The Gluttons back at Gluttons Bay

We had a friend staying with us, who was straight off the plane from the UK and wanting some local Singaporean food – and fast, before she succumbed to the inevitable jet-lag induced early-to-bed syndrome. We met Mr Greedy Glutton from work on Boat Quay and took a sight-filled stroll across the bridge to the Esplanade, and Gluttons Bay.

The last time we came here, we left sorely disappointed, as the food just wasn’t up to its usual standards… today, however, I’m happy to say it was back on form. We ordered up a selection of ‘local’ nibbles to give our friend a flavour of Singapore and give ourselves a tasty feed:

The ever delicious smoky chicken wings from Huat Huat Chicken Wings/Carrot Cake at Stall F

The equal-favourite scrumptious, sticky Mixed Satays from Alhambra Padang Satay at Stall C

Popiah (from memory and deduction this came from Stall G, but I’m not sure what it’s called) – it was slightly too shrimp pastey for me, but that’s just me not being a big fan of shrimp paste, our guest seemed to enjoy it, and that’s the most important thing.

The fabby Char Kway Teow from Hup Kee at Stall L – you can tell it’s good as there’s always a queue here... and of course some veggies, which I believe we got from Boon Tat BBQ Seafood at Stall J.

Once again, an enjoyable feast… and our friend was awake at 4am with jetlag, dreaming of the food we’d just had… so it was obviously a success…

Makansutra Gluttons Bay - http://www.makansutra.com/eateries.html

A Popiah Party

Ok, not a party exactly, but lunch with friends at Lao Beijing in Plaza Singapura on Friday. I had only had popiah once before, from a hawker stall on Smith Street in Chinatown, but here it was make-your-own, and all the better for it! One of the girls is Malaysian and has grown up eating popiah, so she was able to talk us through the ingredients and show us how it is done like a true expert!

As I took my seat, the waitress removed the lid from a teacup filled with fruit and flowers and filled it with tea for me. This, I later found out, was Eight Treasures Tea – the first treasure being the jasmine tea, which is poured over chrysanthemum flowers, red dates, dried longan fruit, walnut kernals, raisins, sesame and rock sugar (the other seven treasures). Apparently it has medicinal properties to help decrease body heat, promote digestion, induce appetite and relieve fatigue – well, what a perfect accompaniment to a popiah party!

A display of ingredients was then placed in the middle of the table – the main portion being steamed vegetables with pork, surrounded by various accompaniments – plum sauce, garlic sauce, chilli paste, beansprouts, shredded omelette, crushed peanuts, crushed dried shrimp, some large lettuce leaves and a plate of paper-thin pancakes.

So then the fun began – each of us taking a pancake, smearing on the plum sauce, topping it with a lettuce leaf, scooping in the vegetable/pork mix and sprinkling on the various accompaniments, before rolling it up fajita-style. The result was really pretty good, with the combination of all the different flavours and textures – the sweetness of the plum sauce, the heat of the chilli paste, the juiciness of the vegetables and the crunch of the peanuts and beansprouts all in one delicious fresh spring roll mouthful.

Being a greedy group of friends, we also ordered some side dishes to enjoy alongside the popiah – some pork dumplings and onion pancakes, which were fantastic, and so very moreish…

There was even one extra pancake left at the end… and no prizes for guessing who it went to… must have been that Eight Treasures Tea inducing my appetite…

Lao Beijing - http://www.tunglok.com/laobeijing/