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For shopping, yes, for food, certainly!

Forget shopping, think of eating out in Singapore, suggests SANGEETA BAROOAH PISHAROTY

VISTAS Be it the view of the oldest Hindu temple at the mouth of China Town, (below) the Merlion, the busy Orchard Road or food at a roadside eatery, Singapore can offer you different experiences at one go

Clearly, the fault lies with the Singapore Tourism Board's promotion. They tell us Singapore primarily should bring to mind just another `S' — shopping. So after returning from that country, when you meet up with friends and family, all you get to hear is, "What have you got for us?" But let me tell you, these advertisements displayed across our billboards and magazines tell just half the story. The city deserves all your interest, not just to gaze at its beautiful steel and cement edifices or underwater wonders, not just to spend a lot of time and dollars shop-hopping, not even merely to appreciate the tidy, disciplined society, but to check out its eateries. The term `amazing' perhaps describes the fare on offer in that picture-perfect city.

Incredible variety

Our first stop for a quick bite was a food court just behind Singapore's Red Dot Design Museum. Almost all the tables were taken up by diners leisurely sipping their Tiger beer, raspberry vodka and a whole lot of scented herbal tea varieties while waiting for their orders. Hungry souls that we were at 11 p.m., we almost turned away to peek at the Japanese restaurant next door. Just then, a table emptied, and there are no nickels for guessing we rushed towards it. Soaking in the mood and feel of the place, we decided to sip first and sup a little later. Not to ape the `natives', but to choose the dish we would like to order from an incredible variety we suddenly discovered.

Besides the drinks outlet, there were four food vends. The first was an Indian one, though the dishes with names like paneer John and parantha Mustafa sounded only half familiar. The next outlet specialised in Malay Muslim food, the third in noodles and seafood and the last in grilled fare. Steering clear of the Indian vend, the dishes we brought to the table at this self-help food court were three rice varieties: one with grilled chicken, one with braised chicken and one with beef. We also got some prawns in a hot curry and a dish of glass noodles dipped for about two-three-minutes in a huge pot of hot aromatic water given out to all customers as a soup with every dish.

While some in the group went for Tiger and Singha beer to beat the rising heat, many matched the food with cans of herbal iced tea with interesting flavours like chrysanthemum, rhododendron and peach. Though a tea variety called White Tea came to notice, no one seemed adventurous enough at that hour of the night to try it.

Not because we were really hungry, but simply because what each of us got on our plates was so delicious with unusual and extraordinary flavours, we savoured our food to the last morsel. While walking down to our hotel in the next lane, Erskine Road, we talked about why you don't need to be a connoisseur to tell good food from bad. All we need to trust is our taste, we concurred.

Our next food hunt was the morning after, at a new mall called Wisma Atre on Orchard Road. With an entire floor of this multi-storeyed building devoted to food joints, the atmosphere there needed a little description. Hundreds of people, mostly tourists, swarmed that place drifting through a number of specialised stalls, looking for the right dish to buy. Finding a table here again was difficult, but we managed. And the table we got had the view of the beautiful Orchard Road below.

While it was rather difficult for the vegetarian in the group to zero in on a dish, (though she managed some rice and greens), for the rest, it was sheer paradise. What we enjoyed most was a dish of olive rice with dry chicken, accompanied by a soup, prawn cakes and a variety of dumplings bought from a waitress who wheeled around a cart carrying them hot and steaming in bamboo baskets. The dumpling that won most votes from the group was the one with a steamed and herbed whole prawn as filling. The drink that we relished alongside was a mud-hued Thai tea poured out of a bamboo flask, with a strong aroma.

Doing the usual

Not that we didn't do the usual in Singapore. We ambled through the famous Mustafa Centre for cheap shopping, went crazy picking up curios at China Town, bowed at the oldest Hindu temple just at the mouth of China Town, appreciated the expensive fare at the malls, including the much-talked about Takashimaya NGEE City, gazed at live models waving to us from show windows and posed for pictures with the Merlion at the back.

But honestly, the experience we loved most was that of food. Also what was interesting was the eateries were within easy reach everywhere. We even got to see so many food guides for sale, some with interesting names like "Hundred Best Places to Eat Near MRT Stations." On digging more, we learned that the next big thing the Singapore Tourism is planning is to pose the city as the food capital of Asia. No wonder then!

While checking in at the Changi airport to head home the next day, we spotted a hoarding saying, `Sudanese Restaurant'. Our eyes lit up but we didn't have much time on hand.

Next time, surely.

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