20/09/09

Singapore- 2nd and final day.

Hari Raya Aidil Fitri

The Malay term for celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid.
Guys, Selamat Hari Raya and thanks for the pose.

Breakfast at Kopitiam near Bras Bersah road. A highly sanitised and approximate version (to appease the more compulsive Singaporeans) of the traditional coffee shops found in Malaysia.

Another kopi tiam breakfast classic of boiled eggs over easy. Crack the runny eggs yourself, douse with plenty of soy sauce and add plenty of white pepper. Mix with a passion, then with or without bread- enjoy.

Breakfast for some folks is Tiger beer drunk with a straw!

Personally I wouldn't mind reading my Sunday papers like the way he does except that a cup of Flat White would make it more pleasurable.

People's Park, Chinatown It was too early at 9am, the place was deserted...

...so much so that no one was going to nick this cake placed outside a bakery.

Hari Raya is followed shortly by the Mid-Autumn or Mooncake festival. The colourful council block helps liven up an otherwise chaotic and overlooked area.

In both Singapore and Malaysia, they stand on the left as opposed to the right back in London.

Lunch of Hainanese Chicken Rice at Lucky Plaza on Orchard Road. Lunch was so-so, but what the heck I was more impressed by the thousands of Filipina maids who gather at this shopping mall on their only day-off of the week. First church then Lucky Plaza. The sight of these gleeful and smiling women made me likewise.
Ladies if you're reading this, hats off to you.

The Ion Orchard

Subjective it may well be, but this is one beautiful building!

People watching. Iced Mocha Vanilla.

There are so many other pictures I could take of Singapore, but it has been done by others and it's a case of once you've seen one Merlion, you've seen them all. So I'm going to end my trip with the ice cream vendor-

Put your prejudices aside, the Wall's stuff here is different to what we get back in Blighty.

Yes that's bread all over the place, they make ice cream sandwiches here in Singapore!

Choose your flavour from the usual suspects to durian, red bean or taro.

Wafer biscuits are a viable alternative to the off-putting multi-coloured loaves of bread!

Singapore is too bloody near to the equator and that means a least a degree or two sultrier than Kuala Lumpur. You'll need an ice cream sandwich like the above to put things in perspective. Yummy!

Malaysia- back to the land of fifteen years adrift (fair guesstimate).

The services along the Malaysian motorway offer more than a Little Chef and fuel, fruitstalls are numerous! Contrary to the notorious reputation of durians (odour of rigor mortis or poo), they are actually delicious. All the durians that are imported into the West are from Thailand; they're inferior tasting and harvested by forcibly chopping the fruits off the trees. Durians are only perfectly riped when they naturally fall off their branches due to their mature weight. Like Jersey Royals, Malaysian durians can only be purchased and eaten within home.

Chempedak and Nanas
Breadfruit and Pineapple

The breadfruit is as offensive and stinky as the durian, again if you get the chance it's terrific eating. I would say that it's less acquired than durians.
The flies concur.

Dinner at a fabled crab restaurant in Seremban, the capital of the state of Negeri Sembilan (about a hour's journey from Kuala Lumpur).

The Seremban Grilled Crab Restaurant is an incredibly huge and busy place. Like all the best Chinese eateries in the country, they are dirty, no service to speak of and the buildings are usually withered tin sheds.
(Might as well mention that the bogs are unisex and filthy holes in the ground!)

Local clams, South East Asian cousin to the Italian vongole.
The serving looks measly but it was only about £1.50; gorgeous.

The name of the blog; Pissing Prawns fried with salted duck eggs.
I will post a picture of this sea insect soon.

Oh...a caucasian fella doing the rounds among the diners selling trinkets or badges! To be fair he did have card on him stating that he was a deaf-mute, but everyone in the restaurant was surprised to see him let alone a white tourist in this 'no attraction whatsoever' town!

Fly Lice
Velly good.

And there you have it, the best crab dish I've had. Succulent, sweet and umami laden. There was simply no way the restaurant owners were going to reveal how the barbecued shellfish was marinaded or basted. I thought kecap manis and sugar, my Mum reckoned Worcestershire sauce was more likely. After consulting my foddie bro Henry, he said Marmite. I agreed. Marmite is now a popular ingredient with the Chinese in Malaysia when it comes to cooking chicken, pork and now crabs!
Superb!