a little bite of everything

A coconut ice cream with sticky rice

I love this dessert. It tastes like the real thing. Coconut ice cream and sweet sticky rice, just like my grandmother would prepare it. The place is the best and most authentic Thai restaurant in town. The owners, cooks and staff are all native Thai. Even most customers are Thai –or can order in Thai (if you can't, just point at the pictures on the menu and smile, that will do). It’s a low-key, family-friendly place, where almost everybody is a regular (or will soon become one). House specialities include Thai green curry chicken, pad thai and catfish salad. The tom yum soup is delicious, although very spicy. Advise them in advance if you can’t take spicy food… although they might not take it into account. Don’t expect great service or ambience, unless you’re a regular, then it’s fantastic (I've already said that I loved personalized treatment, that’s why I tend to go to the same places over and over again.). You’ll really have the feeling you’re in Bangkok: it is not all-clean and all-safe like the rest of Singapore but (or rather, therefore) it’s definitely worth the trip and adventure.

 

Diandin Leluk

Golden Mile Complex

Beach Road, Singapore

An egg and onion prata

After an ordinary yet fabulous dinner on a low-key foodcourt in "Malaysia", a sightseeing tour at Mustafa Center, an impromptu pre-before-party at Q.'s condo, a before party with my French mates in Le Noir at Clark Q, a swift pass-through at OverEasy, an inevitable, glorious visit to Hernán at the Zouk, a foolish stop at the Living Room… our late-night (rather, early-morning) meal at Spize felt just right! To me, this is the ideal laid-back afterparty place, where you can sit down, relax, chat freely, meet other hungry late night crawlers... and grab some gorgeous food. The extensive menu mainly offers Asian dishes such as the Indonesian nasi goreng (fried rice), Malaysian murtabak (minced mutton pancake) or this Singaporean egg and onion roti prata (a pancake bread, that stems from Pakistani and Indian cuisine and is usually served with curry, 2.50 SGD ie 1.25€) that tastes simply fantastic –and is adequately filling at this hour of the night. (Now I wonder, what food is NOT fantastic at 5.30am when you've been clubbing all night -on high heels on top of that?). Spize is also the perfect place when you're eating out in a large group, or when you're on your own and don't have an idea of what you're up for. PS. this post is dedicated to my beloved T. for repeatedly and relentlessly showing me that Singapore nightlife had nothing to envy HK or BKK for.

 

Spize Concepts

336 Bedok Road

Singapore

Tel 6734 9194 (home delivery is available)

A chicken rice

    

Singapore is a country I’ve grown to love.  I’ve been there 4 times over the past 5 years and I’m planning to go there again next summer. The adage according to which “there are only 2 things to do in Singapore: shopping and eating” is rather true. And so, in Singapore I do as the Singaporeans do: I eat and in between I go shopping -for more food sometimes! Needless to say, you need more than one trip to Singapore to fully grasp the extent of its food culture. Singaporean people's interest in all things food-related is astonishing. The greatest food is to be had on a crowded and noisy food court, where the cooks have been preparing the same dish for decades. This is one of the few places where you can have exquisite cheap fast-food, which actually taste better than in most restaurants.  Boon Tong Kee is a perfect example of an excellent, successful street food place. I just love their chicken rice (4.50 SGD ie 2.30 euros), which is known to be one of Singapore’s specialties. It looks dull to foreigners, “Chicken on rice, what’s so special about it?” as I’ve happened to hear many times. You’d have to taste it, and to ask the cook how he makes it to fully appreciate it. You’d  recognize subtle flavors of chicken bouillon and garlic in your white rice. And you’d be blown away by the tenderness of the chicken. In Boon Tong Kee, it’s all about the dish.  You’d have it served promptly, and you’d be provided with condiments to make it your own. Little effort is made on the service or the interior, and the customers turn-over is quite astonishing: you go there, eat your chicken rice and leave. And that’s what I did, many, many times.

 

Boon Tong Kee

Upper Bukit Timah Road

Singapore