It was a Sunday in Singapore that I started my gastronomic adventure there. Since my brother and sister-in-law were free, they could drive me around in search of the food on my list. While sending my nephew for his badminton class, we drove pass Adam Road Food Centre and and I told them there is something there on my food list there, Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak. So, after dropping my nephew off, we went there straight away! Luckily the queue wasn't that long as it was at brunch hour. I was told that during peak hours, one may have to queue for almost an hour!
According to an acclaimed food blogger in Singapore, this is the best halal nasi lemak in Singapore, and I couldn't agree more. The rice was the best part that made the whole meal awesome. I think it was the long-grain basmati rice.
The set that I has is called the Royal Flush that comes with a fried chicken wing, a fried egg, an otak-otak, a potato fritter and the standard sambal, fried anchovies and cucumber slices. The rice was so fragrant that I could just eat it with the sambal alone. No wonder the Brunei royal family members also come here to get their takeaway.
After the meal, my brother and sister-in-law did their usual Sunday marketing in preparation for dinner for my sister-in-law's family, so I followed them to the market. The local markets are some of the best places to experience the culinary culture of the local people. The markets in Singapore and no different from those in Malaysia. There are mainly four sections: seafood, meat, vegetable and fruit. The seafood there were really fresh, one of the freshest among those markets I have visited.
Although the vegetables were non-organic as admitted by the vendor herself, but the looked fresh. Who needs organic vegetables when you can get something as fresh as these.
The fruit stalls there were quite interesting as well. Although Singapore imports most of the fruit, they looked pretty fresh. Some looked as if they were straight from the orchards. I spotted something that I have not seen before; the pinkish-brown-skin bananas! I asked the fruit vendor about it and he told me it is called rose banana. According to him, there are good in easing gastric.
When we were done with the marketing for dinner, it was time to pick up my nephew from his badminton class and go for lunch, although we were still full with the nasi lemak, except my nephew. I told my brother about the good roast meat at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre and People's Park Food Centre that I have read about but my brother begged to differ. So, to prove that his was right, he brought all of us there to sample the roast meat; Kay Lee Roast Meat Joint. The first rule in gastronomic adventure: when diners are willing to queue for order, the food is good.
The friendly lady at the chopping board seems like the owner who is so used to people taking her picture. She even stopped and posed for me from her busy chopping chore.
You can imagine how much meat the lady has to chop to serve each day by looking at the display cabinet. You may be intrigued by how charred the cha siew is, but you can't deny how delicious the taste is.
There is even an apology notice to all diners for having to queue for their order. It seems like this place was featured in some gourmet magazines as well.
Since most of us were still full, we asked for less rice. The gravy on the rice was so great that the rice could be eaten with the gravy alone.
I had to agree with my brother that the cha siew here was good. Since I have not sampled from the other recommended places around Singapore, I couldn't make comparison. However, the cha siew must be one of the best in Singapore, albeit the charred outlook. The dark colour must have come from the dark soy sauce and the caramelised sugar.
The crispy-skin roasted pork belly was good too, but I have tasted better ones in Kuching. So, this is probably not the best in Singapore.
As opposed to the roasted pork, the roasted duck was extremely good. The skin was crispy and was almost detached form the succulent meat. Although I was still quite full from the feast of nasi lemak, I gobbled quite a considerable number of pieces of the meat!