Food and Drink to Try Out in Singapore

notes in Food and Travel by Renzie Baluyut.

I miss Singapore. Cristina and I flew in for a visit early last year, and now that we finally have some more free time to ourselves, another quick visit just might be in the works.

It might look laid-back at first, but you know there's a bustling city in there somewhere. The people are some of the friendliest I've ever met, and there are just so many places to see. As for shopping-- well, Singapore is probably one of the best places for shopping anywhere in Asia, or perhaps even the world.

In the event that you do get a chance to check out Singapore, you might consider trying these ten Uniquely Singapore food and drink experiences:

1. The SGD 5 Beer at any Changi Airport Pub – the cheapest in town. Cheers!

2. The Imperial Golden Fried Rice from Chen Fu Ji Noodle House at Terminal 2, Changi Airport – this particular dish was perfected by the imperial palace chefs in China thousands of years ago.

3. The Chili and Pepper Crabs at East Coast Seafood Centre – one is cooked in a sweet, spicy gravy with lots of garlic while the other is stir fried with crushed black pepper. Both are equally tempting!

4. Char Kway Teow at Maxwell Market in Chinatown – a combination of rice noodles fried with eggs, fish cake, bean sprouts, cockles and a dark sweet sauce.

5. The Fried Carrot Cake at Tekka Centre in Little India – this white radish cake is first steamed, then fried with eggs, garlic, pickled radish and dark sweet sauce.

6. The Hainanese Chicken Rice at Chatterbox @ Meritus Mandarin Hotel (Orchard Road) – tender poached chicken served with fragrant rice cooked in chicken stock and served with chilli, minced ginger & dark soya sauce.

7. Laksa at Katong – thick rice noodles cooked in coconut gravy and topped with shrimps, egg, chicken and cockles.

8. Rojak at Chinatown Food Street in Chinatown – a tasty salad of cucumber, bean sprouts, pineapple, white radish and fried dough fritters, tossed with prawn paste and topped with peanuts.

9. Roti Prata at Prata Cafe (26 Evans Road) – multi-layered crispy pancake that is served with curry.

10. Satay at Lau Pa Sat – skewers of marinated meat dipped in gravy and served with rice cakes and fresh slices of cucumbers and onions.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen. Ten food experiences you have to try out the next time you visit Singapore. For more food and travel tips on Singapore, you could check out the Uniquely Singapore website, or Lonely Planet's very own Guide to Singapore.

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie Visits Mandarin Oriental's Club Lounge

more from the Food and Travel notes of Renzie Baluyut.

My good friend Sasa flew in from out-of-town last week, and so we took time out to meet up and do some catching up. While we've met up already for a good round of tale-swapping and general chit-chat the Sunday before, we thought we still had some more stories left, so she invited me over for cocktails at the Mandarin Oriental.

Turns out that the Club Lounge at the 17th floor is such a great place to hang out. But only if you're checked in at Mandarin's 15th to 18th floors. So anyway they have these comfy sofas and seats all over- you can go ahead and pick a spot- and quite an interesting selection of cocktails going on.

Sasa and I had some of these canapes, as well as some waldorf salad, and these appetizers of chicken breast and air-dried beef. You can get pretty much whatever drink that was laid out on the counter as well- local beers, juices, soda drinks, bottled water. I got me a Sprite Lite and a couple of glasses of wine.

On another table there was some pork satay, some breaded shrimp, and some Spanish chorizo sausages. You also had an assortment of sliced fruit, and some bowls of cold Japanese soba noodles if you wanted some.

Upon request, the attendants could also bring in chips or nuts to munch on (which would have been great with beer), but I think we had enough to last us the rest of the evening. I did, however, get myself another plate of food, some of the cold soba and some fruit.

All in all, it was a fine evening. Also managed to get some photos as you can see.

The Mandarin Oriental is located right along Makati Avenue. If you need to check it out, you could visit their website right here.

The Mandarin Oriental, Manila
Makati Avenue 1226 Makati City, Philippines
Tel (+632) 750.8888 / Fax (+632) 817.2472
www.mandarinoriental.com

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie Visits Wham! Burgers

another adventure in Food and Travel with Renzie Baluyut.

I was at Shangri-la Mall yesterday helping out a friend of mine shop for some baby stuff. Naturally, all that walking around and shopping worked up an appetite, and so I thought snacking on something heavy would hit the spot just right.

Right there on the fifth floor was Wham! Burgers. I haven't had some of these in a while, so it seemed like a good idea to grab some for our post-shopping snack.

Unlike regular fast food burgers- Wham! Burgers (as well as most other gourmet burgers) has a 1/3-pound beef pattie. I asked if they had something larger than that, but unfortunately, the 1/3-pounder is all they have.

I got myself one of those Bronco Burgers- had a couple strips of bacon and a generous helping of barbecue sauce that starts dripping once you go to town on that bad boy. Also got me a side of fries and a side of onion rings to go with my burger.

You might want to check out their website, but it's still under construction. Nevertheless, Wham! Burgers is located at:

• Katipunan Avenue Extension in Blue Ridge, QC,
• the 5th Level of Shangri-la Mall,
• the 4th level of Robinsons Galleria,
• at The Block in SM North Avenue,
• at SM Fairview and
• at Robinsons Midtown in Ermita.

Cheers, everyone!

Great Food at... Red Box?

from the Food and Travel notes of Renzie Baluyut.

I was sorta surprised about it myself. But yes, Red Box does serve some pretty good food. Not just "good-food-for-a-karaoke-bar" kind of good, but we're talking about some honest-to-goodness delicious dishes.

The fact is this: most karaoke bars don't put another thought to beefing up their food and drink offerings. It's true. For those of you who do frequent karaoke joints, the stuff on the menu isn't really all that spectacular. It's probably OK, but it's definitely not worth talking (or blogging) about.

Enter Red Box karaoke. Now here's a karaoke place that takes as much effort coming up with all kinds of great food experiences as they do building up their song library (which does have a rather extensive song selection, I might add). You can easily expect then, that Red Box's dining experience and menu is at par with the best restaurants in the city.

So, if you're going to hang out someplace where you can sing, play billiards, and even get a few rounds on a Nintendo Wii, then you might as well get some good food while you're at it.

You have got to try their Gambas al Ajilio-- shrimp sauteed in garlic, spices and olive oil, the Potato Skins, the Lechon Kawali, the Onion Rings, or their very own Buffalo Wings.

Red Box is also the first karaoke bar to open at lunch time, and has a whole lot of packages available for anyone who'd like to throw a party for family or friends.

Red Box has branches in Greenbelt 3 and Trinoma. For more information and inquiries, please call 757.6188 or visit their website here.

Cheers, everyone!

Renzie Visits Pancake House

Pancake House has always been an reliable favorite for us whenever we go out. We took these pictures a couple weeks back, when we decided to have a late snack at Glorietta in Makati.

I remembered a time when the old Pancake House really served pancakes and waffles mostly. But just like any other successful restaurant chain in Metro Manila, Pancake House had been able to meet the demands of a fickle market by offering a better variety of food, as well as new items on the menu from time to time.

So yes, you can still get your pancakes, but they have much to offer whether you feel like eating rice, a sandwich, or the occasional slab of steak.

I almost usually get myself some pancakes or the french toast, or at least make sure I leave room for those. Depending on how I feel on a particular visit, I'll probably get myself...

• an order of spaghetti and a sandwich, or a spaghetti and two tacos
• a breakfast meal, like tapa or tocino, with eggs and fried rice. Plus an extra fried rice thrown in for good measure.
• a steak. Mm-mmm.

We also almost always go for Pancake House's very own iced tea. Not the crappy Lipton/Nestea drink-all-you-can iced tea- way too sweet and watered down. Ask for the House-blended iced tea. You can never go wrong with that.

For pancakes and waffles? I usually go for the one with peanut butter, or the one with peaches. Or just a plain waffle.

Price-wise, it's alright. It's one step up from fast food fare, and not as pricey as your casual family dining restaurants like TGIFridays or Chili's.

Although they have cakes, shakes and other dessert items on the menu, I'd say I'm fairly happy with the pancakes, waffles or french toast.

Cheers, everyone!