Singapore Short Stories said:

Day after day, night after night, year after year, the relentless firm kneads of perfectly elastic and flawless dough, the adroit pulling and twisting of the dough into fine balls of a thousand shapes and sizes, the smooth rolling of these with an ancient roller, the sprinkling of rich tau sar into each dough ball, the deft re-kneading of these dough balls and finally the dishing of each dough piece with a modicum of white sesame seed.....

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "This article is really a tribute to the old hawker and his daughter who churns out best hum jim pang at the lowest prices to all of us!"

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Veron said:

for a long while i have noticed an annoying trend in many sit-down dining establishments. an increasing number of restaurants have a no-water policy: they do not serve free cold water or even tap water to diners. instead, they make us buy their bottled water. i find this highly unacceptable.

serving water is the most basic service that a restaurant can provide. most of the time we are already paying a 10% service charge. even fast-food restaurants with no service charge do not have such a policy!

Recommended by razlan: "A growing list of restaurants which does NOT provide water. If you are one of us who get irritated with such a policy, this is the post to bookmark."

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Wayang Times said:

Do you know that if you see any unhygienic food handling in Singapore, you can simply whip out your handphone and complain using SMS? Send the following SMS message to the National Environment Agency's hotline at 74688.

[service code] space [complain] space [your name (optional)]

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "The simple method of using SMS to complain about unhygienic food handlers empowers all Singaporeans to help NEA look out for irresponsible food stalls."

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The Crusader said:

Today, thanks to the recession, expected to be the worst in 60 years, prices of crabs are coming down to earth.

Just over a month ago, I had a 600gm Sri Lankan chilly crab for $18 at a seafood eatery at the junction of River Valley Road and Zion Road. This is at least 30 per cent cheaper that what it used to cost. The going rate at an established restaurant is $3.80 per 100 gm of crabs. Add in the 10 per cent service charge and seven percent GST, the 600gm crab would have cost me at least $27.

With the full brunt of the global recession about to hit Singapore anytime soon, I expect more seafood restaurants to further cut prices to stay in business. So readers, if you know of more attractive and mouth-watering dining offers, do share them with us.

Recommended by misty_cloud: "600gm Sri Lankan chilly crab for $18 !!

I think this recession will hit the seafood restaurants real hard. They're squeezed between having higher costs from rising food prices and yet having to lower their retail prices to stimulate the waning demand for their delights. "

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Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan said:

Year after year I'd be reminded how superior my grandmother's tarts were. In our friends' homes, I would nibble politely and think privately, this crust is too dry. Or too flaky, or not flaky enough. There's too much pineapple, or too little. Only my father's mother got it right, I believed. I also believed she would teach me to make them one day. And then, when I was 11, she died.

Recommended by mr.udders: "A Lunar New Year's ritual helps the author connect with her grandmother."

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Tyler Cowen / Marginal Revolution said:

If there many empty tables with markers on them, then the time being spent elsewhere is large relative to the time that would have been spent actually using the seat. There will be a lot of empty marked seats at any given time. Therefore, ignore the marker and just seize a table. If the chope-r returns, be apologetic and move to another empty marked table. Repeat until you have finished your meal.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "A debate on the economics and efficiency of choping"

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KC said:

There's something in your spice mixture that not only stings the tongue, but also the stomach, then the intestines. I felt horrible the whole day after lunch, with this burning feeling in my tummy gnawing at me. It was as though the chewed and digested Mega Mcspicy burned whatever part of my body it was in contact with.

This cumulated into several bad episodes of very painful diarrhoea at midnight. Being medically trained, I knew that it wasn't harmful yet so I did not see a doctor.

A quick search on Google shows that I'm not the only one.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "If you want to eat the Mega McSpicy, think again, for you might end up with a Mega McDiarrhoea."

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Asia News Network said:

The food is orgasmic, plus there’s a variety of cultures since Singapore used to be a trading port in the olden days. So, you get the best of Indo-Chinese, Indian, Malaysian and of course Singaporean dishes

Recommended by Selfrevolution: "Food, more food, cosmopolitan culture, a few indie flicks and more food. Well, that's what the Filipinos interviewed here by the Daily Inquirer love Singapore for.

Are we that pigeonholed into a consumption narrative by the world?"

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Wayne said:

There may be many advertisements like this for promoting the food festival....but maybe the Tourism Board should consider these for their adverts instead... ... Singaporeans would say in Singlish, ‘die die, must-try’ ...

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Interesting photos of good food with pretty babe..."

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ieatishootipost said:

The day will come when you will walk into a hawker centre and not be able to find your Chicken Rice. Instead, you will see cuisines from all round the world.

Recommended by ieat: "There is an alarming trend towards foreign hawkers setting up shop in Singapore. It will not be difficult to imagine a hawker centre without any Singaporean food sellers selling our familiar local food in the future!"

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Popagandhi said:

To get there, I had to follow someone who knew about it—through the back door of that famous shopping centre in Little India, through the back alley, left, right, left, right… until we got to a dingy apartment building. It almost felt as if I should be blindfolded. Up two flights of dodgy stairs. It’s always a pleasant surprise to come across something so pleasantly creaky and dodgy in a city where things tend to work too well, but this apartment building had a gaping hole where its lift button was supposed to be, and apparently there used to be a sign that said something to the effect of, “please stick your finger deep into the hole to press for the lift”. There was a door, and a handwritten sign stuck on it, saying in Nepali: “Nepali food”. I loved this place already.

Recommended by Mr Miyagi: "Gotta love this city and the pleasant surprises before they're shut down."

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ieatishootipost said:

Just what is it about Bak Kut Teh that is so special that politicians spurn potential embarrassment just to get a taste of it at this stall? I mean really. If you are a well known politician, why would you risk getting your name smeared by being thrown out of a restaurant? You would think that after this Bak Kut Teh stall turned down Mr Donald Tsang's request for a bowl of Bak Kut Teh that as a politician you would thread carefully.

Recommended by ieat: "Bak Kut Teh seems to be the hawker dish that is politically inclined"

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Vacuum State said:

Those of you who have lived in Singapore will understand what I am talking about. Efficiency drives are everywhere. Sometimes it is so efficient, it all happens and end without you noticing. I experience some of these yesterday in the food centre. I was enjoying my bowl of noodle. Then halfway I got up to go to the wash basin. Just less than 10 seconds and the cleaners took my bowl away.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "It speaks of working to complete the tasks rather than to serve the customers. Is this the problem of efficient and honest Singapore? Readers have also started a touchy discussion (comments) on exploitation of low wage cleaners (down to about $300/month) and how it is hard for one to keep a smile on such wages."

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purplydreamz said:

so I am J2 this year and will be having prom at the end of the year at Meritus Mandarin. Under the food choice option, I obviously wrote vegetarian. However, when I was paying, I was told i had to pay twice the amount other people pay just because I am vegetarian.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "How do hotels get away with such practices?"

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hyacinthus said:

Anyone has tried donuts from more than 6 confectioneries in a single month? I have and I am sick of donuts...

Recommended by hyacinthus: "Curiousity about the donut queues killed me... ;p"

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Little Cart Noodles spots this dish in Hong Kong

For HK$30 (S$6) I could have found out what a stuffed countryman tastes like.

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AAO-Ops spotted a slut at Raffles Hotel.

I don’t know about this, but I have never found a slut for $6.25 - I have to go to Singapore apperently!

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Alvinology said:

First time I tried Filipino cooking - as in, authentic Filipino food, not Singaporean food cooked by Filipino domestic helpers.

Rachel brought Leon and I to this interesting Filipino restaurant called Kabayan Filipino fast food restaurant hidden in a corner in Lucky Plaza on the third floor.

Here’s the exact address: 304 Orchard Rd #03-25 Lucky Plaza

The place is great! There were not many locals sighted there. Also, there were no pesky posters boasting of wins from the millions of overrated local food guides like Yummy King, Makansutra, etc. Hence not yet having to pander to mass appeal.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Go try! Something different."

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huiqilemon said:

Bet you guys didn't know that you can also get CHICKEN PORRIDGE if you have a weaker stomach! According to Beatrice (who ordered this dish), it tasted just like her mother's home-made porridge with no aftertaste of MSG. No thirstiness detected after a full bowl of the good stuff. SEDAP! =)

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "I guess it is really interesting for this blogger and a bunch of students to go about testing and trying food around the East! It seems more real to me, then those big Channel 5 stars hosting food shows."

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Spearies said:

Their selling point is freshly baked muffins. Since it's hot from the oven, the crust of the muffin is of a certain crispiness and soft inside. The muffin flavours are original and each $1 only!

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "I will like to convert the donut craze to the another hit for muffins!"

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