Singapore City of Flavour!

When I visited Singapore some 16 years ago, I recall being confused by the place. There's a Little India, a Chinatown and a myriad of different cultures but I couldn't identify what was "Singaporean". What I didn't appreciate, is that this mix of cultures is the essence of Singapore and is displayed at its best in the wonderful variety of food available.

As we stayed in Chinatown, we were surrounded by plenty of cheap eats. Smith Street, or “Food Street” as it is more commonly known, is full of hawker stalls and tiny restaurants serving Chinese and Singaporean favourites. We tried the chicken rice, roti prata and satay. All delicious and ridiculously cheap. We even visited the first hawker stall turned restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star and stakes its claim to fame as the cheapest Michelin starred restaurant in the world.

The food was very nice, especially its char siew noodles, but I wouldn’t recommend the 45 minute plus wait for food that, quite frankly, wasn’t any better than the food from the other hawker stalls on food street. Still, Thomas has already ticked a Michelin star restaurant off the list at the age of just 9 months!

Little India is also a great district to visit for food. We went over there for lunch one day at the Banana Leaf restaurant and had an exceptionally good meal. Possibly the best and most authentic Indian food I've ever had. We tried onion pakoras, samosas, aloo gobi, mysore mutton and vegetable biriyani all served on a banana leaf. Delicious! Even Thomas enjoyed it.

Food courts, Korean barbeques, western fusion and steamy bowls of vietnamese pho complete the picture of culinary delights. I'd have happily eaten here endlessly!