Usually, at around this time of the year, you get many reports on how kids would be spending time for the year end holidays and the many pulped information and ideas as to how best these 4 weeks should and can be spent. Understandably, due to the gloomy economic times, it has been dwarfed by stories on survival and the harsh reality of day to day existence haunted by the fragility of the financial markets. But if that year end holiday has been held back due to overly pragmatic reasons, fret not, put on that walking shoes, and go enjoy and savour a Singapore that made more than 10 million folks around the world land here each year. Frankly, they research and perhaps know much more about our island way more than many of us do, thanks of course to the internet.

You see them trawling the back lanes around Haji Lane for trinket shopping and mint tea, get off the bus terminal at Changi Point for cheap beer and nasi lemak, ambush a corner coffeshop at Rangoon Road at the wee hours of the morning just so they can have first go at that infamous bak kut the stall and even brave some ulu unlit lane off Punggol to tear into that same steamed sharks’ head that Anthony Bourdain had here. They revel in that curt service while getting the waiter to refill water for their kongfu tea with the bak kut tea beside a highway hidden by foliage, going “it was as what they said – so surreal!”. They check out what’s it like to eat in a war zone, the Katong Laksa war zone to be exact, and wonder what the fuss was all about while discovering a new Nonya kueh café nearby and immediately went back to hunt down the recipe for onde onde. In short, they are good old tourist with a yearn to explore that fork in the road..

So, if your’re stuck here over the next few weeks with a thin wallet, go wear that tourist hat, spend that few dollars here and go be a tourist here at home. There are lots of places here that are seemingly tied in to a particular dish and we’re not just talking Katong and Laksa. Check these areas out not just for the iconic dishes associated with it, but also to see, smell, hear and sense the atmosphere.

Balestier Road – Bak Kut Teh / Tau Sar Piah
Balestier Road is about one of the only little roads left that reeks of the 70s. That 3km stroll from Thomson Road to Quality Hotel opens a few revelations. You won’t see the ubiquitous HDB flats looming beside (safe for a few tucked of the low lying Kim Keat area) casting long shadows that darken this quaint old road lined with old pre-war shop houses touting anything from coffee powder to jade wash basins. At last count, there were at least six bak kut teh stalls led by the very popular and peppery Founders Bak Kut Teh just across the Shaw cinemas and Ng Ah Sio at the edge of Balestier at Rangoon Road. At the stretch that meets Thomson Road is Tau Sar Piah-ville, for some reason ( I suspect it’s the reputation that the oldest stall, Loong Fatt, gave to the area which gave rise to this food-road association) is very much linked to Tau Sar Piah - that crumbly pastry filled with bean paste flavoured with various ingredients like durians and coffee. I spied about 5 stalls touting this addictive snack.

Changi Point – Nasi Lemak and Nasi Ayam Penyet
The key lure here must be the fresh salty sea breeze that permeates this little god forsaken end-of-the-bus-line terminal town centre. Yes, the cheap beers and little laid back cafes still beckons that pair of tired feet but the enlightened foodie comes here for the nasi lemak, a reputation created long ago by the long queues that front the International Nasi Lemak stall at the food centre. There are about six decent competitors today, harmoniously existing side by side with each other, all touting that same fragrant and fluffy coconut rice, topped with a fried on the spot chicken wing, a sophisticated sambal chilli, cool cucumber slices and an egg. But over the last two years, another iconic dish is yelling for an iconic status here. There are now at least six nasi ayam penyet stalls in that same food center. They all don’t use the original Indonesian kampong free range skinny and flat chickens but instead smash a fat fried chicken thigh smeared with a stunning sambal on a bed of light coconutty chicken rice.

Next week- Beach Road, Geylang, Kitchener Road and Upper Thomson Road areas and its relative flavours.