Well, today I have one day off and my husband also has time. We planned to go to Chinatown and have lunch there. He wanted to try a nasi lemak restaurant there. It’s the first time for us to go to Chinatown and hunt for non-Chinese food.
Chinatown of Singapore is really close to to the CBD. You can actually walk from Chinatown to CBD and also see blocks of tall buildings from Chinatown.
There are many places to have nice food in Chinatown, such as Amoy Street and Chinatown Food Street.
Chinatown has many traditional buildings of Nanyang style.
The restaurant we went is at Ann Siang Rd.
There are many bars, restaurants and cafes there.
The blue restaurant is the one we were going.
The Coconut Club.
It is not a very big restaurant. Their signature dish is nasi lemak, which can be told from the menu.
Actually, the price is more expensive than nasi lemak sold in other places. We can usually buy nasi lemak at around S$4 and even below. But still, this place is very popular. It was lunch time, many office workers came here for lunch. And I could see a long line waiting outside. My husband and I ordered 2 signature nasi lemak. We waited for a quite long time.
The big plate of rice, chicken, sambal chili sauce, fried peanuts & anchovy, egg and cucumber proves it is worth waiting.
Rice is full of coconut milk flavor and not too strong. ( I just realized what is wrong with the nasi lemak I cooked. I added in too much coconut milk into the rice.) Chicken is juicy and tender. The only thing I’m not so pleased with is the egg is very tiny. π¦ I love Sambal chili sauce. The whole plate is a big portion. I could’t finish my chicken and asked my husband to help me finish it.
After nasi lemak, we also tried the dessert there.
My husband ordered Cendol:
Topped with Adzuki Red Bean. Full of creamy coconut milk and sticky gula Melaka (a kind of coconut sugar in brown color). My husband said it’s the best Cendol he’s ever had in Singapore.
I ordered Kueh (a Malay word means “cake”).
I really like the green & blue one. The upper layer is soft and melt in your mouth and the bottom layer is made of sticky rice. The small cake wrapped with coconut flakes on the right is too sweet to me.
After this satisfying lunch, we just found the cafe across the street.
Nanyang Old Coffee. A cafe my husband wanted to try a long time ago.
We went there. My husband ordered a cup of Yuanyang coffee. And I ordered Ang Ku Kueh.
I am not a coffee lover. My husband review towards his coffee was “not bad”. As to my Ang Ku Kueh, I chose green bean paste filling. It’s also not bad.
Finished coffee, we just wandered in Chinatown. Because Chinese New Year is coming in around 2 weeks or even less than 2 weeks. The main color in Chinatown is Red.
Red lanterns.
Red Spring Couplets and Chinese New Year decorations.
Since 2019 is pig year according to Chinese Zodiac, Pig is also a regular element in gift shops or in the street.
Chinese New Year is a big festival for Chinese. We prepare lots of food. So you can see piles of snacks are there.
Many shops gave free samples when you pass by. We get black peanuts to try.
Apart from so many things to say, Chinatown is heaven to foodie. I think all Chinese cuisine can be found here: Sichuan, Hunan, Northeast. No matter hot pot, Raosted duck, or seafood. We tried some of them before, I must say they taste authentic.
Ohhhhh, I’m hungry again……
Cooking For Fun 