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.