When the Singaporean Tourism Board invited The Philippine STAR to the Singaporean Food Festival, I was honored and excited to be part of something special. I saw an opportunity to visit a country rich in culture and a unique culinary heritage, influenced by neighboring countries such a China, Malaysia, and India, as well as Portugal, the Netherlands, and England — countries that once occupied this country. The mixture of these various cultures helped produce Singaporean cuisine today, different from other countries with their own style of cooking. This trip was both educational and an experience of a lifetime in a country that we can learn from in terms of maximizing tourism potential and promoting the best assets a country has to offer.
We were billeted at the InterContinental Hotel Singapore, one of the most outstanding hotels in the country. With 334 guestrooms, suites, and 75 shophouses that overlook Bugis Junction, a fully air-conditioned mall full of shops, the Intercon is the place to be. It’s also just across Bugis St., which offers inexpensive shopping for those on a budget. The location is just five minutes away from the MRT, Raffles Hospital, Sim Lim Center, Suntec City, Orchard Road, and the financial district of Shentan Way.
Whether you are a tourist, like me, or a businessman, the Intercon, headed by Sonny Ang, is one hotel you will enjoy because the service is world-class and the facilities are outstanding. It has one of the best multi-awarded Cantonese restaurants in town called the Man Fu Yuan. Highly recommended is the suckling pig with goose liver sauce, double boiled shark’s bone soup with fish maw and coconut, and the deep-fried sugar cane wrapped in minced scallops. All three are delicious and definitely should be tried. I would not hesitate to stay here again.
We checked in, unloaded our luggage, and promptly went on our way to Chinatown with Irish Chan, the knowledgeable, kind and helpful tourist guide who made our four days memorable. Chinatown was a total surprise to me because it was so clean, organized, and odor free. We met up with Jennifer Lee, who is the marketing and promotions manager of the Chinatown Business Association, and she toured us around one of the best places to eat in Singapore.
Our first stop was the Lee Tong Kee Ipoh Sar Hor Fun, managed by Jillian Lee, and is home to the best hor fun in Chinatown since 1948. Hor fun is a dish of flat rice noodles that are homemade, which is always better, mixed with beef or chicken strips with a gravy of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, salt, sugar, sesame oil, stock, and cornstarch. There are two versions, the wet or soupy version, which has a lot of gravy, and dry, which has little gravy that is absorbed by the rice noodles. This is the second time I tried hor fun (the first time was in Hong Kong) and Jillian’s version is outstanding. She continues to develop and improve the dish, updating her father’s menu, and implementing creative dishes such as warm desserts of almond, avocado, and ornee (yam with pumpkin) paste, which are delicious, very rich, and refreshing.
The second stop was nearby Smith St., more popularly known as Food Street, with an array of restaurants on a single stretch of road. Located here is the famous Da Dong Restaurant, which started way back in 1928. Here, we ate the much talked about giant pao and shark’s fin soup. The pao has a lot of filling consisting of Chinese sausage, hard-boiled egg, Chinese mushroom, apulid (water chestnuts), and pork and chicken strips. Another item I liked on the menu was the prawns with latik (fried coconut shreds), which was crunchy on the outside while the meat inside was still juicy. The shark’s fin is very rich, and though half of me felt guilty about eating an endangered species, the other half couldn’t help but appreciate the savory, melt-in-your-mouth soup.
The third stop was at Lim Chee Guan, a restaurant famous for its pork slices. Not just any store, so many people flock to this establishment that the line can go for three blocks, especially near Chinese New Year. Can you imagine, a 10-kilo limit is given to customers because everyone is buying and stocking this item? Like a rock concert, people sleep outside, waiting for a chance to buy the pork slices. Although other shops sell the same item, this is where everyone goes because of the tradition and quality of the product.
The final destination was to Tong Heng Chinese Pastries, owned by one of the nicest people I have ever met, Fong Wai Keong. Tong Heng specializes in making cookies using sweet potato. This cookie is a status symbol in Singapore, and having it on your wedding or on special occasions means you are doing well in life. Fong explains that after the war, Singaporeans often asked, “Have you eaten?” If you had the chance to eat a cookie, that means you had the opportunity to eat well, and that you were an extraordinary person. The cookie was even used to barter, an indication of how much it meant at that time. Tong Heng also specializes in egg tarts that are so pleasant to the taste buds. I personally went to other stores in the area but this is still the best.
Chinatown in Singapore was a delightful experience. It is very near the MRT and a 10-minute taxi ride from the Intercon. Though the first day was very hectic, the food was scrumptious and was a taste of things to come in scintillating Singapore.