Food Trail @ Singapore Flyer

Food trails seems to be the hottest things these days with Select Group behind this 1960's brainchild while Food Republic tying up with Beer Garden for yet another consolidation of hawker gems at Vivocity. Let's just say we are not new to this whole nostalgic concept...or even grouping of "best ofs" hawker stalls. Think Chinatown's food street or even Glutton's Bay at Esplanade?

Singapore Food Trail at the flyer seems to be targeted at tourists, mainly due to the location. Let me take you through a cyber tour of the place...!



Familiar names?



Matchy matchy tees for the cleaners.



Kudos to the team for trying really hard to replicate the details...photos, signages...furniture...!



Reminiscent of the good ole days with hawkers operating from these wooden carts.



Bird's Nest drink anyone? Methinks it's from the robin blue can that is still thankfully around...!



Bottles of fizzy? I miss them oh-sooooo-much!



How about buying one for $38 a pop? Ridiculous for a piece of history.



How about an old lamp or a figurine that looks uncannily like cupid?



The porcelain bowls that screams old school...loving them so!



Jukebox that completes the picture but I swear, I spied a 90's hit amongst the supposed oldies...maybe if I stared hard enough...a Lady Gaga hit would be hidden somewhere in the handwritten tracks. Oh yes, handwritten anything gives me the goosebumps in a fuzzywuzzy way.



My bottled soyabean milk.



Hardly do we get ice crushed to such small cubes these days...they really pay attention to details!



Katong Keah Kee Fried Oysters

Comes in $5 and $8 portions...despite being an Easterner, I have not heard much about this supposed famous stall. Purportedly also more egg and oyster than starch but I do love the starchy bits in my orh-ah-jian! The extraordinary thing about this dish has to be its power chilli sauce.



Chinatown Ann Chin Popiah

I tried the flagship and declare this not as sublime. Though credit has to be given for the same double chewy skins...something was just missing in the stuffing.



High Street Tai Wah Pork Noodle

I grew up with Tai Wah, literally. I remember running around the High Street premises waiting the neverending wait for the prized bowl of minced meat noodle. It relocated briefly to Tanjong Pagar before moving yet again to Lavender...and it's been so long since I last tucked into this familiar bowl of noodle.

I wasn't wow-ed, truth be told. Lacklustre performance by Tai Wah though the works were in place; minced meat, vinegar-chilli paste, noodles, liver slices.



Old Airport Road Satay Beehoon

Once again, yet another underperformer...especially after trying Old Airport's version. This lacked the punch in more ways than one. This rendition is sweeter, peanut sauce significantly watered down and  ingredients less generous.

Dessert range was limiting with Goreng Pisang closed and the only other stall open was the Cheng Tng and Ice Ball stall!



The same dessert that my parents grew up with and they used to excitedly banter about this longlost dessert infront of us...how they'd run helter skelter out of the school gates with their shoelaces flapping all over to the uncle. It was a perfect treat under the scorching sun, to cup the iceball in their hands and lap it all up. Who cared two hoots about hygiene then...lovely memories even hearing them.



Here's how an iceball is made...take a handful of red beans and attap chee and shower it with ice shavings...shape it like a ball..and pat!



Drizzle with ice kachang syrup...love the gaudy colours!



Holding and eating it wasn't quite my thing.



It's really just ice kachang in a ball!

Not all shops were opened when I went in late March, during the week that the flyer was down for maintenance but it was a dampener! I wanted so bad to try the goreng pisang.

Try it for the novelty but it probably lasts as long as novelty...not too sure if I'd head back for seconds.

Food Trail
Singapore Flyer