The national dish?!

First day in SG and the sun shines upon my arrival! (or more likely it just shines all the time..)

Here's the food intake for the past 12 hours, beginning with yet another round of plane food (bleurgh!) Was seriously debating whether to skip this meal and just eat more upon my arrival but.. I can't say no to food. No matter what it is..:

Fresh fruit selection - not bad not bad! As y'all will know, I love them melons :D

Followed by croissant. As you can see, I've got this lid-heating method down pat.

Some average butter. Another cold roll (didn't eat) and some jam (didn't eat). This butter is some Fonterra brand, but it just ain't anchor! (for those of you following the sweepstakes, i ate about 2g of butter..)

The main event: grilled beef steak (dry eurgh...), veal sausage, 'Boston' baked beans, hash brown. Pretty meh over all, soggy, tasteless, mush. Can't wait to get to SG and have some real food!!

So after all that disappointment (well, what should I expect?) here is it. The inaugural meal in Singapore. And, to be honest, I couldn't really think of a more fitting first meal. This is a staple of the Singaporean lunch/dinner diet - something you can get everywhere, but something that is impossible to PERFECT. Nevertheless, a great way to start my eating adventures in SG - Hainanese Chicken Rice!!!

This specimen here from an unidentified foodstall across the road from where I'm staying. Un-airconditioned, plastic stools, old men arguing over newspapers, grumpy stallholders, I LOVE IT!

This is sort of like a mini hawker centre. The type of place locals go for breakfast. Grubby, cheap, i love!

Hainanese Chicken Rice!!! Served with the requisite chilli/crushed garlic sauce and broth on the side. This cost only $2.50 for one la! How cheap is that!? (Thanks Winsie!)

Winsie's Roast Chicken Rice. Didn't have a try, but it was served in the same style as the Hainanese Chicken Rice - looks nommy!

A close-up of the nomness. What is so special about Chicken Rice? For those of you who don't know what it is, the rice and chicken are steamed together, or the rice with chicken stock, so that the rice is soaked with a delicious chickeny flavour. The chicken itself is smooth and very tender, and served warm or cold with a bit of stock sauce. Cucumber on the side. I couldn't really say if this was a good example or not of this beloved dish, but it was certainly tasty! Look out for more Chicken Rice coming up later in the blog!

Served up with some 100 plus - Isotonic drink to replace all those fluids I sweated out before :P Comes straight out of the chiller and with a cup of ice - that's how hot it is here!

Beverage of the afternoon - Caramel Frappucino at Starbucks. I don't like Starbucks and this was more expensive than 2 x my lunch, but I wanted to use the internet..... Inside Starbucks is about 5 degrees cos of the OTT aircon - compared with the 30 degrees outside! So hard to adjust..

That's it for now folks, check in again for dinner!!