Vietnamese at Pho Hoa

My plan of trying every cuisine possible here was furiously on. Vietnamese was the choice of the day.

Once again, we went to the Suntec City food court to choose from an endless list of restaurants. This time around, Charles took me to one of his favorite Vietnamese eateries, one he has been visiting for many years now - Pho Hoa. This chain has been around for a while, and has outlets in US, Canada and many countries in Asia. It also claims to be ranked in the Top 400 restaurants in US. I was about to find out.

I ordered the Chicken Noodle Soup, or Pho Ga. It came in two sizes - regular and large - knowing how well folks here can eat, I just stuck to the regular. What caught my attention on the menu though was the Vietnamese Drip Coffee with Milk and Ice, and I ordered it as well. What came back was quite fascinating - one large glass full of ice cubes, and a smaller one containing condensed milk with coffee dripping into it! One drop at a time. The coffee was coarsely ground, put in a metal drip filter and kept over the glass containing the milk. Fascinating really.

The noodle soup was quite good too - this place probably does live up to its claim. My struggle with the chopsticks was quite a story though, but well, I leave that for another day.

Mediterranean at Kazbar

An early dinner has its disadvantages. You're bound to get hungry again, and soon. So we headed to Orchard Road, the street famous for its malls, and a matching nightlife. Opposite the Orchard Central is the Cuppage Terrace, a clustered establishment of multiple joints serving a wide range of cuisines. I'd primarily come here to taste the Hoegaarden beer - a Belgian wheat beer renowned for its smooth taste and regarded as an original classic. We settled down at the Mediterranean food joint, Kazbar.

Mediterranean food is no stranger to me, and India, and I've visited several places serving this delicious cuisine back home. This time around, we ordered the mix mezze platter and kibbeh to go along with a large jug of Hoegaarden beer. The platter was a combination of hummus, moutabel, babaganoush, cheese borek and falafel, while the Kibbeh consisted of ground lamb and crushed wheat, stuffed with mince meat. I don't know if it was just me, but the Kibbeh didn't really go down well, and I could manage just two pieces. The platter, on the other hand, was quite well done and added to the delicious taste of the Belgian beer. I was told that this beer is now available in India as well, but as I'd experienced with Corona in the past, it would be a while before a pint would be affordable for most. The beer definitely left a wanting taste in my mouth, and is really tempting me to take up a study on internationally brewed beers! :)

Finally some Japanese cuisine at Isshin

We were just done with the third customer visit for the day, and our stomachs were roaring in anger. We couldn't really have waited any longer for dinner, and it helped that Raffles place was nearby. At 6:45 pm, this was certainly one of the earliest dinners I've had in a long time.

Walking down towards the Raffles MRT station, we spotted Isshin - a Japanese restaurant - and immediately agreed on it. Japanese is one cuisine I've normally been hesitant about, but I couldn't leave Singapore without trying it. My colleague, Charles, has been a fabulous culinary guide so far and, as before, his recommendations and insights on the local food was spot on.

Charles ordered the fish combo meal for himself, and the chicken combo meal for me. While we were waiting for the food to arrive, we were served some hot tea, or teah as they call it here. My meal wasn't only about chicken, as I soon found out. Along with fried sweetened chicken, I was served deep fried shrimps, pepper and baby corn, soup with fermented soybean (miso) and tofu, rice, sauces, and raw tuna and salmon! I was originally intimidated with the sight of raw fish, but jumped into the food soon enough. Of note here is that miso, the seasoning used in my soup, gradually improves with time, and like wine, gets more expensive to procure.

I bit into the raw salmon, which to my pleasant surprise was devoid of the usual fishy smell and tasted quite bland, but returned to the rest of my meal. That was delicious though, and I gobbled it up in quick time. Another cuisine off the list now; my eyes are set on Korean next. So long.

Hainanese Chicken Rice at Suntec City

It helps to have your office in a prime location, and it gets even better when there is a large and diverse food court to serve your culinary desires near by. We walked down to the Suntec City food court from office for lunch today, and came to this large and bustling food court, serving every local dish you could think of, and at very affordable rates. My target for today was local cuisine and, although its roots are in China, the Hainanese Chicken Rice was a classic example of Singaporean cuisine.

The chicken is prepared in traditional Hainanese methods which involve the boiling of the entire chicken in a pork and chicken bone stock, reusing the broth over and over, and only topping it up with water when needed. Rice is separately prepared with chicken stock, and a dash of coconut milk, giving it an oily flavor. Accompanying the chicken rice was fried tofu with mayonnaise, traditional Chinese soup, and vegetables cooked in sesame oil with deep fried garlic. All in all, a perfect meal that was an instant hit with my stomach!

Oh, and yeah, here's a pic of the hot chick who joined me for lunch today :)