The Gourmet Adventure Begins...

If I thought that the heat was ridiculous yesterday, then I was in for a real treat!! We left the hotel early in the morning to make the walk to Fort Canning Park for our gourmet experience. After the 20 minute walk, I was soaked. Not a pleasant way to start the day. The morning spent at the At-Sunrice cooking school was fantastic. We were greeted with a lemongrass ice tea and slathered with lemon grass oil to stop the mosquitoes biting while we went on the Spice Garden walk. McDonald, our guide took us around the garden in the middle of Fort Canning Park introducing us to some new spices and letting us in on secrets regarding the more familiar. After about an hour walking about we then retired to the kitchen to watch the chef, Buay, cook a Northern Beauty Broth (hmmm…) and a pot of sweet and sour prawns. The broth, which contained lotus seeds, ginko nuts and white fungus among other things, was surprisingly tasty – a sweet dessert which also contains beautifying properties. The sweet and sour prawns were great. Buay provided us with a recipe which included a Chinese black vinegar. It was quite different to the pinky-red sauce we are used to seeing in sweet and sour dishes at home.

After sampling what the professional had made, it was then our turn to make our own. We first made Stewed chicken and taro (I wouldn’t recommend this one…) and then a stir-fry of green beans, chicken mince and something the Chinese call ‘olive vegetables’ which is actually preserved olive leaves – and is very tasty. The last thing we made was a steamed fillet of red snapper. It was delicious – steamed with ginger and chilli and finished with a sauce of sesame oil, light soy, salt, sugar and water.

The group consisted of mainly Australian tourists, a couple of Dutch expats now living in Singapore and us two kiwis. After eating our attempts at Chinese cuisine and receiving a few helpful tips from the rest of the group we ventured back to Orchard road, determined to have a look at some of the shops.

The first mall we came to was pretty crazy – it was about 7 stories high and the floor size was pretty similar to back home. I didn’t dare look too closely at the clothes or shoes – knowing I wouldn’t fit either, and truthfully my pack probably couldn’t fit anything else too!

One of the best things about Orchard road, apart from being able to escape the horrendous heat in the gigantic malls was trialling a snack food that we have seen a lot of in the last two days – Corn Cups… yes it does sound odd, and we weary at first. Basically the street side vendors have vege steamers which contain lots and lots of kernels of sweet corn, when you indicate that you would like some, they fill up a cup, throw in some butter and salt, stir it around – and there you go! Yummy.

We took the MRT back to Chinatown to save our poor legs. I was impressed. It costs just over a dollar and is so clearly laid out, clean and quick.

After a little while back at the hotel, recovering from the heat, we ventured out for dinner… the quest was to sample Singapore’s national dish… Chilli Crab!!

We found a little place right beside Singapore River and ordered one chilli crab and one black pepper crab. It may have been the messiest dish I have ever eaten, but I can see why it is Singapore’s national dish – yummy!

After dinner we headed towards the lights at Clarke Quay, a little touristy area with lots of restaurants and bars… and a lot of fun to people watch.