Travel | 1 Day in Singapore

We don't travel much, but cheap airfares to Singapore meant that we could afford a short holiday to Asia at the end of last year- we only stopped over for a day, but we managed to squeeze quite a lot of sight seeing and eating into the short (less than) 24 hours! Not to mention the many lessons learnt through the multiple mishaps we encountered along the way as a result of us being nooby travelers.....

As our flight arrived at night, we headed straight for Chinatown to see the night markets- which the internet will have you believe 11pm. They lied.


By the time we got there, it was around 9pm but most of the stalls were already starting to close and an hour later, when we left, there was almost nothing left to be seen. Lesson learnt- don't trust the internet!

We had planned to visit Maxwell Food Centre but were disappointed to find that most of the stalls had already closed, and the couple of dishes we tried at the remaining stalls were even more disappointing. 

Tiong Bahru Boneless Hainanese Chicken Rice

Dismayed, we headed back towards out hotel and passed this restaurant on the way. As we hadn't yet tried Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore yet, we popped in, hoping they hadn't run out of chicken for the day!

Hainanese Chicken

We were in luck, as they were only almost out of chicken and managed to give us bits and pieces of what they had left. Interestingly enough, the restaurant had run out of rice (of all things you can run out of?!?!)  which we were fine with as we were still pretty full from our previous meal anyway. The chicken did not disappoint at all- it was amazing tender, moist and succulent just as we had hoped.

Stir Fried Bean Sprouts

We ordered some stir fried bean sprout as well which were much more plump and juicy than the ones you'd find in Sydney. I'm not much of a fan of bean sprouts but these were so good I could've had the whole dish myself!

Fried Tofu in Sweet Chilli Sauce

But what was even better was the Fried Tofu in Sweet Chilli Sauce- the tofu was amazingly smooth and crispy on the outside, accentuated by the little pieces of fried garlic. Don't underestimate the sweet chilli sauce though- it's much spicier than it seems!

Berseh Food Centre

Fish Cake

For breakfast the next day, we head over to Berseh Food Centre,  a busy two storey food centre that had been bustling with patrons late at night when our taxi had driven past it the night before. Turns out it's probably more of a night thing than a morning one as we found only a handful of stalls on the top level were open in the morning when we reached there.

As we're starving, we take a seat by a fish ball stall (with no name) and immediately order a fish cake- which is sort of like a huge sized deep-fried fish ball. It's nice and bouncy, crispy and tasty and though it's not quite our definition of breakfast, it's so good we order a couple more while we wait for the rest of our food to come.

Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup

We try their Shrimp Dumpling Noodle Soup, a couple of beautiful dumplings with bouncy egg noodles. Although the dumplings aren't amazing (infact, they remind us of the kind of breakfast we cook at home!), they are soft and tasty and we quite enjoyed them. 

Shrimp Dumpling Minced Meat Noodle

We also try a dry version of the dumpling noodles, which comes with minced meat and mushrooms as well. It's tastier, especially with a dash of chilli sauce, we find ourselves enjoying this one more.

Kaya Toast and Coffee

The only place that seemed to actually be busy in the whole centre was Coffee Hut, a small stall hidden away in the corner, serving toast, coffee and other breakfast items. I was quite excited to try the kaya toast as it was my first time trying kaya. I usually prefer my toasts thick cut, but I'll have to make an exception for this one as the three thin slices of bread sandwiching the kaya and butter meant that the bread to kaya ratio was perfect! 

Bak Kut Teh

After wandering around some more, we noticed that Very Lucky Turtle Soup had opened, meaning that we could also get our fix of Bak Kut Teh! It's not quite as strong as we'd like it to be, but it's a satisfying way to finish breakfast (through it leaves us sweating like a pig!)

We spend most of the day walking around visiting the touristy areas- Orchard Road, Merlion Park, Marina Bay etc. We stop by this cute ice-block place in front of Merlion Park because of the sweltering heat- although we think that it's ridiculously overpriced for frozen fruit juice on a stick, it does the job of cooling us down!

Rasapura Masters Foodcourt

Udon Stir Fry

By the time we reach Marina Bay Sands,  we're starting to feel hungry again so make a quick visit to Rasapura Masters Foodcourt. Luckily it's just past lunch time so it's not too difficult to find a seat. There's so much to choose from, but we settle on a simple udon stir fry which looks incredibly tasty with its thick dark sauce. Turns out looks are deceiving- the dish is rather bland.

Ais Kacang 

We've been waiting to try out Ais Kacang ever since we landed but hadn't had the chance to until now. It comes as a huge mountain of shaved ice, with red beans, sweet corn and rose syrup is nice and refreshing though it seems to be missing our favourite grass jelly (we prefer the version we've had in Sydney at Mamak). 

Chen Fu Ji Fried Rice

On the very top of my 'must eat' list in Singapore was chilli crab, and we had intended on walking around Clarke Quay and looking at menus before choosing a restaurant. As we were pressed for time, and many of the restaurants were not open at 5:15, the only option we had was Chen Fu Ji, above Jumbo Seafood restaurant.

Chilli Crab

They're famous for their crab fried rice, but we're not huge fans of fried rice- we were only really here for the crab! We were afraid that the chilli crab would be a bit too hot for us, so we got it half cooked in the chilli sauce and the other half cooked with salted egg yolk. 

The crab meat was sweet and succulent, unlike any crab I've had in Sydney before. We weren't too sure we'd enjoy the chilli crab as we're not too fond of chilli sauces, but this one was amazing! The sauce was chilli as you'd expect, but only subtly so and the heat only really built up towards the end and also sweet, but not overpoweringly so. 

Deep Fried Mantou

We mopped us as much of the sauce as we could with the mantou, though there was only so much that  four small buns could do. It saddened us when we finished, that we didn't completely clean off all the sauce off the plate....it seemed like such a waste- the sauce was so good!

Salted Egg Yolk Crab

The salted egg yolk version of the crab was also good. We liked the flavours weren't so empowering so that the sweet flavour of the fresh crab meat was more prominent. 

Coffee Pork Ribs

We're not quite sure what to expect when we ordered the coffee pork ribs as recommended by the waiter but we're pleasantly surprised. The ribs are crispy, with a thick, sweet and sticky sauce, though there's not much of a coffee taste. 

Braised Japanese Shiitake with Seasonal Vegetables 

As we can't have a meal without veggies, we order the Braised Japanese Shiitake with Buk Choy. The veggies are fresh and the mushrooms are big and plump.

We'd have loved to stay in Singapore longer and get through much more of our 'to see' and 'to eat' list, but our tight schedule had other plans for us-  stay tuned for more holiday posts! :)

Tiong Bahru Boneless Hainanese Chicken Rice
57 Smith St, SINGAPORE

Berseh Food Centre
166 Jalan Besar, SINGAPORE 208877

Rasapura Masters Food Court
Canal Level, Marina Bay Sands (10 Bayfront Ave.), SINGAPORE 018956

Chen Fu Ji Fried Rice 陈福记
Riverside Point, 30 Merchant Road #02-30/31, Clarke Quay District, 058282