The Nomad Gourmand Comes to Singapore

I met her. I finally met her! The awesome Rebecca Saw, author of the Malaysian food blog, The Nomad Gourmand!

We have been planning a meet-up ever since I told Becky that I might be coming down to Southeast Asia, and that I might be hitting up Kuala Lumpur, her city in Malaysia, to attend my church retreat in June. And then, a tragedy happened. It turned out that my church retreat was not to be in Kuala Lumpur after all. It got moved to Melacca instead.

I was absolutely delighted. Becky and I have been corresponding for more than a year, and something about her familiar Malaysian slang, her obvious enthusiasm and adventure for food, and her candid humor with me really appealed to me. I don’t know what she sees in me, but I was so freaking flattered that she was willing to endure an overnight bus ride here to meet-up. In fact, she actually was suffering from fever and chills the day before, but she still insisted on coming down to see me! Oh the dedication!
Gosh, I hope the meet-up was worth the long ride and the sickness…because I sure had a freaking amazing time with her! We met at Cityhall MRT Station, and the moment we saw each other, we practically flew into each other’s arms. It was like seeing an old friend, despite the fact that we have never met before. A strange, but entirely warm feeling.

My dear friend Jing Wen joined us too, because we always reserve the weekends for each other, and I want to spend as much time as possible together with her.
So here we are. Three food enthusiasts, ready to eat Singapore away. Oh, boy!

Becky mentioned to me before that she wanted to try carrot cake. I wasn’t sure where the best carrot cake was, but we decided to meet someplace close to ION Orchard and Takashimaya so that we can visit all the bakeries there. Thus, we settled on the Food Republic food court in Suntec City:
Remember the Food Republic in Vivocity? Well, this one also has the old-times concept, but with a western style. Instead of red Chinese lanterns, it had gothic chandeliers:
And instead of old rickshaws and Chinese carvings, it had the feel of an old European mansion. The wallpaper was made to look like rows of bookshelves storing old tomes:
The place was packed, despite the fact that it was rather late in the afternoon:
Well, I knew exactly what I wanted here. It’s been on my food list for quite some time, but I had not had the opportunity to try it until this day:
Thunder Tea Rice. This is not a nostalgic dish…I had never even heard about it until a year ago, and had been intrigued by it, but had never tried it because at that stage of my life, I was terrified of rice. Well, no food scares me anymore, so I was determined to try this dish which garnered much of both hate and love.
 Thunder Tea Rice (or Lei Cha Fun) is a dish from the Hakka region. It is basically a bowl of rice topped with different kinds of chopped ingredients, and served with a bowl of tea made from ground tea, basil, mint, and Yomogi. You are supposed to pour this tea over the rice, stir it with the other ingredients, and eat up.
Some people love it. Some people hate it. The tea is astringent and rather bitter, so it is definitely a…unique experience indeed. And I really, really wanted to try it, to see which camp I would fall. So I excitedly ordered the Thunder Tea brown rice bowl:
It came with that famous, supposedly super-healthy tea:
And it was freaking fabulous. Not that I doubted I wouldn’t. I have yet to meet a single green tea-dominant dish which I did not like. In fact, I would actually have that tea be a tad bit more bitter. It was milder than I expected! Smooth and thick, I actually thought it tasted a lot like the popular Korean multi-grain cereal drink, misutgaru.
  The toppings on top of the rice was tofu, fried anchovies, sauteed cabbage, sauteed greens, green beans, pickled radish, and peanuts.
  I mixed them altogether, but I did not add in the tea. Instead, I dipped a spoonful of mixed rice into the tea like a soup.
I. LOVE. THIS. DISH. A huge surprise, considering that I dislike rice, but it wasn’t really rice, it was mixed rice, which meant the rice was concealed by all the lovely crunchy ingredients, and that bitter taste of the tea.
If I have the time, I am definitely eating another bowl of this before I leave!

Becky, meanwhile, ordered her carrot cake:
Jing Wen didn’t order anything because she filled up on hot dogs and mashed potatoes before meeting us, but both Jing Wen and I helped Becky with her dish.
I thought it was good, but not the best. But at least Becky got to try my favorite Singaporean hawker dish!

After that, we were still ready for a few more snacks. Thus we stopped by an ice-cream store called Anderson’s of Denmark Ice-Cream and got two scoops of ice-cream to share:
We got the Danish Nougat and the Bailey’s Burnt Almond Praline.
Rich. Intense. Not too sweet. You could taste the shot of liqueur in the Bailey’s Burnt Almond Praline. Yum. Not cheap, but worth every cent.

And then we went crazy in the bakeries. Becky is a bread-enthusiast. This girl is the antithesis of a carb-phobic dieter. I LOVE this girl, because she is one person who can compete with me in a bread-worshipping carb-fest. She’s also planning to open her own bakery…so obviously she needed all the inspiration she can get! As for Jing Wen, she is now obsessed with baked goods, too. In fact, she treats herself to one baked good a day. Why? Ask her, and she will reply: “Well, why ever not? Bread makes me happy.” Perfect answer, is it not?
My two favorite fellow bread-whores. They make me happy! Though, they started getting too chummy together and even ganged up against poor ol’ me a few times. >__<

I didn’t get a picture of all the stuff we bought, but here are a few highlights. Jing Wen got a bamboo charcoal egg tart with roasted banana filling from Crystal Jade Bakery:
Don’t be creeped out by the word “charcoal”. Charcoal is actually safe to eat in regulated amounts…in fact, I heard that it’s supposed to have some kind of health benefits, too. I’m too lazy to google that, so if anyone knows anything about it, please let me know!
Anyway, I stole two bites from Jing Wen. Luscious, eggy custard, and whole roasted banana encased in a flaky crust. Lovely!

Unfortunately, I made a bad decision and got a red-bean filled omochi bun:
Supposedly, the bread was supposed to be made with glutinous rice flour. I was anticipating a chewy dense bun, but it was light and fluffy like a regular milk bun. Total disappointment.

My next purchase cheered me up, though. A black sesame cream bun from Bread Society:
Oh em gi, look at that foot-long monster!! It was fantastic!!! Not too rich or cloying, but with an intense, real black sesame seed taste.
Maybe I should stick to black things when it comes to baked goods? Another winner? The vegetable tart that Jing Wen also got from Bread Society:
This baby definitely accomplished its mission. Jing Wen was facing some troubles that night, but this little delicious baked good cheered her up.
They say food has healing properties. Well, they do, but not just physically. I think yummy baked goods definitely have a emotional healing property, too.

We trucked off to Suntec City once again to visit another place which had been on my “Must Try” list:
Skinny Pizza. The name says it all—it’s an upscale pizza parlor that sells incredibly skinny pizzas.
The pizza menu is amazing though…you will not find pepperoni pizzas here. The choices they have are inventive, eclectic, and fun. Such as this:
  Or this:
But without much hesitation, we knew what we wanted when we saw this on the menu:
 Macadamia Roasted Pumpkin: Spicy roasted butternut pumpkin with macadamia nut crust, goat’s cheese, Parmesan cheese, arugula, light mustard-basil-mayo dressing, and roasted tomatoes.

And here’s the real deal:
Hello? No need to explain why we chose this! We ordered one to share, and it was served soon after. The server helped us cut it into four big slices:
Looks are deceiving. The pizza looked huge, but we overestimated the thickness of the crust. True to its name, the crust was super, super skinny. Like, anorexic-skinny. It is so thin that it’s basically like paper, more like the Indian cracker pappadum instead of a proper crust.
Not that I’m complaining. The crust can make or break the pizza, and this barely existing crust neither made nor broke it. Instead, it just brought out the toppings full-front, and really made the flavors pop. The texture was brilliantly crispy, and literally cracked when  you bit into it.
As for the toppings, they were ultra-fresh, as you can see…
They weren’t hot, because they were thrown over the crust as soon as the crust was baked crisp in the oven, and then served immediately. I thought it was weird that they called the squash “butternut pumpkin”, though…I am pretty damn sure it was kabocha.
Skinny pretty pizza, and skinny pretty servers…
But no skinny pretty taste. Big popping bold flavors, with a loud cracking music to boot. The only complaint is that I wish there was more goat cheese, and more macadamia nuts. They were pretty stingy with the nuts and the cheese!
And skinny crusts do come with a price…not only was the pizza really expensive at SGD$18 (or USD$12.76), it still left the both of us a bit hungry. But Becky sneakily paid for the meal before I even knew it, under the pretense that she was going to wash her hands. Thank you for the wonderful meal, Becky!

After that we walked around the mall for a bit, and then we came across Red Mango:
Remember when I said Singapore doesn’t have Red Mango? Well, I was wrong. It does, in the corner of Suntec City. Becky once again graciously treated me to a medium-sized original froyo:
So. I may have been wrong to say Singapore doesn’t have Red Mango…but I wasn’t exactly wrong. Because I do not recommend getting Red Mango froyo here at all. It is a complete watered-down version of the ones in United States! Urgh! Such a disappointment, because Red Mango is my favorite froyo brand…except this one completely lacked the tang and pucky-sweetness I love. Instead, it tasted like McDonald’s soft-serve ice-cream. I might as well head over to McD’s and save a few bucks!

Becky had never tried froyo before, so this first taste did not leave a good impression on her. Well, I guess that just means that Becky will have to visit me in the United States to try some real Red Mango froyo…Hee hee hee.
It was with utter reluctance that I said goodbye to Becky that day. Becky was an absolute joy to be with—she is fun, charming, and passionate. Just look at the way she talks about roti canai: the excited gleam in her eye, the vigorous way she articulates with her hands, the proud raise in her voice. This girl is several inches shorter than me, but she is like a shaken champagne bottle of energy and positivity. It’s infectious, it’s heart-warming, and it’s so endearing.

Question of the day: For all you bloggers…does a certain object/phrase/food make you think of a certain blogger? What and who?
What is your favorite baked good, one that makes you happy?

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