Singapore seems pretty big on the British tradition of high tea, so it was definitely on my list of things to do in my few days there. I did consider trying out the beautiful but very expensive TWG while I was wandering Marina Bay Sands, but opted to just try one of their tea ice-creams ($5 for single scoop) instead. They declined to let me sit in the pretty cafe to eat the ice-cream, but as it was super delicious and had inspired me to make my own tea sorbets I won’t hold it against them.
I ended up having high tea with Miss J at the Axis Restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel ($58 plus GST for two), which was recommended to me by someone on the Vogue Australia forums. I haven’t done many high teas so don’t have a huge amount to compare it to, but it was definitely the best one I’ve had. Unlike many afternoon tea venues in Singapore (the Tiffin Room at the Raffles Hotel is a famous one) which have a large buffet section, the Mandarin Oriental just has the traditional three-tiered stand of nibbles with some extra pastries. Personally I’m not a fan of buffets and enjoy the pomp of a traditional stye high tea, so this was a plus for me. Certainly there was more than enough food – we were both utterly stuffed by the end of it, and had to waddle out of there.
They have a great selection of teas and coffee, and will refill the pot with hot water as requested (as we did a few times over our two hours of eating). There was only one of most of the items in the stand so they had to be shared, but this meant there as a bigger variety of things to try, which was perfect! Everything was as good as I hoped – lovely flaky pastries, warm nutty scones, and the best little egg sandwich I’ve ever tasted. Some of the things were a little on the heavy side to eat with everything else (the fruit cake and chocolate tart), but that didn’t stop me from eating it all.
The venue is lovely with a great view, and the service excellent. Definitely a relaxing way to spend an afternoon eating! If like me you’d prefer to not go to a buffet style afternoon tea, then this is a good one to try.
Last time my mum went to Singapore, all she could talk about was this great all-you-can-eat steamboat place with tons of seafood on Beach Road. So we made a beeline for this place on our first night there. I use ‘beeline’ in a loose sense of the word, as we got horribly lost and spent hours wandering around in the heat before giving up and catching a taxi there.
Chilli crab was our biggest splurge, but it’s apparently not to be missed in Singapore! I wish I’d done some research and found the best place to eat it, but although I felt vaguely like we were getting ripped off the riverside restaurant on Clarke Quay was pretty lovely. There’s a big line of seafood restaurants along the river, all competing for the custom of people walking past. We went into one that offered us a ‘special deal’ of $4.30 per 100grams of mud crab (this is the cheapest crab on the menu). It doesn’t sound so bad when you put it that way, but the smallest crab they had was 2.2kg! I rarely eat crab so don’t really have any local pricing to compare it to, but it did feel like a bit of a shock after spending the past few days eating $2-$5 hawker food. The crab was delicious, and the sauce/soup oddly sweet with just a hint of chilli heat. I think it’s also probably way too much food for two small women to eat in one sitting, although my mum (not to be ripped off) made a valiant effort and pretty much finished it. I’m really glad that I tried this classic dish, although I can’t actually say that I enjoyed it more than a $3 chicken rice so I’m not sure it’s something I’ll be repeating in a hurry!
Between our hotel and the train station was 
Also ubiquitous in Singapore, and also on the way to the nearest train station (meaning I ate at least one every day) are these little ice-cream carts, which I’ve never seen anywhere else before. The ice-cream comes in large blocks, which the vendor will cut a slab from for you and hand it to you wedged between two wafers or a slice of sweet bread. Genius! Unless you eat it too slow, and the warmth of your hand melts the end. The best thing about these is the ice-cream comes in flavours that you don’t get at home – red bean (above), mango, durian, taro, corn(!?) – as well as more standard flavours. My favourite was definitely the mango.
Hawker centers and food courts make up for what they lack in ambiance with cheap, awesome food. The best hawker center I visited was the main one in Little India, although I barely scratched the surface really. The best stalls will have long lines, and often sell out quite early (I’m still sad we missed out on roti prata!). The problem with these places is that there’s too much to choose from – my mum and I would be complaining that we can’t eat another thing one moment, then spying an excellent dish on a neighbouring table that we just had to try. I’ve resolved to spend a good portion of my next trip to Singapore in Little India hawker centers just eating Indian food – the briyani I had was amazing! There’s always fruit juice stalls in these places, so a refreshing lime or sugar cane juice really hits the spot.
