Friday - February 28, 2025

Singapore is one of the few “city states” in the world which means it’s a city, state and country all rolled into one. It’s the second largest seaport (in volume) in the world behind Shanghai and has a population of about 6 million. It is a tiny little island located at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula and is just 85 miles north of the Equator. It’s only 284 square miles – about ¼ of the size of Maui. The British took it over in the 1800’s and they left a huge influence on the Island upon their departure. English is the primary language despite the fact that 75% of the population is ethnic Chinese. And they drive (as most countries we’ll be visiting) on the left. They say it has 2 seasons – hot and hotter. Luckily, we hit during hot season. HAHA. Suffice it to say we were pretty uncomfortable in heat and humidity after a chilly (for us anyway) winter in the Bay Area.

Nonetheless, we drug our jet lagged selves out of our comfy airconditioned room to see the sites after the quintessential Singapore breakfast. That is, kaya toast and 2 poached eggs with a dash of soy sauce. Kaya toast is 2 pieces of thinly sliced crispy white toast made into a sandwich of sorts with a huge pat of butter and kaya (coconut jam) liberally slathered on the center. Num! We then chatted with the concierge inquiring about the best route to walk down to the Marina Bay to see the famous hotel that has a swimming pool that spans the top of its 3 towers and the “Merlion” fountain which is the symbol of the city. She was very considerate to route us through airconditioned malls so our walk in the heat was minimized. We took the touristy pictures and then headed back to the hotel to venture out on a self-guided food tour. I had been watching You Tube videos for months about the food culture in Singapore, and though we only had one day there, I was determined to make the most of it with my very willing accomplice.

A video I had seen about a famous bakery making banana coconut pie really piqued my interest. As the story went, about 40 years ago, a guy in a small bakery on the other side of town created a scrumptious pie consisting of a crisp buttery crust, filled with local bananas at the perfect degree of ripeness, local shaved coconut and topped with a huge mound of chopped, toasted almonds. No sugar was ever added as he relied on the natural sweetness of the ingredients. He was assisted in the bakery by his stepdaughter and her friend all those years and did a land office business. He became an icon for this pastry in the City. When he passed away a few years back, the stepdaughter and her friend got into a massive feud over the recipe and the bakery. Apparently the friend insisted on adding some sugar to the original recipe to satisfy younger palates and the other flipped out, and said absolutely not. So the friend subsequently purchased the shop right next door to start her own bakery selling the revised pie. They don’t speak to this day. The video told this story, then showed 4 of the top Singaporean gourmands doing a blind taste test and the results were split two against two. I was so intrigued, I had to find the bakeries so we could judge which we thought was better. All I knew about the location was that it was at the Katong Shopping Center (wherever that was) so we went to the hotel bellman to ask him to hail us a cab to start our adventure.

“Where would you like to go?”, he asked politely.

“We’d like to go to the Katong Shopping Center please”, I replied.

He screwed up his face, looked very puzzled and said, “I’m sorry ma’am, where?”

“The Katong Shopping Center”, I repeated.

Looking even more confused he said he didn’t know of such a place, and I thought to myself, sheesh – your town isn’t that big buddy, you should know! Anyway, I tried another tactic and told him we were looking to find the famous banana coconut pie. His face immediately lit up and with a big, toothy grin he said, “Oh, you mean the KaTONG shopping center!”. Hmmm, I guess I put my emPHAsis on the wrong SyLABble as Tod’s Mom would say.

Instantly a cab appeared, and we were off to the KaTONG shopping center on our quest for the perfect pie. We found the shops easily and indeed they were right next to each other sharing a common wall. We got our slices which were identically priced and put them safely in the backpack for a taste test back at the hotel. Next stop was the Maxwell Hawker Center via “Grab”, the Asian equivalent of Uber.

Back in the old days, many Singaporeans made their living by selling very inexpensive prepared food from carts on the street to laborers as they went home. It’s so hot, and after working very long hours, few people cooked and instead opted to purchase and eat the wide variety of foods sold by these “hawkers”. Typically, a hawker would specialize in only one food item (usually from their country of origin – grandma’s recipe type deal) and after preparing the same dish for countless years, they became very adept at prepping it and developed quite a following (like the famous pie). Around the ‘60s the health department arrived and for obvious food safety reasons put an end to street food. The problem was that people had become so dependent on these hawkers, they were literally without a meal source. Subsequently there was a huge kerfuffle and so the “Hawker Center” was born. Here, in an open-air building with tables, chairs, bathrooms and electricity they congregated all the hawkers for a more safe and sanitary experience. Fast forward to today where there are over 100 hawker centers all over the city serving every kind of Asian food you can think of. I read a recent survey of residents that said 25% of them eat there every day and 50% responded that they eat there at least 3 times a week. Purportedly, the best is the Maxwell Center and we were on our way to feast. These centers are quite famous for drawing the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsey – the famous TV chefs. Also, it’s the only place in the world where you can have a Michelin star meal for less than $10 as many of hawkers have been awarded this famous honor.

Off we went and feeling quite sweaty and dehydrated, our first stop was for drinks. They are in separate stalls from the prepared food and are nearly as expensive as the food. Reason being, making and storing ice in such a climate costs a fortune so that jacks up the price. I had my sites set on fresh made sugarcane juice which I had in Hawaii and found it to be a delicious natural thirst quencher. The very nice lady talked us into trying it with 3 tiny local limes squeezed in and we were in heaven, it was so refreshing! Next stop was the Tian Tian Chicken Rice stall. Locals say it makes the best Hainanese Chicken Rice which is considered the national dish of Singapore. There is always a huge line waiting to buy this popular delicacy as evidenced by a Disneyland-esque line control set up. As luck would have it, we were there at 4 PM and there was no line! Many stalls sell chicken rice, but Tian Tian is the one with the Michelin Star and was visited by Anthony and Gordon, so it was our first choice. It’s a very simple dish of chicken that is poached slowly for hours in a flavorful broth and then that same broth is used is to cook the rice. Pacing ourselves, we purchased one portion to split and although it was quite good, we wondered what the fuss was all about. On to our next chance to try Singapore faves, oyster omelet and “carrot cake”. The omelet was filled with the tiniest oysters we’d ever seen and was delicious! If you were expecting me to describe the carrot cake as a small, sweet square filled with shredded carrots and raisins topped with cream cheese frosting – WRONG. It has no carrots in it and it isn’t a cake so who knows why they call it that, but don’t ask me, I can’t even pronounce katong . Anyway, there are 2 types, the dark and the light and they are both very popular. We had the light, and it was cubed daikon radish mixed with many vegetables and spices folded into scrambled eggs, quite tasty!

At this point we were about to keel over from jet lag, our adventures, the heat and all the food we ate so we caught a Grab back to the hotel but before collapsing into bed, we had to try the famous pies! Well, I think we’d file the pie into the same category as the chicken rice – very tasty but seemingly not worth all the bother.

Tomorrow, March 1, we board the ship for our Grand World Voyage!

Marina Bay Sands Hotel - with a swimming pool spanning the top of the 3 towers. (See movie “Crazy Rich Asians”)

The middle of 3 rows at the Maxwell Hawker Center

Tod digging into chicken rice. Chopsticks are only used with noodles

Oyster omelet (back) and Carrot cake (front)

View of the Merlion fountain from our room

I

Singapore

Boarding the Zuiderdam

The Flight and Arrival