Oriental Delicacies: Frog legs and the like

Frog legs

Now now, don’t be afraid. You must have apprehensions, just like everybody else, about even beginning to try something so disgusting sounding. I’m with you.

Chilli frog legs in claypot,
with dong po pork on the side

But it cannot be denied that when in Asia, you are the tiniest bit inclined to do as the Asians do, be it crunching cockroaches in China or munching bheja fry in India.

So we are talking delicacies. And from the very first day I landed in Singapore, I kept seeing ‘frog legs’ this and ‘frog legs’ that everywhere. They like it as a porridge (congee), they like it fried, they like it with chilli. Singaporeans like their frog legs.

I knew I had to try it, but how to get the image of a frikkin frog out of your head? Well that’s the answer really. You have the kick the image out of your head, else the average Indian would rather take sanyas.

Once I got the image out of the head, I was able to taste it just like any other dish. We ordered chilli frog legs; it sure came loaded with chilli. So the flavour was strong, in case I didn’t want to taste just the meat.

The meat was pretty soft. It was akin to a very soft chicken or a slightly hard fish. We could break pieces easily, and there was plenty of meat to go around. In fact the chilli flavour was so overbearing that I could hardly notice what kind of meat I was picking off. If you weren’t told it was frog, you may not figure it out yourself either! As you can see from the picture, it looks totally unsuspicious :)

So go ahead and try it my friend. It’s a decent dish, something that’s very popular in Singapore, so you should try it at least once! The chilli frog legs usually come in a big claypot, so make sure you go with your friends - cringe and binge together :) Cheers!

Cheapest meal in Singapore?

Ok people, here’s the real deal. This is Singapore street food at it’s best. Not for the fussy kind, not for people who think it’s “too fishy”, not for hard-core vegetarians either (err.. yeah, vegetarians have been known to blur their realities in Singapore). This is the cheapest yummy meal you will get in and around Bukit Timah Singapore!

Most of my “SCORE!!” meals come in the 4 to 5 dollar range, mostly from the famed food courts of Singapore, especially Alexandra Food Court, since that was pretty walkable from where I lived. But one thing I loved to do was explore larger and larger food courts, and walk around all the possible stalls to see just how cheap their regular offerings could get. 

And I found it: $2.50 for a plate of pork rib noodles with Chinese cabbage! But wait, this post isn’t about that. Frankly, that particular stall is not multiple-visit-worthy. What I do recommend is prawn noodles from ABC Food Court. Medium sized plate for a crisp $3.00. 

Hokkien Mee

They call it Hokkien Mee. Staple street food in Singapore and Malaysia. In fact, the two have slight flavour differences, but more on that later. Mee = noodles, Hokkien = cooking style of Fujian province, prawn –> well, the default setting of the noodles is with prawns. 

I don’t even have to tell you which stall in ABC to order this from. Though it is available in every other counter, you will see a consistently long line at one particular stall at the far corner. You will see at least five tables with this particular dish on them as you walk towards that corner. The demand is high for a reason.

Hokkien mee is basically fried noodles. But the way they make it here makes it so much more than that. I’ve seen the uncle and auntie make it - they expertly toss and turn a ginormous spatula in a ginormouser frying pan with two or three types of noodles. And there is this soupy thing – I don’t know whether it’s stock or actual soup or what. It’s used to toss and turn the noodles in for a while, so that the soup effect is gone, but not so much as to make the noodles all fry and dry. 

The end result is almost creamy. The taste is mild but lasting. So you have creamy noodles, without any cream. You have soft soft prawns, without shells. Stirred into gooey goodness. No fried food fat feeling. As if that weren’t enough, a dash of their lime or chilli sauce or both will take it to another level. Have I mentioned it’s $3 for a medium sized plate and $3.5 for a big one? 

If you haven’t tried the hokkien mee at ABC yet, go do it today. If you have, tell me if you’ve had a better one at this price anywhere else!

Chilling in Chinatown with Tsing Tao

A must visit destination for people in Singaporean is Chinatown, for so many reasons – the bright lights, the late hours, the colourful knick-knacks, but above all, the spicy, crazy Chinese food!

I have spent many a meal in Chinatown, at a favourite spot of mine. Just outside Chinatown station, right on the

main road adjoining Food Street, there is a long stretch of Chinese restaurants. One after the other you will see tables and tables of young men and women around large tables, laughing and chatting over large steamboats of chilli pork and grilled prawn sticks. With tables placed right on the kerb, and cute little shrubs separating you from the main road, where there is only mild traffic, the setting makes for an easy, breezy evening filled with bursts of flavours that will make you want to try more!

I ordered my first meal there after meticulously looking through a very long, graphic menu of strange scary sounding items. I finally zeroed in on a plate of shredded chilli pork and one shrimp omelette, neither of which I had tried before. To accompany the meal was a bottle of Tsing Tao, a Chinese beer available in almost every street food joint in Singapore.

Unexpectedly, the chilli in the chilli pork turned out to be the main attraction in the plate! Like I hadn’t consumed enough dry red chillies in my 7 years in Karnataka. Though the chillies here were like a whole other level! My friend couldn’t even take it. Me having a higher ‘spiciness’ threshold, I could still stomach it, but had to still filter some of it out. The pork, however, was nice and crunchy. And bits of chilly every now and then, coupled with chunks of green kale leaves, gave every bite of the pork a good punch.

The shrimp omelette was interesting – I guess the egg taste and fishy taste generally go well together. We were content with the order that day, but it’s not something I’d go back for, unless there were some super spicy variation of it :)

The Tsing Tao beer was a revelation. Guess what they put in it! ….Ice! Loads and loads of ice. And they keep it coming too. I know I know, to beer enthusiasts that may seem counterintuitive. I mean why would you add ice to chilled beer (an already light drink :-/). To chill it more? I don’t know, but it does work, in some twisted way!

Tsing Tao beer in itself is pretty good – light but solid enough to keep you going. It’s got the slightest tingly taste, that you don’t get in your regular lagers. And it went well with all the snacks I’ve ordered it with in Singapore. It is also cheaper than your average beer in Singapore!

So there you have it. My first step in exploring new food in a new town – iced Tsing Tao, chilli pork and shrimp egg! (Actually it was my second, I’ll save my first for a time when you get used to the unusual items on the menu that I have tried…) Don’t waste another weekend, go to Chinatown and start exploring! You do not want to leave Singapore without getting a feel.