Pinoy in Singapore

I was craving for some kikiam and squidballs and I couldn’t help but think about all those food stalls at the River Hongbao Celebration so off we went on a mission to sample all that food waiting for us at the River Hongbao… and maybe get a glimpse of the fireworks while we’re at it.

There were a lot of food stalls there (and a lot of people too!) and it was really difficult to pick which ones to eat. The strategy was to go for the stalls with the long lines because odds are they’d be delicious.

So for my first stop, I went for the shark’s fin soup for S$2.50. I’m a little apprehensive about eating shark’s fin soup since I’ve seen documentaries on how so many sharks are slaughtered for their fins to make into soup. Yao Ming even pledged to no longer eat shark’s fin soup to put the message out that if the buying stops, the killing can too. But I figured (more like hoping actually) that since it’s cheap shark’s fin (the real kind is pretty expensive), there’d harldly be any shark’s fin in there and it’s not like I eat it everyday. Ok, after that disclaimer, I can say that the shark’s fin soup wasn’t that great but it was probably the best tasting of all the food we sampled there. From here on, it gets worse.

Next, I had some Thai noodles for S$3.00. It looked so appetizing under the stall’s yellow light. But that’s about it. For all it’s color, it was the most blah tasting food I’ve ever tasted. It tasted like … well … nothing … ok, to be specific, it tasted like unsalted boiled starch with a little bit of heat. I couldn’t even taste the msg. Totally disappointing!

Then we found this stall selling shawarma (gyros, or if you base it on his stall’s name – kebap) that had a long queue. Plus, the guy manning the roaster looked a bit mediterranean and he had on this shirt that says “The Big Chef” so I thought he looks pretty authentic, and his shirt kinda says he knows how to cook so I guess that shawarma’s gonna be worth the wait.

Notice how, unlike the other stalls, his stall doesn’t display how much his shawarma is selling for. That question is answered when you get to front of the line and find out that his teeny weeny chicken (not even beef) shawarma costs S$5! (That’s equivalent to a meal of my favorite chicken rice (with extra meat!) at Boon Tong Kee!!!) And I wouldn’t be complaining if it tasted good but it didn’t! I’ve tasted a lot of better shawarmas at a fraction of the price. Hell, I can probably make a better one!

I lost all motivation after this. I love food! And my belief is that it’s ok to get fat as long as what I eat is worth getting fat for. But in this case, I was stuffing myself with junk. So after the fireworks, I went home disappointed and my taste buds unsatisfied.

Since I didn’t find what I want out there, I just comforted myself with a brownie fudge sundae.