On the road: Singapore a foodie paradise

Nadine Kam photos
In Singapore, a love of food is proudly on display.

BY NADINE KAM

SINGAPORE—I knew Singapore was a foodie destination, but I didn’t realize the extent of pride they have in their food heritage.

As soon as I got out of the plane, I came across two food sculptures lauding two of the dishes any visitor must try when they are here. In other food courts, some like People’s Park in Chinatown with hundreds of small hawker stalls, you might spot top 10 lists of must-try dishes, and murals around town also pay homage to the country’s culinary delights.

Here’s a look at Day 1 of eating Singapore style:

Getting off the plane at Singapore’s Changi Airport, I was greeted by this sculpture of Hainanese chicken and rice, one of the specialties here. Another sculpture paid tribute to roti prata.

This mural reflecting multi-cultural Singapore's universal love of food marked the site of Holland Village Market & Food Centre.

At Holland Market & Food Center, there are dozens of hawker food stalls and food is very inexpensive. These $3 plates are the USD equivalent of about $2.25.

At New Lucky Claypot Rice at Holland Market & Food Center, rice is layered with meat, vegetables and seafood of your choice, and cooked over a charcoal flame.


Non-flash video

I had their specialty, the Wu Wei Clay Pot filled with lup cheong and shrimp paste, or harm ha, chicken. So delicious! Feeds two or three for $10 Singapore, about $7.50 in USD.

 On Day 1, also had laksa at Katong Laksa in another area of Holland Village. Very close to what’s served at Panya, except more shrimp paste flavor and the noodles are cut up into bite-size pieces so they don’t slosh and spatter as much as noodles in the U.S. I kind of like it this way. This was $4 Singapore, or about $3 USD.

Also at Katong Laksa, a fried chicken plate with rice, egg, dried fish and spicy sambal. At lunch time, more people were ordering the rice plates than laksa.

Coca-Cola celebrated in a mural at Katong Laksa.

Spent the morning with pastry chef extraordinaire Janice Wong. More on her and her art work later. What a story she has!
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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.

Panya Bistro & Bakery reopens at Hokua

Nadine Kam photos
Laksa served up at the newly reopened Panya Bistro & Bakery at Hokua.

What did you miss most after Panya Bistro & Bakery closed its doors at Ala Moana Center for its move to the former P.F. Chang spot at the Hokua, the desserts or savory dishes like spicy dumplings and laksa?

Chances are it was both, and now they're back, opening its doors to the public on Aug. 9, after a couple of private preview celebrations Aug. 7 and 8.

The bistro and bakery started by sisters Alice and Annie Yeung had spent 10 years at Ala Moana Center, winning the hungry over with light, Japan-style breads, pastries and confections, and a full menu of appetizers, salads, noodle and dumpling dishes, sandwiches, curries and more.

The decor of the new restaurant closely resembles that at Ala Moana, including some recycled and some new lights, the difficulty being that, 10 years after the original design, similar replacements were hard to find.

In speaking to the press at a preview event on Aug. 7, the sisters said that the endeavor marks, "another new start for us with a lot of things we carried before," simply because customers won't let them get rid of old favorites, although they said they have many more dishes they are planning to add to the menu.

Panya Bistro and Bakery founders and co-directors Alice, left, and Annie Yeung.

On this day, they brought back many best sellers, including my favorites: spicy wontons and laksa!

Although the new space measures a large 3,200 square feet, half of it amounts to kitchen and bakeshop, which means seating may feel cramped, but having the bakery on the premises means baked goods will be at their freshest at the time you order them. They're also dropping the self-serve format because being away from the fast traffic of the mall, they believe servers will be able to handle all pastry orders.

For big, morning workplace orders, they're hoping customers will call ahead the day before to allow them to prepare the desired products.

Glad to see them back!

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Panya Bistro & Bakery at Hokua is at 1288 Ala Moana Blvd. #116. Meal service hours are 7 to 10:30 a.m. for breakfast, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for lunch; and 4:30 to 10 p.m. for dinner service Sundays through Thursdays, and 4:30 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Pretty cakes all in a row.

The decor closely resembles that of the former Ala Moana location.

Slurping good spicy won tons topped with green onions and sesame seeds.

Gyoza too.

Crab meat and salmon crostinis.

Smoked salmon sandwich.

Spicy fried rice.

A selection of desserts awaited at the end of lunch, including cream puffs, chocolate and banana mousse, panna cotta and a green tea roll with azuki bean filling.