We got tipped off by a foodie friend in Sydney to the delights of food in Singapore. He suggested being on a budget we need to merely go to one of the many shopping malls to enjoy a cheap but fantastic meal!
We took the advice in good faith and we were keen on the ‘cheap’ component of his advice, what we were not sure of is the Food Court idea especially coming from the UK, You DO NOT eat at a food court, Have you ever been to the Broad Street Mall Food Court in Reading? Just don’t EVER do it!
We hit Orchard Road, Singapore’s shopping Mecca on the first day for a spot of lunch. In good spirits we went into the first two malls we came across, assuming that all malls were good and if you see locals eating there then we were onto a winner! Well the first two malls we went to definitely were not going to get our business as they definitely were not the glamorous side of shopping and eating in Singapore! Had we been fooled!?! Had we mistaken the tip!?! Day 1 in a city that is Asia for beginners and we had already failed!
We were not going to be beaten; we carried on down Orchard Road. We got a little further and saw a sign for Marks & Spencers, which in itself surprised me (Non-Brits will have to Google that one), but it was in a mall, ION, we went in after locating the directory we located what appeared to be 3 food courts. We opted for the biggest one….Bingo we hit the mother load!
Ion’s food court is called Food Opera, I could not think of a more appropriate description. It was spread over the area the size of a football field that was full of hustle and bustle. It had the most amazing array of foods being cooked up by a vast number of chefs whilst a multitude of dinners, sauntered around looking, ordering and eating. It was truly a ‘Food Opera’.
Once we had put our tongues away and opted for a meal that was a struggle to pay more than US$ 5 we sat down, and oh my word the food was to die for, I had a local dish called a Laksha – Amazing! That was it, for the remainder of our time in Singapore we ate no where else except food courts. The next day we found another one called Food Republic which was equally as amazing. Every time we ate somewhere new and tried something new with great gusto!
