Eating In Translation

Ansan Convenience Store

On many occasions, this being downstairs from my hotel:

Yebisu beer (350 ml.; S $3.25). Light amber; light malty aroma; round malty taste, but underhopped.

Yebisu black malt (350 ml.; S $3.25). Very dark brown with a creamy head; toasted malt aroma; somewhat burnt taste, but hearty.

Golden King beer (330 ml.; S $2.60). Straw colored; aroma and taste of spoiled malt fades quickly, thank goodness.

Raffles lager (330 ml.; S $2.20). Straw colored; thin, lingeringly hoppy aroma and taste.

Kirin Chu-Hi grapefruit (350 ml.; about S $4). Clear; very tart citrus aroma and flavor. Like an upscale Fresca with less carbonation, a less overwhelming mouthfeel, and alcohol.

Heaven and Earth mandarin orange tea (300 ml.; S $1) was sweet, with the barest hint of fruit.

Ansan Convenience Store
01-55 Concorde Shopping Center
(adjoining the Holiday Inn Atrium), Singapore

No Signboard Seafood

Sri Lankan white pepper crab (about S $20) was a lot of work. I can't say much more, since no notes seem to have been taken during the hour or so that I lingered over my crab while picking and sucking it clean. Those peanuts, by the way, ran me a dollar, and a towelette to clean up afterward, another 20 cents; on the other hand, No Signboard comped me on a little dish of iced soursop for dessert. All incidental, of course, to that heavenly crab.

No Signboard Seafood
414-416 Geylang Rd., Singapore
(one of four locations)

Puteri Mas

A sample durian puff didn't have the intense flavor I'd hoped for. A tapioca pastry (S 60 cents) was the shape and color of an unfilled mini-Twinkie. Sweet, for tapioca; not too moist, too glutinous, or too sticky.

Puteri Mas
475 Joo Chiat Rd., Singapore
6344 8629

Cold Storage

100 Plus tangerine drink (500 ml.; S $1.25) had a phonier taste than the grapefruit version I tried the other day.

Cold Storage
B1-16 Siglap Center, 55 Siglap Rd., Singapore

Lagoon Corner Drink Stall

A frothy ginger tea (S 90 cents), with milk and sugar, had a good amount of ginger.

Lagoon Corner Drink Stall
East Coast Lagoon Food Village, Stall No. 61, Singapore

727 Cakerie

Durian puffs (six for S $3) were big around as a silver dollar but a little soggy after their time in the refrigerator case.

727 Cakerie
Block 51 Old Airport Rd., 01-119K, Singapore
(one of several locations)

Kazu Sumi-Yaki Restaurant

With my friends Bill and June and their friend Sheryl, I worked my way through a substantial portion of the yakitori menu. Literally speaking, yakitori means roast or grilled chicken, which for us meant skewers of chicken skin, chicken tail, and chicken with leeks. But we also sampled pork-wrapped shiso, beef tendon, asparagus, "lady fingers" (okra), pork-wrapped mushrooms, and gingko nuts. Skin, tail, and pork-wrapped skewers seemed to go over best; I didn't even mind that I was tasting chicken a half-hour after dinner.

Kazu Sumi-Yaki Restaurant
04-05 Cuppage Plaza
5 Koek Rd., Singapore
6734 2492

Cool Station

100 Plus Isotonic Drink (330 ml.; S $1.10) was like a less carbonated, less aggressively flavored Fresca. In fact, it's made by F&N Coca-Cola, the descendent of a Singaporean concern now owned by the Georgia company.

They also produce F&N Sarsi (as in "sarsaparilla"; 330 ml.; S $1), another way to wet your whistle.

Cool Station
Maxwell Road Food Center

New Zealand Natural Ice Cream

A boysenberry shake (large; S $4.80) had an OK flavor, but it was thin and too frothy. Another time I'd spend the extra $1.50 for the thick version.

New Zealand Natural Ice Cream
B1-08 Raffles City, Singapore

Hup Huat Sugar Cane Juice

A frothy glass of juice (large, no ice; S $1.20) wasn't able to stand up to the chili in my kway teow.

Hup Huat Sugar Cane Juice
Hong Lim Food Center, Stall No. 02-15, Singapore