I recently went on a short holiday with my Sydney-based friend Gigi to visit our Singapore-based friend James. Since Gigi is my eating partner, I expected this trip to be basically a series of (big) meals, and, really, this outlook was right on the money. I was excited to sample a lot of different dishes, since their cuisine is a rich mixture of Chinese, Malay, and Indian food.
I do believe we started eating almost as soon as we stepped off the plane in Changi airport. Though that might be a slight exaggeration; we actually started to eat as soon as we met up with James at his apartment.
James was insistent that we try three of his favorite Singaporean dishes during our visit. One of these was seafood laksa, which I also enjoy. He brought us to an unassuming place, called Famous 49 Katong Laksa, which according to James and the newspaper clippings on the wall, was the place where seafood laksa was actually first served. Luckily, this place served all three of the dishes he wanted us to taste, so we easily hit three birds with one stone.
I read some reviews written about this place, and a couple of them mentioned that they got nasty bouts of diarrhea after eating the laksa here. As far as I know, none of us had this problem, and we all agreed that their version really was excellent. The coconut milk-based soup/sauce/gravy was very good, and the taste was better than that of a version I had at a hotel along Orchard Road.
Seafood Laksa
James also asked us to try rojak, which is a fruit and vegetable salad dish. It had bite-sized pieces of pineapple, cucumber, deep-fried tofu, and was topped with chopped peanuts. Since I like pretty much anything with peanuts in it, I thought this dish excellent as well.
Rojak
The other thing that James made us try was otah, which is a kind of fish cake. It was wrapped in banana leaf, which was then grilled over a charcoal fire. The cooking process gave the cake a smoky flavor, which I liked.
Otah
At first this meal doesn't sound like we ate too much. But considering it was only 10:30am when we went to the place, it was quite a lot for a late breakfast. I'll write about what we ate the rest of the day later on.
Famous 49 Katong Laksa
49 East Coast Road
Hock Tong Hin Eating House
Singapore
I do believe we started eating almost as soon as we stepped off the plane in Changi airport. Though that might be a slight exaggeration; we actually started to eat as soon as we met up with James at his apartment.
James was insistent that we try three of his favorite Singaporean dishes during our visit. One of these was seafood laksa, which I also enjoy. He brought us to an unassuming place, called Famous 49 Katong Laksa, which according to James and the newspaper clippings on the wall, was the place where seafood laksa was actually first served. Luckily, this place served all three of the dishes he wanted us to taste, so we easily hit three birds with one stone.
I read some reviews written about this place, and a couple of them mentioned that they got nasty bouts of diarrhea after eating the laksa here. As far as I know, none of us had this problem, and we all agreed that their version really was excellent. The coconut milk-based soup/sauce/gravy was very good, and the taste was better than that of a version I had at a hotel along Orchard Road.
Seafood LaksaJames also asked us to try rojak, which is a fruit and vegetable salad dish. It had bite-sized pieces of pineapple, cucumber, deep-fried tofu, and was topped with chopped peanuts. Since I like pretty much anything with peanuts in it, I thought this dish excellent as well.
RojakThe other thing that James made us try was otah, which is a kind of fish cake. It was wrapped in banana leaf, which was then grilled over a charcoal fire. The cooking process gave the cake a smoky flavor, which I liked.
OtahAt first this meal doesn't sound like we ate too much. But considering it was only 10:30am when we went to the place, it was quite a lot for a late breakfast. I'll write about what we ate the rest of the day later on.
Famous 49 Katong Laksa
49 East Coast Road
Hock Tong Hin Eating House
Singapore
Comments