Eating in Singapore

Not much to do in Singapore apart from eating. My cousin, Peter, was in town, and he loves afternoon tea in a posh hotel. If my cousin invites me out to tea, I'm not going to be rude and decline!

Afternoon tea started back in the Victorian times when people would eat breakfast and then nothing again til dinner time in the evening. One afternoon, a peckish Victorian lady (I've just checked, she was a Duchess) got her maid to prepare some cakes, and tea for her. She did the same the next day, and then started inviting her pals round and getting them involved too, and it all started from there!

Tea, cakes, and finger sandwiches. A few of my favourite things in the world! Thank you Anna Maria Stanhope (1783-1857) and thank you Mr Raffles for hosting the event for this is where we went.

I was a little worried at first because there is quite a strict dress code, and having traveled through S. E Asia, I didn't really have formal attire. I don't even remember the last time I wore shoes! (I've been wearing flip flops) You must remember to book before you show up too because there is a check list with names, and still a bit of a queue.

Anyways, on top of your usual tier of cakes and sandwiches, Raffles also have a buffet section too- with dim sums, all sorts of cakes, and fruit. So great. Had a great time that afternoon. I would recommend paying the extra $$ for this experience.

Tiffin tea room at Raffles Hotel, Singapore

Talking about cakes, we stumbled across this lovely wee cupcake shop in Marina Bay mall. This was a different day by the way!! It was called High Society, and surrounded by designer shops so of course there was a champagne bar at the back. I was more interested in the front display though.

Cupcakes at High Society

I had just finished lunch so a cupcake and a cup of tea was perfect. Shortly after this we went across town to meet my cousin again but this time for a Chinese afternoon tea, CNY special at the Park Hotel in Little India.

We didn't get to use this tea set...

This is a dish which is traditionally eaten at Chinese New Year. Everyone puts their chopsticks in and tosses and mixes it up together. I've never done this before, and when I called my mum to check if it was ridiculous that I hadn't eaten such a traditional dish before she said she had only seen it on TV, and hadn't tried it herself either! Maybe its not so common in Hong Kong.

Ok, next on my eating adventure, hawkers stalls. You cannot go to Singapore without checking out the hawkers stalls. Although Singapore doesn't have a national dish as such, the centres feel like a small community whenever you go eat at them. There's so much to choose from. Its cheap, and when there's always plenty of locals eating there, you know the food is going to be good.

Several people had recommended Newton Circus stalls, and after some research I discovered it was one of the more popular ones and it was only a few stops away on the MRT. Go at dinner time though, we went at lunch time and only like 1/5 of the stalls were open. I still found something though.

Grilled stingray from stall 16 I think it was

Delicious

I'll save the rest for next time. Enjoy!