One place where you can always find good places to eat in Asia is in shopping centres. This is due in fact to the seriousness that Asians take shopping. It's not a simple fact of popping into a mall for an afternoon of browsing. It's a day out, it's a family day out, and half way through their shopping expedition, nourishment is needed. Shopping centres are seen as an elitist thing in Asia, people expect there to be good places to eat, and there are.
This is the opposite of how things are in the UK. All you normally find in shopping centres in England are cheap and cheerful jacket potato, fast food and a multitude of chain restaurant. Pilling out cheap and dour food. It may fill the belly, but it certainly does not nourish the soul.
We ate at several good restaurants in malls in Asia. The best ones were in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Mainly because the food there is so good anyhows it spills over into the malls. But even these countries have some cheerful food for the masses who can not afford to eat in the higher end places. Fast food Asia style. Noodle soups, curries and the like, all good belly filling stuff.
I have found that working in a restaurant in a shopping centre in London, where we cook everything from scratch even our own bread everyday. The chain restaurants around us are packed to the hilt, where we are busy but not over filling. I am wondering if this is because people are unwilling to pay a little more for their food in these economic downturned times, or as I more suspect people are more happy with bland fast food. As many of us were brought up on this. I blame the microwave and the supermarkets for pushing those ready to eat meals at us. Thankfully my family never brought that many of them, although my mum is kinda living off them now, but she always disliked cooking.
I wonder if we as a people will accept good restaurants in shopping centres. A good place to get a good cooked fresh meal in good surroundings. Instead of badly rushed cooked processed food. Maybe when we are told times are better we may start to eat better food in these centres or maybe get more of a better choice, as it isn't that good there.
As mentioned with our other fantastic breakfast in Singapore. The best food guide in Singapore took us to the Pek Kio Market and Food Centre. This place is right in the middle of a public housing estate. As all good hawkers centres they are very busy places.
We were had coffee made at the New Fashion Coffee Stall. The owner only makes 200 cups a day. Once he has done that, he packs up and goes home. A nice life he has. His coffee is quite strong, and very cheap, but he still manages to give you a lot of condensed milk. How am I ever going to live without this once we get back to the England.
Food wise, there is everything under the sun to choose from. We three separated and headed off in different directions to find us some food. All three of chose shops that had the longest queues. Lina went for noodle soup, Tay went for 2 different types of yam. One steamed like a cake with sweet soy sauce, the other had coconut shavings in the middle. I went for Nasi Lemak with Taiwan sausage thrown in for good measure. You can never keep a good breakfast down. Oddly enough we all spent about 3 Singapore dollars each.
These places are a lifeline for some people. With the prices that the food and drinks are sold at, its more cost effective for people to come here for breakfast rather than cook it at home, plus they get to see friends and it's good for the community. Without them, people would be cooped up in their apartments being miserable. More than likely live less also.
There was a fantastic market next door also. Selling fresh veg, meat and fish also. I wish that England had places like these rather than the soulless, soul destroying supermarkets that have been forced upon us and are driving the small local green grocers, butchers and fish mongers out of business. Why did we let this happen? I am sure Singapore will not go this way, but when big business has its way ....... Profits matter more than anything .
You can see a short video of the New Fashion Coffee Stall at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jnbFFa3DrI
Coffee shops keep the world moving. Wether they are in Europe, the Americas, or in Chinese communities in Asia. Only in Asia are Chinese Coffee shops different from the rest of the world. No comfy sofas to sit back and drink your soy milk caffe mocka. The coffee or Kopi as it's called in Malay, is strained through a large cloth strainer that resembles one of my old socks.
These places are very basic in appearance. Plastic chairs, tables and cutlery. The places are normally with white tiles. Actually I haven't seen one that wasn't tiled white. The image of cleanliness is important, as they proudly show off the certificates to prove it.
Depending on where you are, really depends on the people who frequent them. For example, in Malaka and Penang, you get a good mixture of races, not just Chinese. Where as in Kuching it would mainly be the Chinese who visit.
Not only are drinks provided, you can get an assortment of local snacks, mainly Chinese in origin. Well they are Chinese Coffee Shops after all.
We have had some good noodle soups, dim sum buns, stir fried noodles in most of them. Good, filling and cheap food. What more can you ask.
During the week we found it was mainly workers who came to drink or eat. At weekends we saw a lot of families come for a lunchtime snack (we were never up that early). The shops are always busy, normally from dawn to well beyond dusk, sometimes 24 hours. Lots of people coming in for a quick bite or drink, friends to gossip or just to meet up, or others like us, just to watch the world go by in very relaxed atmosphere.
Maybe coffee shops the world over are similar after all.
Asia seems to have some of the best breakfast's ever. Pho Bo or Ga in Vietnam, Nasi Lemak in Malaysia to name but a few. Although Europe has a few good ones, like churros and chocolate, and the infamous English fry up, which I can not really eat now. Too much grease. Life sucks huh? In Singapore they have many, but my all time favourite is at a small tea stall in a food floor within a public housing estate in China Town.
The place has been there for decades, run by the same people and I hope for decades to come. It is only a place you would goto if someone took you to, and the chances are if you found it you would never have sat down and ordered something. We were originally brought here by a friend of ours Tay Lai Hock, who we met whilst I was getting a massage in the street by a blind masseuse in Kunming, China. He is our guide and mentor on all things Singaporean, especially the food and where to eat it. He has never let us down. I keep telling him he should start up a Singapore Food Tour. Sampling the delights of what makes Singapore tick.
When we arrived at the "Morning Bah Kut Tea" stall, the place was full, and they had to put another table out for us. This being Singapore, the plates and cutlery are all plastic, cheap to buy and easy to wash. Tay ordered breakfast for us, thankfully as I would not have known what was on offer. What came was two lots of pork ribs and liver in soup, fried intestines, pigs trotters, some unctuous vegetables that went so well with the rice. The tea was being warmed in a pot over a charcoal burner by our table. Fabulous.
The meat on the ribs literally falls apart in your mouth, but with enough bite to border on perfection. The soup is probably the best in Singapore. Although some refute this claim, as their is a shop owned by the guy who refused to open especially for the Governor of Hong Kong, but from what I know his soup isn't that good. The liver takes me back to my youth, when my dad used to cook liver for me as a child. The intestines, which I ate the lot, were so good I could of ate them all day. This was all washed down with some hot tea, to clear the amount of fat we had just consumed with all that pork.
The bill for this massive feast which would have fed about 6 people, was 25 Singapore Dollars. Us being greedy for all things fantastic ate the lot, and we were suitably stuffed. I hope it doesn't take us 2 years to return to breakfast heaven.
The first sip of beer after 45 days was a refreshing one. Had it at Brewerkz at Clarke Quay in Singapore. I thought as I had not had a beer for so long, it may as well be a good one.
So we popped along to Brewerkz as they are a micro brewery. I am pretty sure they were not around the last time we were in Singapore. It's amazing that on this trip the amount of dull, tasteless beer we have drunk. I can really only name a few beers that I have drunk that are of note.
The reason for my fastening was that after being on the road for nearly 4 months and drinking beer literally everyday I was getting a bit of a beer belly, as well as fed up with beer. So as we approached Malaysia, one of the few Muslim countries in Asia, I decided to go beer free. Mainly to get rid of this belly, plus Malaysia as far as I am aware, does not brew any beer itself. So I would not be missing anything.
I have to admit that after 45 days, I was really wanting to taste a good beer. So Brewerkz was the spot. They brew a splendid selection of beers ranging from dark ales to crisp light lagers. I settled for a Pilsner (5%). The first gulp was pure magic. I actually could of drunk the whole glass more or less in one go, but didn't want to over do it.
What else goes with a good beer, but a good burger and chips, and they were damn good. Always like a place that does a good burger and fries.
I've no doubt we will return to Brewerkz before we leave Singapore for another tasting.
