Day 4

I finally had Yu Sheng or Lo Hei for dinner tonight. It was completely by accident. I'm on a conquest to find the best Hainanese Chicken Rice in Singapore so I thought I'd try the restaurant in my hotel lobby.  Right when I sat down, they served me a plate of lo hei. It was their way of wishing their guest good fortune for the new year. Just as I had imagined, its a sashimi salad with a sweet dressing. It was quite refreshing and a good palette opener.

Speaking of Hainanese chicken rice, note to self : When in Singapore, avoid eating Chinese food during the first 3 days of Chinese new year.  They are all closed. I found out the hard way when I was looking for place to have chicken rice for lunch earlier today.  The one I originally wanted to go to was closed so the cabby drove me to 2 others that were also closed, then a 4th had people lined up around the block. Probably because it was the only one open.

Finally I told him to drive to Dempsey Hill.  Dempsey Hill is a part of Singapore that resembles an outdoor mall filled mainly with restaurants of all sorts.  Upon arrival I stumbled upon The Dempsey Brasserie. They had moules frites with truffle skinny fries on the menu. I was sold.

For starters I had a half dozen raw oysters from Tazmania.  Sweet, plump, fresh, and very cleanly shucked. The worst is slurping down a great piece of oyster only to have crunchy bits of shard from the shell to ruin it all.  But this wasn't the case here. It was great!

Then I ordered a small pot of moule frites in vin blanc broth with truffle fries and some black angus beef sliders. These were all very disappointing.  Moules frites is a popular Belgian dish that consists of green lip mussels steamed in various broths served in a tin pot with a side of fries.  Although the mussels were cooked well, the broth was merely warmed white wine mixed with cooked onions and sprinkled with chopped parsley. Very bland. The fries had a slight truffles flavor but once cold was inedible.

Sliders have got to be my favorite way to eat burgers. Bite size juicy beef patties doused in ketchup and mustard topped with melted cheese. What's there not to like?  But these were so bland, instead of the condiments complimenting the patties, all I could taste WERE the condiments. Its was the only part with flavor.

Back to the mussels. If you ever really have an urge for Belgian food, particularly moules frites when you're in Singapore, make your own.  This is my second go at having moules frites in Singapore and I'm not about to throw anymore money down the drain. My first experience was at Brussels Sprouts on Robertson Quay.  It boasts itself as a Belgian restaurant but the only part they got right was importing a massive beer selection from Belgium. The mussels were rubbery and the fries were cold and stale. They're sampler platter of hors d'oeuvres tasted like it came out of cans and I've eaten enough canned food in college to KNOW that flavor.

However, if you've got the time and money and you're really craving Belgian style steamed mussels, I suggest taking a trip to Hong Kong. Frites in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong is the closest Belgian faire you can find outside of Belgium.  Another place is Hercules on bar street in Beijing.  It's a bit hard to find and they only serve mussels on Thursdays but it's worth it. Hercules also makes the best pastrami sandwiches in Asia.

Tomorrow I'm going to Little India....stay tuned....