Category: Singapore

Entries detailing the two years that I lived in Singapore, and any future trips to visit friends.

Sakura, Delicious Buffet

Bradley Farless1 Comment

Sakura is a sushi and grill buffet style restaurant.  Typically, when a person says a restaurant is not to be missed it’s really classy or has a great signature dish, but in this case Sakura is all around great food at a reasonable price.  You pay 25 SGD at the door, are shown to a table, and then you’re free to pick and choose from everything that’s on display.

There are rows of sushi, cooked shellfish, soups, grilled items, and desserts.  There’s enough to choose from that you couldn’t sample everything in one sitting, even if you were frugal with your servings.  I haven’t found anything there that I haven’t liked either.

One of the interesting things about Sakura is their grill system.  Your table has a little stand on it with numbered clips that correlate to what table you’re sitting at.  You take these clips with you to the grill and then clip them to posts next to example dishes.  Later, you food will be brought to your table when they’re ready.

I’ve been to both the Orchard location and the Pasir Ris location, which is where we went this time, and I have to say that the Pasir Ris location is more appealing to me.  The Orchard location has a darker ambiance and might be better for a date, where the Pasir Ris location is more brightly lit and seems more suitable for large groups of people, parties and groups of friends.  It also has a children’s area with toys and a TV playing cartoons.  I could see the TV from where we were sitting so I was able to enjoy some Tom & Jerry episodes with my dinner.

Like I said before, Sakura offers a great deal on the price for what you’re getting.  The food is all good quality.  Also, if you pick and choose right, you’ll likely end up eating more than your money’s worth.  That brings me to something funny that happened during our trip there.  My wife told me to enjoy the sashimi but to go light on the sushi, since it’s coupled with rice and rice will fill you up fast.  It’s good advice.  If you’re going to an all you can eat buffet, why fill up on a staple food when you can instead enjoy the better food that’s on offer?  While I was standing at the bar thinking about what to get another lady was reminding her son of the same thing: “Don’t get a bunch of rice!  We can eat that at home!”  Oddly enough, I did see a woman pile up two plates with nothing but fried rice.

Here are a few pictures of what’s on the menu.  Pardon the quality.  I forgot my camera.

A shot of some of the sushi to be had.

The roast duck with the sauce on it is great!  Also, that skewered thing in the back was one of my favorites. It’s fried squid (or octopus) legs.  I’m not sure how they get them so crunchy, but I could eat them all day.

Black pepper lamb from the grill.

Wagyu beef from the grill.

Skewered octopus leg.  It’s great when dipped in the sauce it comes with.  Also an item from the grill.

The shellfish in the back right is slipper lobster.  I’d seen them before on TV and in aquariums, but I’d never actually had one before trying it at Sakura.  It’s not bad at all.  I wish I’d had some coctail sauce for dipping it though.

I can’t recall the name of this veggie, but it’s delicious.  I think it’s fried in butter and garlic.  It must be pretty popular because when my wife went to order it from the grill there were a lot of clips on its post.

A small plate of dessert to finish off the meal.  By the time I started eating this I was so full I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish it.  The cheesecakes at Sakura are some of the best I’ve had in Singapore.  I suppose it’s because they’re so similar to what I’m used to in the US.  The mochi were great too!  If you’ve never had mochi, I don’t know how to explain the taste to you, but it’s well worth it to try them.  My favorite was the pinkish one.  It has a red bean paste inside.

2009 Christmas Decorations Along Orchard Road, Singapore

Bradley Farless1 Comment

On Saturday night at 7:30 PM the Christmas lights along Orchard Road were officially lit.  I wasn’t there for the ceremony, as I was laid up in the house with a mild case of food poisoning, but we can’t have everything right?  I decided to tough it out and get my butt up to Orchard Road on Sunday evening at least to have a look at this year’s decorations.

Last year the decorations were awesome!  I remember how impressed I was, and how incredible everything looked.  I had never seen such a huge display of Christmas decorations.  I don’t know if anyone does it as big as Singapore does when it comes to setting up lights.  If you’re not familiar with Singapore, Orchard Road is what you would call the ‘Main Street’ of Singapore.  It’s in the heart of the city-state and is home to the biggest, poshest malls Singapore has to offer, carrying brands like Docle & Gabbana, Prada, Lous Vuitton, etc.  It’s a popular place to go, even if you’re not planning on buying anything.  You could literally spend all evening cruising the malls and never go through the same place twice, unless you have to to exit the mall again of course.

Like I said, last year’s decorations were stunning, especially to me, since I’d never seen Orchard Road in all its Christmas glory before.  This year was no less thrilling.  In fact, I think the decorations this year were far more elegant and classy looking than last year’s.  I have no clue if it’s true or not but I have a feeling that the decorations are rotated, and that there’s a stock of them somewhere, so that each year there’s something different.  Who knows?  Maybe there are no ‘repeats’ and the road is decorated with fresh stuff every year?  I have a feeling that this year the planners were really pushing for that classy, elegant look, especially considering the fact that the APEC meeting is happening here in Singapore from the 5th through the 18th (?) of November.  There will be a lot of important political figures in Singapore during those dates, and the city-state has really ‘dressed to impress’.

Before continuing on, you may want to take a quick look at this post to see some of the decorations from 2008.

The photos below aren’t in order, exactly.  I matched some of them up according to decoration type.  We exited the MRT at Dhoby Ghaut Interchange and walked all the way down to Orchard Towers before turning back and using the Orchard MRT station under Ion to go home.

And now, a sample of 2009’s decorations (click for larger image):

The tree in Tampines Mall.  I know that’s not Orchard Road, but just thought I’d throw it in there, since it looks so nice.

Like I said earlier, everything has a real classy, professional, elegant look to it.  I wonder if everything is set out yet, though.  I seem to remember there being more displays last year.  Of course, it’s only early November, so perhaps more will be added as we get closer to Christmas.  We’ll definitely be making another visit to check!  Also, the place was crowded, but it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as when we went last year.  The atmosphere was somewhat subdued as well.  It didn’t feel overly cheerful.  On our next trip down there I think we’ll buy some ice cream and hot chocolate to get more into the spirit of the season. ^_^

I hope you enjoyed the photos!

Christmas Decorations Are Up on Orchard!

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Update: Please read THIS article to see samples of the 2009 Christmas Decorations on Orchard.

Last year my wife and I had a great time walking around Orchard Road, looking at all of the Christmas decorations.  Singapore really goes all out when it comes to Christmas and Orchard Road becomes a sort of Winter Wonderland… minus the snow and the crisp breeze that is.  This is still the tropics, after all.  Despite that heat, the sheer number of decorations and how well they’re displayed can help you to forget for a moment that you’re sweating, and put you in the mood for wrapping gifts and drinking hot chocolate.  It’s a great time of year in Singapore!

And, based on my trip down to Orchard Road over the weekend (pictured above), the city isn’t wasting any time in getting things going this year.  We were downtown on October 31st and they were already getting the majority of of the pole and tree mounted decorations in place.  The decor looks like it’s going to be a different theme this year, which is really cool.  It would be boring if they simply set up the same stuff as last year.  In fact, I think the decorations look like they’ll be a lot better than last year’s.  I can’t wait to have a look at them!  I’m not sure if they’re being lit up after dark yet.  They certainly weren’t when we were there, though that might have been because of the storm.  I’m thinking it’s just preparations though, and they’ll get things going around the end of November.

I wanted to take some more photos but we went into Lucky Plaza to eat first and when we were done, it was like the bottom dropped out of the sky.  The thunder was sounding almost right after the lightning flashed and was so loud it was like having iron pots banged together repeatedly about half a foot from my ear.

(How to calculate your distance from a lightning strike using the sound of thunder.)

Here are some pictures of last year’s Christmas decorations:

Toffee Nut Lattes

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The toffee nut latte is the one exception to my rule about not liking Starbucks.  Most of their drinks are watered down tasting and overpriced.  What you wind up paying for is the name and the ‘experience’ of sitting in their cafe.

The toffee nut latte is still damned expensive, with the ‘venti’ costing 7.30 SGD, but it tastes good and there’s definitely something relaxing about sitting at a Starbucks enjoying a drink.  I’m not so sure my enjoyment of the drink comes from the actual taste of it.  It’s not bad but it’s not anything incredible.  I think it comes from the fact that it’s a holiday drink, only available at this time of year, and it’s the first sign that Christmas is fast approaching.

Singapore Rejects Firm Emissions Targets? What About The Elephant In The Room?

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A little over two weeks ago, the world’s blogosphere observed an event known as Blog Action Day 2009.  The event was a coordinated effort by bloggers around the world to raise awareness of a specific topic, and this year’s topic was climate change.  I believe the total result was that bloggers with a total audience of roughly 18 million participated, including high profile blogs like The Google Blog, Mashable, TUAW, and the official government blogs of the United Kingdom, Spain and The White House blog.  It was a great effort and a very loud cry from people all over the world that we want to see better care taken of the planet we live on.

Later this year, there will be an international summit in Copenhagen to try to address the problem of climate change on a global scale.  Many countries are going into this meeting with the intent to set firm emissions goals, yet Singapore has taken a stance against the setting of any firm targets.

via The Straits Times:

Minister for the Environment & Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said: ‘We are not obligated to set targets or reduce emissions, but…we will do our part.’

‘Whatever we do, we cannot compromise our ability to grow. So how we find a balance will be a continuous process.’

While I find it a bit disheartening that one of the most advanced and progressive countries in Asia has stated plainly that it is more interested in growth than being environmentally friendly, I can understand their position.  Singapore has positioned itself as a prime business hub in Southeast Asia and it will require continuous growth to both maintain and develop this status.  I’m not justifying the disregard for environmental issues, simply stating why I think they may be pushing it to the back burner for now.

Also, despite its high per capita emissions, Singapore is one of the cleanest places I’ve ever lived and I think this spotlight on Singapore’s position in regards to firm emissions targets is a case of ignoring the elephant in the room.  We should all do our part, but let’s not disregard the forest while complaining about the trees.

Here are some photos of pollution in China, taken from a recent and popular China Hush article:

[Quoted] “In the Yellow Sea coastline, countless sewage pipes buried in the beach and even extending into the deep sea. April 28, 2008”

[Quoted] “In Inner Mongolia there were 2 “black dragons” from the Lasengmiao Power Plant (内蒙古拉僧庙发电厂) covering the nearby villages. July 26, 2005”

I’ve read the blog of a Swedish woman living in Suzhou, China that says she can’t hang her laundry outside to dry or it will be covered in filth and require rewashing.  She’s also afraid of having the windows open due to the heavy pollution in the air that’s as thick as a fog on some days.  I suppose it’s just a small mental comfort for her to run the air conditioner instead, since it’s pulling air from outside, but it demonstrates how bad the situation there is.

Let’s give credit where credit is due and focus on the true environmental disaster in Asia.

Talking Politics With A Cab Driver

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You ever get in a cab with a driver that is really eager to chat?  What choice do you have?  You’re sort of a captive audience.  Sometimes I try to deter them by giving short answers, but this guy seemed really excited about sharing his point of view.  The conversation started out with a brief ‘how are you’, ‘where you from’, ‘what do you do’ introduction.  That was followed by the typical ‘Singapore is so safe and clean’ and ‘the weather is so nice’ dialogue.  Then he started laying out his ideas, dreams and visions for Singapore.

Nothing he said was really new to me.  I’d seen it all before on various Singapore politics websites, like Temasek Review for instance, or on some Straits Times articles.  Still, it was interesting to hear a guy going apeshit about politics to me, when the policies in question don’t really affect me all that much.  Maybe he just wanted an opinion from someone who wasn’t all that biased.

His main complaints were about foreigners in Singapore.  He stated that they were causing too many problems for locals and that it wasn’t fair that foreigners often received better treatment than native born Singaporeans.  He mentioned the problem with first generation PRs not doing National Service.  He mentioned how Singaporean youth have to compete with foreigners for jobs, and how he feels that the foreigners coming into the country are no longer supporting the country, but rather are taking it over.

As he reached the climax of his venting he nearly clipped a curb.  I’m glad I had my seatbelt on!  The topic was serious but I was really entertained by this old man’s passion for his country.  The last thing he mentioned is that he felt that all the foreigners coming into the country and staying were changing the culture and he wasn’t sure it was for the best.  He said that foreigners are raised in a different environment and it’s not the same as how Singaporeans are raised, and that they’ll pass that on to their kids, which may cause problems.

Then he asked me what I thought about it.  Hmm… how to respond?

Instead of discussing such a sensitive issue with him, I instead tried to relate it to something that I do have a good grasp of and that’s the illegal immigration issue in the US.  So, I mentioned to him how there’s a similar problem in the US, with illegal immigrants entering the country, putting their kids in schools without paying taxes, getting health care, etc, etc.

Just about then we arrived at my destination and I was spared from having to dance around the subject any more.

Singapore provides a lot of opportunity to foreigners looking for work, but the policy also causes a lot of displeasure among locals.  I’ll leave it at that, but feel free to leave your opinion in the comment section, as long as it’s tactful and doesn’t contain racial slurs.

WANTED! A Home For Little Jimmy. Great Advertising Ploy!

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I saw this posted and it was so funny that I had to laugh. This is great advertising and is sure to catch the eye. I thought it was a missing child report when I first saw it.

I left the number visible because the person who posted this deserves the added exposure for being so creative!

Seriously Funny Singaporean Comedy From YouTube

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This is some seriously funny stuff. I wasn’t sure about it at first, and you really have to pay attention to understand what’s being said, but you’ll be laughing by the end. You’ll have to understand something about Singapore culture and language to fully appreciate it, I think, but watch it anyhow.

(If you’re looking at this in Facebook, click the “View Original Post” just above the comments section to view the videos at the original blog.)

(Found the videos on Singapore Agnes Tan)

Hainanese Chicken Rice

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Often considered the “national dish” of Singapore, this is a food that’s widely loved by Singaporeans and visitors alike.  Also, it’s one of the few local dishes served on Singapore Airlines, giving you the opportunity to get a taste of Singapore before you’re even in Singapore.

Here’s a quick history of the dish (the links in this quote will all go to Wikipedia pages):

Hainanese chicken rice is a dish of Chinese origin most commonly associated with Singaporean cuisine or Malaysian cuisine, although it is also commonly sold in neighbouring Thailand, and found in Hainan, China itself. So-called due to its roots in Hainan cuisine and its adoption by the Hainanese overseas Chinese population in the Nanyang area (present-day Singapore), the version found in Singapore region combines elements of Hainanese and Cantonese cuisines along with culinary preferences in the Southeast Asian region. The dish was popularised in the 1950s by Moh Lee Twee, whose Swee Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant operated from 1947 to 1997. [1]

You can find at least one stall at every food center selling chicken rice, as it’s usually called here. Typically you can get it either roasted or steamed. I prefer the roasted, but my wife loves the steamed version, which is probably why she loves Mr. Chicken Rice so much (shown in the top picture).

Mr. Chicken Rice is a restaurant in E-Hub, Pasir Ris in the Downtown East area that sells a specific type of steamed chicken rice. I don’t recall the whole back-story, but the chef that got that location going used to work for a five star hotel in downtown Singapore. Eventually, I think the restaurant decided they didn’t need him anymore, so he went out on his own and started up his own business. The restaurant at E-Hub is always jam packed, and even though I don’t generally like the steamed version it’s damn good!

To me, chicken rice is the staple dish of Singapore. It’s also my ‘safe’ dish. When I’m wandering back and forth in the food court and I can’t figure out what I want, or I’m scared to try something new, I always settle on the chicken rice. I know it’s good and I know it’s safe. The recipe is more or less the same wherever you go. All you have to worry about with chicken rice is whether the guy behind the counter gives you a bad cut of meat (too many bones) or not.

Chicken rice is also something that people apparently get really passionate about.  For example, recently the Malaysian government tried to claim chicken rice (“”We cannot continue to let other countries hijack our food. Chili crab is Malaysian. Hainanese chicken rice is Malaysian,” in The Star newspaper.”) as a native Malay dish, which is kinda ridiculous.  Even the name says Hainanese. Singaporeans were outraged by the idea, but I don’t see why either side is fighting so hard over where chicken rice belongs.  The current status or love of the dish in either country doesn’t matter much when you realize that it’s originally, and factually, from Hainan in China.  The dish doesn’t belong to Singapore or Malaysia.  It belongs to China.  It’s simply been imported to the two countries along with other cultural and culinary traditions.  That’s one of the drawbacks of being a multicultural society of immigrants like Singapore, Malaysia and my own country (US) are.  The only traditions you can claim as actually being your own are the ones that develop in the area.  Previous traditions that you bring with you don’t really count.  Also, it’s worth it to note that 44 years ago Singapore was a part of Malaysia, rather than an independent nation.

Regardless of where it came from, or who it ‘belongs’ to, chicken rice is a dish that I’ve come to love greatly and will come to miss greatly if I can’t find it when I leave this country.  My loss on that one.