Singapore - Eating like a local

This was the view of the city we enjoyed every morning in Singapore. The first thing that went through our minds each morning after waking was "so much to eat with only so much time in the day and space in our bellies."

As you have probably learned about me, I enjoy eating local cuisines. Today instead of eating my favorite ramen (Ippudo) or amazing Peking duck, we wanted to track down some local Singapore meals we had never tried before.

The first thing we needed was a solid breakfast to start off the day. We went to the famous breakfast chain Ya Kun Kaya Toast. You can find one on every street corner, almost like a Singapore Starbucks, except they have Starbucks there too.... This little combo was about $10 for the two of us. It came with a strong, yet sweet coffee with sweetened condensed milk (no one really drinks black coffee, but after enjoying with sweetened condensed milk I could see why) and two poached, runny eggs. I love me a runny egg and this one was best enjoyed with white pepper and soy sauce.

The famous Kaya toast. What they did was toast the bread and cut it down the middle, so the outside was nicely toasted yet soft and warm on the inside. They spread the "kaya" spread which is a sweet coconut custard. My Kaya toast came with gooey warm peanut butter paired with the kaya spread and Emi's was the traditional butter kaya toast. Her toast literally had "pats" of butter, needless to say she loved it.

For lunch we met Carmen near her office at the Amoy Street Food Centre She wanted to share her favorite lunch spot with us that specialized in Nasi Lemak Briyani or fried chicken, chicken rice.

Probably one of my favorite meals of the whole trip, which says a lot for a trip where every meal was unique and amazing. However this was maybe the perfect meal. Fried chicken, fried rice, with a sweat inducing hot sauce poured over it. I'm sweating now just thinking about it, but you know my mouth is watering too. Seriously amazing and I probably looked like a madman eating it with the sweat dripping down my face. Good thing I had a cool refreshing lime juice to cool down my burning yet satisfied mouth. Also the broth on the side helped cool things down a little. The reason why you find spicy foods in so many hot climate countries is because it makes you sweat, which ultimately cools you down.

For dinner we went to the famous 328 Katong Laksa. It seems 328 Katong Laksa is like "Famous Ray's Pizza" in New York. No one knows which one is really the original or the famous location because each location claims to be it. We think this one was the famous one because they had photos of celebrities all over their walls enjoying their Katong Laksa; like Anthony Bourdain and Singapore culinary personalities.

What is Katong Laksa? BOOM, this amazing curry soup above. Basically it's a thick, coconut milk based curry like soup filled with noodles, shellfish (prawns and cockles), with a spicy kick to it.

Emi enjoying the soup. When it first came out I didn't think it would be enough, but this stuff is pretty rich and filling. The cockles (little clams) added a nice little seafood flavor to the sweet and spicy soup.

Again being a warm and humid night paired with another spicy dish, what did we order, of course more lime juice!

Since one of our hosts is allergic to coconut (doesn't always stop her from eating it) she went across the street to pick up some Filipino food, which was perfect for me because I wanted to knock another cuisine off the list. She came back with some delicious crispy pork belly.

The garlic fried rice that came with the pork belly. Not like I wasn't already full, but how can you say no to crispy fatty chunks of bacon?!

A common theme with our host Jamie; sweets. Here is with his assortment of desserts and pastries. He's like a little kid, when he sees anything sweet (as he did, while we were walking to the restaurant) nothing is stopping him.

This was a really fun day of eating for us and I'm sure if you've ever met anyone who has lived in Singapore they would recognize each and every one of the dishes we enjoyed on this food filled day.

- Kyle