Follow Benny in Singapore
Not only am I lucky enough to have family we can crash with in Singapore, this foodie island was the first international destination I ever visited (due to the fact I had free accommodation there) which makes it doubly special for me. Years later and finding my way around Singapore still feels equal parts childlike wonder and coming-of-age in an exceptionally well-catered environment.
My initial thoughts of what I would do on my Singapore rogue day heavily featured the street food beloved across the island; kaya toast, roti prata, mud crab, chicken & rice, carrot cake, curry puffs, sup tulang, satay, nasi lamak, every type of noodles and probably a few more by the time I’m done typing this sentence. However, I knew Katie would plan her day around the iconic food of Singapore (spoiler alert; she did) and wanted a point of difference*.
Following the success of my Berlin travel guide, Wolfgang, I figured I’d try to replicate the formula by enlisting my drama-kid cousin Domi to show us her Singapore. Mixed results ensued.
*I also hoped the family angle would cause Katie to have a semi-guilty/awkward feeling if I wasn’t awarded the win.
NEX Shopping Centre
When I first visited Singapore, Domi was little enough to sit on my shoulders while we played basketball, effectively making me almost tall enough to dunk. My family also lived right near NEX Shopping Centre which I now realise is the first international shopping centre I ever visited.
Like the rest of Singapore, NEX is futuristic, quirky and busy at all hours. Some of the food options seem whacky even for locals as venues get stunty to stand out, think extreme spice and hot pools of cheese for all your dipping needs. Tech, fashion and concept shops galore, NEX is doing what World Square Sydney dreams about doing on a good day.
Din Tai Fung
We weren’t willing to wait 45 minutes at Serangoon’s Din Tai Fung.
So this is where the plan started falling apart.
Domi really wanted to go to Din Tai Fung because it’s somewhat of a family tradition. Her family would take Aussie visitors there, order Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) and chicken dumplings, take the weird little steamed chicken shaped thing that comes with the dumplings, stick it onto someone’s back discretely and privately laugh at them with the ‘chicken touch’ on their back. She got me good with it once. And she would have gotten me with it again if the Din Tai Fung staff hadn’t of told us it would be 45 minutes before they could take our order.
Noodle Man
Trying to come up with a successful unplanned day that can outmatch the thoroughly researched itinerary of a professional planner is a tough job. A bit like her big cousin, Domi wasn’t up for the job and asked to be excused until later. Completely fair and to be honest, I felt bad putting that sort of pressure on her and was very proud of her for knowing when to call it. Plus, she had time to organise something ‘fun’ for us later that day…
Dropping Domi back home, my aunt and uncle suggested Noodle Man in China Town for lunch. If you could only visit one neighbourhood in Singapore, China Town would surely be on everyone’s shortlist. While we arrived too late to see the Noodle Man make the fresh noodles (we got there at about 1:15pm and were told live demonstrations of fresh noodle making usually wraps up at 1ish) the noodles still tasted amazing in their Beijing black bean sauce as did the dumplings which were just a little bit spicey.
Chinatown
On Katie’s day I remarked that we had just eaten and already it was time to eat again. It didn’t occur to me I’d be doing the same just 24 hours later.
Singapore boasts 24/7 ice cream weather amongst a crossroad of ingredients so I had to get some of that. Ice cream unfinished, I spotted the special pork shop and immediately couldn’t help myself. Then I tried to steal a tour. Perusing China Town like this is a Singapore must. The sheer variety really allows you to forge your own path with a mix of shopping, food, activities and food (not a typo).
I considered following my nose down to one of the durian stalls that sells samples of the beloved and infamous local delicacy. However, I’d tried the fruit before in a dessert and didn’t like it. Considering how welcoming Singaporeans are, I didn’t want to push my luck by gagging at the taste of their pet fruit.
Chinatown Complex
I simply can’t resist a hawker centre and this one happens to serve good local beer from a tiny tap room that is basically just a tap stall. Of course, being the beer is craft and subject to Singapore alcohol prices, this inevitably feels like splashing out, a strange feeling to experience while sitting on stools bolted to the ground.
However, the food you have alongside the beer (and not the other way around) is cheap. We’re talking 80 cents per skewer of satay (chicken or pork). Swap the beer for sugarcane juice if you want to save money but I wanted a drink before what I was about to do.
Slingshot Singapore
No, Singapore is not the only place you can do this but this is the kind of weird teenage pick I enlisted Domi to make. I never would have done this otherwise and I’m glad we did because now it’s another fun memory (that I have a complete video record of).
It was about $45 Singapore dollars each for us to do the Slingshot. After settling back down to Earth, the ride operator asked us if we wanted to go again for $20. I didn’t know if this was per person (I suspect it was) but either way, we’d gotten the shot so we said we were fine. However, if I’d of known about the offer before hand who knows what I would have said…
Maxwell Food Centre
After the slingshot, my aunt, uncle, Domi and my cousin Luca, joined Katie and I for dinner at a hawker centre they recommended. Hawker dining might be the absolute easiest group dining situation there is. There’s something for everyone, big tables always available, everyone pays for exactly what they get.
In my case, it involved giving my uncle $30 and telling him to get me some weird food.
The fried eggs with oysters tasted exactly how you would expect. I’m natural oysters through and through but it was fun to try them this way. The chicken and duck with rice combo was saucy and delicious, definitely something you could put in the middle of the table for everyone to pick at. I can say I’m glad I tried the pork trotters but mostly so I can advise you they’re not worth unless you don’t have much money and love eating heaps of gelatine.
I laid it on thick hoping it might help me clench the win but hanging out with my family really made for quite a special ending to the day. As I said, hawker dining is a great group dining set up and sharing a galaxy of food with them is something I’m really happy to have on camera.
So there’s my day! You can copy it if you like, just be warned none of my family will split the pork trotters with you.
