy belacan (dried shrimp paste with a pungent smell)

At SGD$6, it seemed like a reasonable price for a local plate of vegetables, but after conversion to our local currency, it seemed to be the most expensive Kangkung belacan I've ever had, LOL!
(This time the currency rate is not at our advantage, bummer)
Taste wise, it was quite oily and did not taste half as good as those we have tried back at home (Malaysia)

Homemade fishballs in soup - SGD$4

I love fishballs, and I noticed I seem to have them wherever I go (except in countries like Europe of course ;)
These fishballs are really big, juicy, not to mention firm and springy. It was not too bad, although the uncle who was selling them seemed to be wearing a sour expression on his face half the time.

Stir-fried squids with chili - SGD$8

Spicy but this has got to be one of the best of them all!
The squids were fresh and the gravy unleashed a fiery taste the moment it lands on the tongue. It is absolutely appetizing and definitely recommended for all spicy food lovers.

Fried Oyster - SGD$6

This was rather disappointing; I prefer those from Penang :)

We didn't order grilled fish, prawns or crabs, as most of them were marked with market prices and I never do order anything where the prices are not clearly stated, as I do not want to be ripped off by the hawkers.

It seemed that this Newton Food Centre had a rather notorious reputation not only for the aggressive touting and harassment of potential customers but also for the overpricing of average quality food and is shunned by most locals.
Even tourists are being warned to be careful of the prices when ordering to avoid being overcharged for their food.

If you really want to try, just follow the tips shared above when you reach this place (accessible by the Newton MRT station).
I personally prefer other hawker centres in Singapore, but, this was a good experience nevertheless.