LION CITY

I'VE JUST GOT BACK FROM SINGAPORE, where Mac and I went to attend a "Wine Extravaganza", part of the annual "Wines for Asia" event held at Suntec.





The city state is just awesome. It's clean, well-run and very efficient, but VERY expensive. Hotels cost about SGD300 per night, which really makes me appreciate our wonderful hotels here which provide so much at half the cost.

Our first night there we stayed at the RASA SENTOSA, and it was amazing to see what's happened there since we were last on the island - which was probably about 8 years ago. The hotel itself is very similar to Golden Sands Resort here, and was apparently designed by the same architect.



The view from our room was absolutely stunning; we could see the large liners anchored along the South China Sea ... imagine what it must have been like a century or two ago, with all the Chinese junks and European ships docked there.






Sentosa itself has grown tremendously, and it's real resort-world, with many hotels and things to do. I really take my hat off to the Singaporean Government for achieving so much.





It was much too short a stay, but we managed to make it to Underwater World, which was quite interesting - having said that, as I've been to the one in Miami (Seaworld) and Sydney, this wasn't so impressive.




And the Dolphin Show was rather a disappointment, as it took longer to wait for the show than the show itself.








Peacocks who are "inhabitants" of the island roam freely there, quite tame and used to human contact by now, so you can be having a drink at one of the bars and they will actually wander right up to you! And the gorgeous colours of the male are really quite stunning.





The next day we checked into the Conrad Centennial in town, right opposite Suntec itself, but stupidly left some stuff behind in the closet. A quick phone call to the Rasa before we left for dinner (more about that later) and would you believe it, it was in our room on our return later that evening. What service. I'm impressed.

I also liked the fact that Singaporean taxis are CHEAPER than Penang ones, which is a shame, because I would like to travel more by taxi here but the costs are so astronomical that it just isn't feasible to do so. They are fast and efficient, and even better: no one dares cheat. The taxi from the airport to Sentosa cost just SGD25, which is pretty reasonable.

FEELING ILL

A FEW DAYS AGO I WROTE ABOUT HOW I paid for the trip to Singapore, both literally and figuratively. Well, that's 'cos not only did I have to fork out cash for most of the trip (ie the return flights and two nights in a hotel) but until a couple of days I was still suffering the after-effects.

Not sure what it was because it started the last night before I left: a not very nice experience which resulted in me shivering in bed, but suffice it to say that for lunch I had had my THIRD helping of Buah Keluak in 2 days: three different types of Chicken Buah Keluak; they seem to use it for everything, even in the fried rice. Now I'm not sure about this Indonesian fruit which seems indispensable to southern nyonya cooking, which is after all what I was researching and I'm certainly not laying the blame on it, but it does seem rather a bit of a coincidence.

How I made it back to Penang the next day is a miracle; I got to the airport early and slept the whole journey back under a blanket. Luckily my darling husband was there to greet me, and boy, was I glad he was there to take over my burden (bags and all) with his broad shoulders. I spent the rest of the day in bed but it was just too much: I ended up in hospital with a drip in my arm. They wanted to check me in but honestly I feel much happier in my own bed so they let me home reluctantly. Although I got better, I came down with a sore throat and cough. The spate of hot, humid days haven't helped either.

All social events, dinners, lunches, drinks and what nots, had to be cancelled and my weight plummeted rather dramatically which is, as someone who saw me recently said, "Nice, I wish I could," but actually it's not, cos it is very AGEING!! The older one gets the less elastic the skin is, rather like a stretched balloon which has had all the air let out. Yukh, what an image!!

So if you haven't been reading about me doing much lately now you understand why. In fact the Sigi's launch was probably the first thing I'd attended for a long time (a good friend's birthday dinner at Ocean Green was the other but that didn't count cos it was a personal event).

Aah, the things I do in the name of duty ... eat, eat and eat! Anyway enough of the self pity ... I'm okay now except a bit croakey. So look out Penang, I'm back!!!

TIAN TIAN - EVERY DAY

IT WAS A REALLY INTERESTING TRIP TO SINGAPORE, even if I ended up paying for it - both literally and figuratively.

As mentioned before, I was invited to attend the San Pellegrino dinner, but also took the opportunity whilst there to do some research about Peranakan food in Singapore, which was quite an experience. But this post isn't about that.

Most of my other trips there I had stayed in hotels along or just off the Orchard Road which is great, it goes without saying, for shopping. Not too far to go back and dump all your spoils before heading out again. However this time round I decided to try a different part of town, and booked myself into a hotel in Chinatown and you know what, it was really quite fun.

The Inn on Temple Street is one of those boutique hotels which seem to be the trend nowadays: entrepreneurs who buy up whole stretches of old shophouses then converting them into retro-style hotels. It's beautifully done but they tend to be rather small with rooms squeezed into niches and nooks and very few facilities. And this one didn't even have a lift so I had to trudge my bag up 3 floors; no fun when you've just travelled all the way there. The room I was in was so tiny I could sit on my single bed and practically touch both walls if I stretched my hands out. But it did have an ensuite bathroom attached.

For the third night I checked into The Peranakan Hotel right on the other side of town, in the Katong District, courtesy of the Singapore Tourism Board who had kindly sponsored some of the activities I was pursuing in the course of my research. Again it's another of those renovated and refurbished buildings but to be frank apart from some lacquered furniture in my room I couldn't really see where the "Peranakan" bit came from. It did however have a lift!

Much of Singapore's Peranakan community lived in the Katong area, which is also famous for a lot of food - everywhere you go around the city state you'll see mention of "Katong Laksa" and "Katong this" and "Katong That" ... rather like stalls all over Malaysia say "Penang Laksa" and "Penang Char Kuey Teow" etc. Whilst there I managed to visit quite a few places - more about them later - but on my way back to the hotel I passed by the Tian Tian Hainan Chicken Rice Shop which had just opened that very day - the bouquets and flowers outside their shop were testimony to that fact. So of course kay poh that I am I had to pop in and try the food.

This shop is the branch of the famous Chicken Rice shop in the Maxwell Food Centre, which has been going for the past couple of decades. It's quite decent value: for SGD5.50 I got a fair bit of silky white chicken and rice, and their chilli sauce (very important) is freshly made every day. It was good, although I do believe some of our stalls are just as good and a few are better.

However, I'll say this for the Singaporeans - they have succeeded in branding their country to the extent that if you say "Singapore" the images that come to mind immediately are Chilli Crab, Chicken Rice, Orchids etc - despite the fact that such things are prevalent all over South East Asia. I think the Penang State Government should take a few lessons from them. After all, we have quite a few things to shout about as well.

CHAMPAGNE AND SAN PELLEGRINO AT IGGY'S

THE PLANE WAS SLIGHTLY DELAYED, hence my finely-honed plan to get to the hotel, check in, then have a leisurely shower and change was completely skedaddled. On top of that, clever clogs here decided to take the MRT to Chinatown, where my hotel was. Which was not a bad thing to do seeing as it cost only SD1.90 (well SD2.90 actually but you get SD1 refund at the end of your journey) instead of the usual SD40-50 if I had gone by cab.

But I had to wait 8 mins to get the MRT out of Changi airport only to get off at the wrong stop for the inter-change so had to wait another 6 mins. That delayed me again, and when I got out at Outram Stop the walk was a good 10-15 mins. So when I got to the hotel and checked in, it was already 6.40pm. The single receptionist took ages to handle the other person's query so by the time I got to my room I had exactly 10 mins to get ready. So much for the leisurely prep!

What made the evening particularly enjoyable was the fact that LAURENT PERRIER the famous French champagne house was sponsoring the drinks, so apart from the bubbles from the San Pellegrino (although there is also still) the bubbly flowed freely pretty well all night long.

Yes, I was in Singapore once more, to do a few things. All to do with food of course. That night was the get-together of the prestigious San Pellegrino Asian Judges Panel, of which yours truly is one. So there I was hobnobbing with some 40 of the best: journalists, restaurateurs, food writers and whatnots, at Iggy's, one of the top restaurants in Asia, with no less than Iggy himself there.

The food is very interesting, sort of fusion cum molecular, as you can see from some of the photos and descriptions, starting with an Amuse Bouche of uni, cauliflower, chocolate and foie gras to Egg with White Truffle Powder. The Blackmore Wagyu was delicious. It requires a lot of research and testing to come up with the matching and pairing of these very different foods, and now I know why Iggy's has such a good reputation. However, there's rather a lot of washing up to do, I thought. But then you know what a Philistine I am.

What a night to remember, and thank you San Pellegrino!

SINGAPORE FLING

NOT A REAL ONE YOU UNDERSTAND ... just a quick one because Penang Global Tourism was holding a Penang Showcase in the city state and asked me to go along to give a talk about Penang ... food, what else!!

So on Wednesday morning I took the 1hr flight there and got to the York Hotel at about 1pm but unfortunately didn't get there on time to attend CM Lim Guan Eng's launch. However, the lunch was in full swing: every year the hotel flies these 10 or so hawkers from Penang to cook and serve Penang Hawker Food to deprived Singaporeans! It was PACKED, and. The irony of it of course was that I went from Penang to Singapore ... to eat Penang food cooked by Penang hawkers!

YB Danny Law (that's him above) was there working hard and doing his bit, talking to as many people as possible about tourism in Penang and investment opportunities, and visiting interesting places to see what he could introduce in Penang.

Over the next 2.5 days I gave 4 talks altogether. Being a bit of a sad case I always have this feeling not many people want to hear me talk, and in fact tried three times to persuade the organisers to let me change my mind ... but they wouldn't. However my 10-min talk was a whistle-stop tour of Penang food and outlets, and I think it went down relatively well ... except at the start when my remote mouse wouldn't work so I had to keep reaching for my laptop to move my presentation forward!

Unfortunately as it was held during the week it wasn't exactly packed out, and all in all not many exhibitors took part. But of those that did some got good response, and it was good to meet a lot of couples who came up to me to say, "I haven't been to Penang since 1970/for 30 years," etc. I think it was successful in bringing our wonderful island to their attention again. And it's the first time. They even went to the trouble of taking a troup of cultural dancers who put on an impressive show.

Of course that left quite a bit of time for that activity which brings shivers down my husband's spine ... SHOPPING ... and boy did I hit the shops! Till I dropped! Having said that I went with one suitcase and left with one so didn't really buy THAT much. Too expensive lah. Esp with the ringgit at RM2.50 to SD1. Wow, I really felt like the country mouse visiting the sophisticated city cousin! One night I met up with some nieces at Grand Hyatt's "Pete's Place", an Italian restaurant. The set dinner (salad, mains and dessert) was SD35. Quite tasty.

Still I enjoyed it. It's a great - some would call it FINE - city, and I always have to pinch myself to stop me thinking that I'm in Europe cos it feels like it. It's modern and clean, regulated and safe. There's no fear of taxis overcharging, and one can walk along the roads without fearing motorbikers snatching one's handbag. However there's a price for this: it's an expensive city, and one of the most costly in the world I'm told to live in.

Here's hoping that next year PGT will have a bigger do.

More next time about the other food I had there.