It’s amazing to see how Singapore has changed in a year’s time since I went there. There’s a lot of activity in the landscape, as judged by construction cranes all over the place. Take for example the new mall, ION Orchard, which is beside the Wisma Atria and Takashimaya on Orchard Road. Mostly I went here because some friends of mine were talking about its food court, which is now shadowing the Food Republic in terms of its offerings.
Initial impression: awesome! In a place like Singapore, am quite content not to be eating in hotel and other fining dining places. Why not, when even their fastfood has chandeliers? 😀
And supposing you get tummy ache after digesting all the food (the ION Orchard Food Hall has 80 or so stalls in their location) …. you’d be happy to take a break in their swanky-looking toilets.
Singapore’s traditional hawker fare is good but I DO like eating in their food courts because it gives me an idea about what food trends are taking place, or are red-hot right now. The only disadvantage about eating in such a big complex is – as the husband would say – “it would take you 45 minutes to decide on what to eat for lunch.” A daunting task, especially if you’re a first-timer.
To cut a long story short, here’s what Mr. Z and I ate –
Lunch on Day 1:
Suckling pig and roast pork combo from Guan Chee Hong Kong Roast for me. I ordered this because I thought this was the suckling pig my friends were raving about, but a little sleuthing proved me wrong. Still, this was a good meal (for Singapore $10) and not to be regretted 😉
The hubby had this bowl from Scott’s Beef Noodles which he also liked. This went with the aloe vera drink he ordered. Prior to this, I thought aloe vera was for shampoos and lotions only, LOL. 😀
We shared a plate of fried carrot cake from Fatty Weng’s Oyster Omelette. It was my first time to try the carrot cake, which was far from being filled with carrots. The stalls serving traditional hawker fare are in a separate section of the basement called the Food Opera. It was impressive how they set up the place. They even have posters showing the history of the food stalls.
Breakfast on Day 2:
We were in the mall before 10 a.m. and most of the stalls were still closed. We found sanctuary in the Tea Loft, which served the kind of breakfast I was looking for.
I had corned beef thick toast with two soft boiled eggs and kopi. I could have had kaya toast, but I was tired of that already. The corned beef toast proved yummy… wish some place offered this soon in the Philippines. Heck, we can even do this at home 😀 Comfort food!
The husband (errr, Mr. Noodles) had this delicious-looking laksa.
For take-out:
A box of divine Peking Duck for Singapore $6. The stall I was looking for! Sliced roast duck flavored with savory hoisin sauce and rolled in a delicate egg crepe. They had roast suckling pig as well. Taking the box back to our hotel room certainly made my day. The box, in fact, was only able to make it to our next stop, Starbucks 😛
Some more photos taken from the gargantuan Food Hall:
I was actually salivating at the sight of these “steamers.” They reminded me of chocolate-colored bibingka …. with chocolate chips.
Crispy hot sandwich from a stall called The Taiyaki. The sandwiches, shaped like a fish, had different fillings. We liked the one flavored with azukin (red bean).
A Pinoy we met recommended trying out R Burger and their burger buns infused with marine collagen. It should be unique, since the buns look (and taste like?) siopao.
Mochi with different toppings … I like!
Fresh Vietnamese Spring Roll from The Orange Lantern.
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