Muthu’s Curry House – Singapore
Three ethnic groups predominate in the polyglot brew of nationalities and races that is Singapore – Chinese, Malay and Indian.
Seems it might be a good location to sample some decent Indian food. And over the years we have had some great meals, mostly favouring the smaller places, food halls, and hawker stalls. Great prata, various roti types, Chicken briyani, korma curries and similar relatively common and well known dishes. Places such as the Tekka Centre where food is both good and very well priced.
But if you wish to venture into some better Indian food in Singapore then Little India is obviously the location to head for.......and Muthu’s Curry House, serving Indian food for three generations is an excellent choice. It has been upgraded and has excellent air-con if a bit fainthearted. Do not be put off by the word “curry” – there is much more to Indian food than just a throat tingling hot curry.
Definitely no beef around, but plenty of mutton and chicken is just as tasty.
Muthu’s is on Racecourse road, not that far from Farrer Place MRT [ less than 100m] and easily reached by public transport, with regular services up Selegie road, one street away. Get off at the Broadway hotel.
This is the original [and best?] location although other sites operate – Temasek Place [Suntec City] at Marina Bay. As a third generation restaurant [opened in 1969] they must be doing something right!
And based on a recent meal, they do seem to have it well sorted.
The night we were there was mid week, and the place was full. We went with local Singaporean friends in their car, and parking was a bit of an issue, but solvable. Nothing too unusual about that though.
As a group of four, we could mix food around a lot and that is a much better idea than just two people. The Kashmiri Naan was exceptional as was the Romali Roti. The Kashmiri Naan has chopped cherries on the top – very different and a great taste. Most other dishes were equally good. Our main dish was the inevitable fish head curry, along with butter chicken, a small serve of chicken tikka and briyani rice – basmati rice with attitude – that itself was great. There were quite a range of smaller side dishes – across vegetables, fish/meat and rice/breads.
Most dishes priced in the $6 - $12 bracket, with a few [often multi serve sizes] priced higher.
Great food and is worth trying. Would we go again – DEFINITELY!
They, like much of the wired place that is Singapore is online at:
www.muthuscurry.com and wifi is available and orders taken on a PDA!
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Changi Airport Singapore - Food - Try Saboten
Changi Airport Singapore – Food
It is somewhat of a conundrum – you need food while travelling, but both airport and airline food notoriously has a reputation that is often well deserved for ordinary food - at best.
Unless you happen to be at the pointy end where food and service reaches silver service standards! That does not happen for most people!
Normally poor to ordinary food at both airports and airlines is a well deserved award – lack of choice, not to your personal taste and sometimes quite pricey [ even on some airlines these days] and catering to a market that is a captive one – you can rarely go elsewhere.
Recently had a meal with friends at Changi Airport in Terminal 1. Outside - that is on the Singapore side before entering the immigration and customs hall and transfer areas inside. This is a location you might consider to not be inspiring, catering as it does to departing travellers and friends, soon to move air side to a better range of options.
Quite a few choices now, mostly asian food with the local Singaporean and Chinese cuisines popular, and with a long line to enter the restaurants. We selected the Japanese Saboten chain – almost by default as it had the shortest – ie no wait time to sit down. That sometimes might have you wonder.........is it ok?
Food was really quite good, with the shredded cabbage [superfine shreds] and tonkatsu sauce salad excellent as an entree. All four of us thought the food very well presented, and tasty, with good service – and prompt, a bonus when you are needing to move off for catching the plane. We all chose one of the variations of the salmon fish dishes deep fried in fine bread crumbs, so cannot comment on the meat options, which were mostly based around pork. The salmon was excellent – tasty and flavoursome.
All dishes around S$ 20 -24, and service seemed to be prompt, even based on other tables. A real bonus for an airport meal choice. And it included ice cream for dessert too!
Would definitely recommend the Saboten as a good food option. A quick google search has also turned up some very positive reviews of the same place by local Singaporeans - try a search if you want.......but try the restaurant too.
Seems the renovation of Terminal 1 at Changi Airport, due for completion in 2012 has already delivered some good food eateries.
In reality, it was just as well we ate there – meals on our flight [ both dinner and breakfast] were both terrible, and many people [ including Asians] did not eat them- at all or many just partially. After all not everyone – not even many Asians - tolerates very spicy food and hot chillies in Asian food, and that was what the dinner meal was. And no choice. One of the worst ever airline meals – and that was on a Qantas flight – just awful food. It was just poorly presented and looked awful too. Breakfast was not much better.
It is somewhat of a conundrum – you need food while travelling, but both airport and airline food notoriously has a reputation that is often well deserved for ordinary food - at best.
Unless you happen to be at the pointy end where food and service reaches silver service standards! That does not happen for most people!
Normally poor to ordinary food at both airports and airlines is a well deserved award – lack of choice, not to your personal taste and sometimes quite pricey [ even on some airlines these days] and catering to a market that is a captive one – you can rarely go elsewhere.
Recently had a meal with friends at Changi Airport in Terminal 1. Outside - that is on the Singapore side before entering the immigration and customs hall and transfer areas inside. This is a location you might consider to not be inspiring, catering as it does to departing travellers and friends, soon to move air side to a better range of options.
Quite a few choices now, mostly asian food with the local Singaporean and Chinese cuisines popular, and with a long line to enter the restaurants. We selected the Japanese Saboten chain – almost by default as it had the shortest – ie no wait time to sit down. That sometimes might have you wonder.........is it ok?
Food was really quite good, with the shredded cabbage [superfine shreds] and tonkatsu sauce salad excellent as an entree. All four of us thought the food very well presented, and tasty, with good service – and prompt, a bonus when you are needing to move off for catching the plane. We all chose one of the variations of the salmon fish dishes deep fried in fine bread crumbs, so cannot comment on the meat options, which were mostly based around pork. The salmon was excellent – tasty and flavoursome.
All dishes around S$ 20 -24, and service seemed to be prompt, even based on other tables. A real bonus for an airport meal choice. And it included ice cream for dessert too!
Would definitely recommend the Saboten as a good food option. A quick google search has also turned up some very positive reviews of the same place by local Singaporeans - try a search if you want.......but try the restaurant too.
Seems the renovation of Terminal 1 at Changi Airport, due for completion in 2012 has already delivered some good food eateries.
In reality, it was just as well we ate there – meals on our flight [ both dinner and breakfast] were both terrible, and many people [ including Asians] did not eat them- at all or many just partially. After all not everyone – not even many Asians - tolerates very spicy food and hot chillies in Asian food, and that was what the dinner meal was. And no choice. One of the worst ever airline meals – and that was on a Qantas flight – just awful food. It was just poorly presented and looked awful too. Breakfast was not much better.
Sunday, 12 June 2011
Art Science Museum Singapore - Dali Exhibition 2011
Art Science Museum Singapore – Salvador Dali Exhibition 2011
It is new, innovative and attempts to marry art and science. Somewhat in the tradition of the great people of the past – da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and those of similar ilk.
It is also a very distinctive building in shape and location – the new white lotus blossom form near the new Marina Bay Sands Casino and the equally distinctive three towers of the nearby Marina Bay Sands Hotel - the one with the boat on the top!
There is some irony having a museum next to a casino though.
Having watched the building take shape over several years it is interesting to see the final building.
The Marina Bay Sands precinct is quite easily reached over the very distinctive double helix Bridge, a footbridge joining Raffles Avenue across from the Ritz Carlton and Pan Pacific hotels plus Marina Square. That bridge is actually a work of art and science in itself.......maybe more on that separately.
Access is also possible from the other side of the Marina Barrage area, but public transport is a bit more difficult in that area, whereas getting to Raffles Avenue by bus or via the MRT is normally quite easy .
Current exhibitions in the mid to late 2011 period in the Art Science Museum are two well worth seeing – a multi media event based around the art of Vincent van Gogh [ actually a joint Australian – French production] and a masterful exhibition of art by Salvador Dali. He tends to evoke loathing or love – I am a great fan of his art works! Yes, I am biased.
Quite a large exhibition of Dali works with more focus on sculptures, although there are a lot of his smaller paintings in the show. Some of the sculptures are truly spectacular, and special, but there are none of his iconic paintings on show - those seen in textbooks, art books or in the world’s great galleries – maybe they are just too valuable! Do not be disappointed though, some of the paintings are very good.......but mostly smaller, art pieces.
Dali was a master at the surreal art piece, and those art works on display do not disappoint if you enjoy the art of Salvador Dali.
Definitely worth a visit if you are a visitor [or a resident] of Singapore in the last half of 2011, up to 31 October.
More photos here -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfie999/
in the Salvador Dali set.
It is new, innovative and attempts to marry art and science. Somewhat in the tradition of the great people of the past – da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and those of similar ilk.
It is also a very distinctive building in shape and location – the new white lotus blossom form near the new Marina Bay Sands Casino and the equally distinctive three towers of the nearby Marina Bay Sands Hotel - the one with the boat on the top!
There is some irony having a museum next to a casino though.
Having watched the building take shape over several years it is interesting to see the final building.
The Marina Bay Sands precinct is quite easily reached over the very distinctive double helix Bridge, a footbridge joining Raffles Avenue across from the Ritz Carlton and Pan Pacific hotels plus Marina Square. That bridge is actually a work of art and science in itself.......maybe more on that separately.
Access is also possible from the other side of the Marina Barrage area, but public transport is a bit more difficult in that area, whereas getting to Raffles Avenue by bus or via the MRT is normally quite easy .
Current exhibitions in the mid to late 2011 period in the Art Science Museum are two well worth seeing – a multi media event based around the art of Vincent van Gogh [ actually a joint Australian – French production] and a masterful exhibition of art by Salvador Dali. He tends to evoke loathing or love – I am a great fan of his art works! Yes, I am biased.
Quite a large exhibition of Dali works with more focus on sculptures, although there are a lot of his smaller paintings in the show. Some of the sculptures are truly spectacular, and special, but there are none of his iconic paintings on show - those seen in textbooks, art books or in the world’s great galleries – maybe they are just too valuable! Do not be disappointed though, some of the paintings are very good.......but mostly smaller, art pieces.
Dali was a master at the surreal art piece, and those art works on display do not disappoint if you enjoy the art of Salvador Dali.
Definitely worth a visit if you are a visitor [or a resident] of Singapore in the last half of 2011, up to 31 October.
More photos here -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfie999/
in the Salvador Dali set.
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Helicopters in Singapore at Twenty Metres
Helicopters at Twenty Metres
It was cloudy.......that typical tropical haze before rain – but there in the distance were one, then two then five helicopters, backwards and forwards across the horizon in the west – maybe just out to sea over the harbour. Below one seemed to be a large flag, the Singaporean flag.
I have seen that before, on National Day, when a large flag is held below a helicopter and is part of the fly past down near Marina bay. There has been someone - a real person - at the bottom of the flag to weight it down sometimes.
But this was in the distance, and a little hard to really tell what was taking place.
Then the helicopters turned and headed directly to our building. We were on the 27th floor – and they were very very close above us. A Chinook with the flag and a metal weight, plus four Tiger attack helicopters. Great view.
It was cloudy.......that typical tropical haze before rain – but there in the distance were one, then two then five helicopters, backwards and forwards across the horizon in the west – maybe just out to sea over the harbour. Below one seemed to be a large flag, the Singaporean flag.
I have seen that before, on National Day, when a large flag is held below a helicopter and is part of the fly past down near Marina bay. There has been someone - a real person - at the bottom of the flag to weight it down sometimes.
But this was in the distance, and a little hard to really tell what was taking place.
Then the helicopters turned and headed directly to our building. We were on the 27th floor – and they were very very close above us. A Chinook with the flag and a metal weight, plus four Tiger attack helicopters. Great view.
Not sure if a practice for National Day [ 9 August 2011]- but impressive.
If you are in Singapore for National Day – watch for the National Flag fly by and the festivities down at Marina Bay. Plus a fantastic fireworks display around 7pm.
Friday, 3 June 2011
Zam Zam Restaurant- Best Murtabak in Singapore
Little more than a hole in the wall opposite the Sultan Mosque on North Bridge Road, and not far from the Golden Landmark Hotel, this restaurant serves the best murtabak in Singapore. And they have won awards for their murtabak too.
Well known to locals, but rarely visited by visitors it has a great atmosphere and some good food too. Offers a take away too and the special "drive by", but you need to be organised for the drive by pick up - might be best left to the locals! watch out for it if you vist the place.
Chicken briyani is also good, but the murtabak especially in mutton is excellent, and represents top value for money. Have a fresh lime juice to go with it.
For visitors the food is prepared right in the front enclosed section of the streetside restaurant.
Upstairs is air conditioned, but most sit downstairs or even at tables on the street.
A great visual experience for visitors, as they throw the cover for the murtabak. A bit like throwing a pizza base.
It is halal, and the place is alcohol free. Should be expected in the muslim area of Singapore, I guess. But do not let that stop you from a great feed!
If Zam Zam is full, and it is usually busy, Victory Restaurant a few doors up the road is quite good too.
The photo is taken from Zam Zam - across the road showing the golden dome of the Sultan Mosque - an easy place for a taxi driver to find.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Emerald Springs Revisited
This roadside stop and roadhouse / highway inn about halfway between Darwin and Katherine has been around for 40 plus years. There has always been competition between the 'Tank and Tummy Station" aka Hayes Creek roadside inn, and Emerald Spings roadhouse. This competition has waxed and waned between the two, depending on the current state of the facilities. Afterall, they are about 20km apart!!
Over the past few years, both have seemed to progressively decline in appeal, with Emerald Springs moving further and faster, while Hayes Creek did improve a little, more recently. Then.... new owners arrived at Emerald Springs, with plans and a few $$$.
Emerald Springs has had a makeover.........big time! And is now significantly better than the somewhat run down facilities at Hayes Creek Roadside Inn. And it has more room to expand, whereas Hayes Creek Inn is somewhat constrained being on a hilltop.
Over the past few years, both have seemed to progressively decline in appeal, with Emerald Springs moving further and faster, while Hayes Creek did improve a little, more recently. Then.... new owners arrived at Emerald Springs, with plans and a few $$$.
Emerald Springs has had a makeover.........big time! And is now significantly better than the somewhat run down facilities at Hayes Creek Roadside Inn. And it has more room to expand, whereas Hayes Creek Inn is somewhat constrained being on a hilltop.
It is clean, staff are pleasant, the bar is air conditioned, and there is a big breezy cool verandah with a view, as well as a pleasant grassed outdoor area.
To top it off........meals are top notch, and the range available is excellent. Not necessarily super cheap, but a first rate scotch fillet steak and salad for around $20+ is excellent value. And the steak is GOOD.
Their prime market is the transport sector, and there is ample parking for road trains, and with a lot of road trains hauling both long distance freight as well as minerals for processing, they would seem to have found a clientele that does want a bit more than a crappy "burger and a beer". Plenty of drivers there having a meal on my recent visits.
Coffee is also a bit better than nescafe and hot water too, with a good expresso machine and a decent range of coffees - long black to latte and capuccino are the go. And the barista does a good job!
There is also an air-conditioned meeting room for maybe about 10 - 12 people. Not sure about any fancy technology, but hey.......a meeting halfway between Darwin and Katherine might be a very convenient spot for people from both locations and / or local Douglas or Pine Creek areas, especially in both the resources and primary industry sectors, and that need can be very common here in the Top End.
Accommodation is also available in modest but new, very clean self contained a/c rooms at a respectable price. Ask them!
Coffee is also a bit better than nescafe and hot water too, with a good expresso machine and a decent range of coffees - long black to latte and capuccino are the go. And the barista does a good job!
There is also an air-conditioned meeting room for maybe about 10 - 12 people. Not sure about any fancy technology, but hey.......a meeting halfway between Darwin and Katherine might be a very convenient spot for people from both locations and / or local Douglas or Pine Creek areas, especially in both the resources and primary industry sectors, and that need can be very common here in the Top End.
Accommodation is also available in modest but new, very clean self contained a/c rooms at a respectable price. Ask them!
No doubt time will tell if the quality continues, but at least for now........it is a good place to take a break while driving between Darwin and Katherine.
Highly recommended.
But a note of warning.........freeloaders are not especially welcome. To use the facilities, including toilets [ which are very clean] the owners would like to think you might spend some money there - coffee, drinks, ice creams.....something.
That is probably fair and reasonable. You would not be disappointed stopping here for a short break in the journey.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
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