Singapore: Maxwell Road Hawker Centre

CK and I actually did a lot of touristy things in Singapore.  We took pictures with the durian building (more officially called the Esplanade), we took pictures with Marina Bay Sands in the distance, and we tried to take pictures with the Merlion.  I say we tried because we couldn't approach the Merlion.  Why?  Because the Merlion was on holiday.  ON HOLIDAY.  

Really?  REALLY?

To add insult to injury, the Merlion was boxed in by a giant temporary wall painted with a cartoon Merlion sporting a mocking smile.  Wow.  Thanks, Singapore.

Sorry.  I'm still bitter about it.

Besides those iconic Singaporean landmarks, we also walked through Chinatown.  The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple was on our list, but when we found out that we were dressed too scandalously, we settled with taking pictures outside and then heading straight for Maxwell Road Hawker Centre for dinner:

Definitely my kind of place.

I jumped at the chance to get grass jelly tea:

I should have restrained myself.  I've never met a grass jelly tea when I didn't like until this one.  It was disgusting.  I couldn't even finish it.  I can't remember exactly what was wrong with it, but I do remember being genuinely repulsed.  And slightly distraught.  Kinda traumatized too.

Meanwhile, CK, being the observant person that she is, noticed that a lot of people were carrying bags from this stall:

Tofu dessert, anyone?:

Super silky and super smooth.  I prefer my dou hua with ginger syrup, but even I couldn't fault the tofu dessert from Lao Ban.  No wonder people were buying a dozen at a time, both original and almond flavored.

After the tofu dessert, I was immediately drawn to this fried sweet potato dumpling stall:

I don't usually look sweet potatoes, but in fried form?  Bring it on.

Just look at how cute it is:

There were a lot of fillings to choose from, but I went with red bean:

Looking back, I wish I bought one of each.

Next, we looked for another stall with a long line.  The obvious winner was Jin Hua:

Jin Hua basically specializes in one thing: fish soup.  You just get to choose what to put in it, rice or bee hoon (rice vermicelli).  We went with the sliced fish porridge:

Milky soup, very flavorful, greatly satisfying.

Kinda sad that we didn't get to eat more or get to see Buddha's tooth, but super happy about the shopping in Chinatown.  I can always count on my people to get me cheap souvenirs.


Maxwell Road Hawker Centre
1 Kadayanallur Street
Singapore 069184