Sunday, May 07, 2006

My Best-Of Lists: A Year In Review

Wow - it's been one whole year since I started this blog. In the spirit of this anniversary, I felt it fitting to create a list of my Top 10 places in Singapore. So here it goes, in (generally) decending order, depending on what kind of food I'm in the mood for that day:

1. Aburiya
2. Raj Prime Vegetarian Restaurant
3. Morton's
4. "Whispering Man" Hot Pot
5. Kazu
6. Ohsumi
7. Noodle House Ken
8. Tai Wah Pork Noodle
9. Chuan
10. Cantina
And while we're at it, here's a list of my Top 5 favorite places in the world to hit up for food:

1. Tokyo
2. Los Angeles
3. Spain
4. Morocco
5. Thailand
Just because I haven't listed places here like Rome, New York, Sydney, or Taipei doesn't mean that there's no good food to be found there (and yes, I'd like to throw others like Vietnam on there once I get a chance to spend more than just one day there like I did last time). It's just that the ones listed here are the ones that strike the most of an emotional chord with me. They're the ones that I'll go out of my way for just for the sake of eating.

Anyway, if I'm still writing in this blog one year from now, I'll be sure to update these lists with any good new findings (and hope that none of my faves start suffering in quality).

11 comments:

kuro.shiro.neko said...

i so agree with your first choice - tokyo! :)))

Tym said...

Thank you for blogging so indefatigably!! To many good meals ahead for you!

bornappleT said...

Is Singapore's food not good enough to be in the Top favorite places in the world? Singapore, as noted by the tourism board, is a food haven. Perhaps it would be interesting for you comment on Singapore's real food scene as a whole.

joone! said...

Happy Blogger-versary!

Anonymous said...

Where else in the world would one be able to get great Japanese yakiniku, Indian vegetarian, high-end steaks, Chinese hot pot, Italian pasta, spicy hot Szechuan food and local noodles all in one place?

Singapore is a food paradise because of the great variety of cuisines available! Yum!

Anonymous said...

BMA, shoudl be city-specific, no countries..for instance what did you find best in Morocco (that square by Mamumia Hotel or however it's spelled, was outstanding..whereas some other cities were all right..definitely inferior to some Lebanese joints)!

cheers,
F

Mister Fedward Hyde said...

Applet, singapore is great quality/price ratio..but when it comes to hitting the Premier Leagues it can't compare with joints in Tokyo, NYC, Paris etc

bma said...

Of course the Tourism Board is going to say that it's a food haven...it's their job to sell Singapore! That's like asking Microsoft if they make the best software in the world: they will say they do, even if many people find other software better. Well, to the Tourism Board's credit, I generally do agree with the food haven statement. There are some really unique things in Singapore (particularly all the cheap late night hawker food around) such that I always tell visitors that the main thing they should do while they are in Singapore is to eat the local food.

But there are a number of reasons why I did not put Singapore on my list. Perhaps the biggest factor is that I took Singapore for granted since I live here, so I was making that list based upon other places around. Even if I lived elsewhere though, I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have put Singapore on the list. It's not because the food is bad, but rather it's simply a personal preference in taste: I'm not a big fan of that sweet/spicy/fishy taste that is common in some of the local food. I respect it and can understand why people like it (and it's definitely very unique from a global perspective), but my heart just doesn't respond to it as much it does to food in other cities.

Nonetheless, there are a lot of local dishes that I do really enjoy, such as bak chor mee, bak kut teh, or kambing soup. And as pointed out above, there's definitely no doubting that Singapore has some of the biggest varieties in cuisine types around, which is also why I'm very happy to be living here instead of somewhere like Taipei, where the local food is outstanding but any other cuisine is simply atrocious (I would be bored to death there, and probably wouldn't be able to write this blog if I lived there since the non-local food there just sucks!). Singapore really is a great place for foodies, and there are so many interesting little things to explore. But if I could only pick a few places in the world to visit explicitly for the sake of eating, it would have been those other places on the list instead.

And yes, I initially tried to make the list city-specific rather than generic countries. But the problem I had was that with places like Thailand, it didn't matter where I was, be it Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or even touristy places like Phuket or Koh Samui. Thailand simply rocks, whereever you may be in the country. Likewise, I was going to put Madrid instead of Spain, but I had some really memorable meals in the touristy island of Ibiza too, so I generalized it to Spain (one of these days, I've gotta get out to Barcelona). And if you clicked through on the link to Morocco, you would have noticed that I was generally referring to the Jema Al Fna square in Marrakech - all the food stalls there were just absolutely mind-blowing. I've heard really good things about Fez and Essaouira though, so I hope to hit up those spots on my next visit to Morocco. (The food is so good there that I've made it a mission of mine in life to go back there one of these days.)

bornappleT said...

Thank you for your writeup on Singapore's food scene.

Anonymous said...

Tokyo has an international offering, but I prefer Japanese cuisine in Kansai. Relatively speaking, I feel Kansai offers more taste and Kanto offers more looks. Nonetheless, even the "mediocre" Japanese food in Tokyo is head and shoulders above Japanese food in Singapore, and its not cheaper in Singapore.

One man's poison is another man's meat, so take it as you will :)

nev said...

Tokyo rocks! I was there for work for three weeks, stuffed myself silly and ate like a king on company expense :p the best thing is, I didn;t even put on weight! Japanese food is indeed healthy (maybe that's why I rarely saw an overweight Japanese).