Singapore Stopovers

In finishing off my (what feels like a supremely lengthy) trip to Japan, we had two Singapore stopovers (courtesy of Singapore Airlines): the first was 7 hours, the second 19 hours.

Every time I told anyone of the length of the stopovers, they’d pull a face, but as we found out, layovers just fly by when you’re sufficiently distracted. And with Singapore, there’s plenty to distract you with for a good handful of hours (if you’re willing of course).

Merlion and Monobrow Building

Naturally, we had to visit the Merlion (it being R’s first trip to Singapore and all), which was actually quite convenient as the restaurant we were about to have dinner at was nearby.

I had enlisted the help of the Ninja himself and he graciously scared up a table for us – during Chinese New Year nonetheless! (Yes, it’s been a while since then, I do apologise). We arrived a tad early for our booking, but the staff bade us to sit down anyway. Bright-eyed and brimming with badly concealed excitement, we ordered the famous Singaporean Chilli Crab.

Unfortunately for us, what we didn’t count on was the scarcity of crab due to Chinese New Year… unless of course we were willing to eat Alaskan Snow Crab at $180 per kg. As much as we love crab, it was just a bit too much to chew. I don’t know what we would have ordered instead had Ninja not been there with his quick wits, but sure as all heck it wouldn’t have been the delicious dinner we had!

Crispy Cereal Crayfish and Salty Fish Fried Rice

Last time I was in Singapore, I had crispy cereal prawns and I remembered them to be too perfect for words. In switching it up, Ninja had ordered Crispy Cereal Crayfish and it was better than what I had remembered. The cereal oats added a crispness to the juicy and succulent crayfish, as well as a well-balanced sweetness. Though we did find out the hard way that if you eat too many oats by itself, it can get to you a bit.

The Salty Fish Fried Rice would have been a dish we wouldn’t have chosen, but Ninja knowing his stuff, chose the perfect rice dish as a counterpoint to the sweetness of the crayfish dish, as well as the richness of the Deep Fried Butter Prawns.

Deep Fried Butter Prawns

R and I have never had this dish before and just thinking about it now makes me wish I had a plate of it. For something that sounds like a heart-attack-on-a-plate (and most probably was), the deep fried butter prawns didn’t taste like it: you know… the overtly greasy feel, the quickening of the heart. The prawns were nothing like that.

They were still extraordinarily juicy with an utterly crispy batter and the stringy butter (what I originally thought were egg for some reason) tasted quite creamy. It is definitely a dish I would order again.

Sadly that was all we could fit in and while Ninja was off on an assignation during our second stopover, R and I determinedly came back to try their Singaporean Chilli Crab.

We got there super early (we had skipped a couple of destinations we had planned) and ended up reading our Kindles at one of the outside tables for about an hour, as they got ready for service.

While we were trying to decide what else to order (besides the Chilli Crab), our “waitress” came over to take our order. I say “waitress” because she seemed more like a “madam” than anything else.

Seeing that there were only two of us and what we were going to order, she quickly advised, in a matronly bossy way, that was we should get the banquet for two at SGD$139: “best price. 100%. Guaranteed.” With such an endorsement, we could not say no.

Salad Lobster

Our reactions to the salad lobster was a bit mixed. My eyes lit up when I saw the presentation, while R made a slightly horrified face. I asked her if everything was okay and she spun the dish around so I could see what she had seen: I made a face. It looked a bit like an alien and we both got a bit creeped out (if somehow still being amused by it).

We weren’t sure what the sauce was, but it was light and creamy with a very slight tang. It paired so well with the succulent lobster meat and diced apples. We were a bit sorry to see it all go, but we were already looking forward to the crab dish that we’ve been waiting 2 weeks for. And now, we were two dishes closer…

Garlic Fried Vegetable and Shark Fin Soup with Conpoy and Scallop

R and I both love our veggies, so we were glad to have some greens on the menu and I think it’s pretty telling when a restaurant excels at making a simple dish taste so divine.

Although R adores most seafood, she actually doesn’t like shark fin soup, citing that it tastes a bit too fishy for her. I didn’t know this until we were eating the soup and I felt slightly bad that there was something she didn’t like on the menu, but then she added that she quite liked this version.

True it was slightly different to the usual shark fin soup I’ve had at wedding banquets; the flavour was a tad milder, but not by much. There were something extra in the soup though – a moreness to it – that really made it one of the best shark fin soup I’ve had, though I can’t pinpoint what exactly.

Two more dishes down, next up… Chilli Crab!!!

Chilli Crab and Agar Jelly with Lychee

So we finally managed to eat the chilli crab and oh, it was well worth the wait. Apparently we were noobs and we had it with rice instead of bread, but it was still so very good. Not as spicy as I had imagined it would be (thankfully), but still spicy enough for it to have a good kick.

I couldn’t believe just how much meat there was on the crab and it felt like we were eating forever – digging out all the nooks and crannies for the delectable crab meat.

Fully sated, satisfied and perhaps even a little bit messier than we first started, we moved onto dessert. It was a simple affair, which I think after a large lunch, we were grateful for. The lightness of the dish was refreshing after all that food and was the perfect top-off.

Inside No Signboard

No Signboard, as I understood it, is a very sought after restaurant where their chilli crab is considered to be one of the best (if not, the best) in Singapore. We happened to dine there perhaps a little too early for their normal clientèle, so I can’t truly say that their service was quick, but they were quite attentive and fulfilled our orders with speed and efficiency.

Art Installation and ... Ninja Sighting??

Our first stopover was during Chinese New Year and it was pretty cool to see various art installation dedicated to or inspired by the holiday. We took some pretty silly photos over the course of our stay and while I think it’d be hilarious to show you guys, I don’t think R nor Ninja would be equally as pleased.

Paradise (SGD$18) and Flower Blossom (SGD$20)

Oh! I almost forgot. We had some time to kill and needing a dessert fix during our first layover, Ninja took us to Haagen Dazs, which just hit the spot. I think ice cream would make anyone smile, but great ice cream can make any grumpy person happy.

Finally, I could not not show you something that boggled our minds when we first saw it.

R and I visited the Monobrow Building Marina Bay Sands building during our second layover and as we meandered around in the mostly closed shopping centre (it was 10am, way early by Singaporean standards I think) that had a lot of expensive and posh stores in it, we rounded the corner and was greeted by this:

Indoor Canal!

It’s an indoor canal. Like what the heck!!! I mean, you could hire canal boats complete with a boating person to paddle you up and down the strip. Although we know that places like Abu Dhabi would be a lot more extravagant than this, it was our first time actually experiencing something like this (well, for me any way). It fairly blew our minds.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my somewhat sporadic blogging of my trip to Japan (with a mini, side-trip to Singapore)… thanks for bearing with me!

5 Comments

1. Simon @ the heart of food

   May 17, 2011

   

   Whoa! Both the cereal crawyfish & the deep fried buttered prawns look utterly awesome. Heart-clogging but awesome all the same.

   Looks like you made great use of your layovers. I bet those people will be pulling a difference face after reading this post

   Reply
   • squishies

     June 1, 2011

     

     Hahaha you bet Simon! Though I have to admit, we got pretty tired around 7pm on our second layover. Changi airport is awesome – we refreshed ourselves with a shower and a quiet dinner.

     Reply
2. Nic@diningwithastud

   May 17, 2011

   

   Bahaha I can see why R freaked out! That thing looks scary! Delicious though

   Reply
3. Blair James

   May 20, 2011

   

   Oh wow! Those lobsters are interesting to look at. Laughing out loud on the fact that you seemed pretty horrified with the presentation of the lobster dish. I guess I would be too if I were in your shoes.

   Thanks for sharing!

   Reply
4. Forager @ The Gourmet Forager

   May 23, 2011

   

   Wow – that lobster looks crazy – like its trying to sit up and play fetch. Looks like an amazing feast!

   Reply

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