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Saturday, September 14, 2013

Singapore: Newton Circus Hawker Centre

After some light snacks and a glass or two of wine in the Sheraton Towers Lounge last night, we walked over to the Newton Hawker Food Centre, also known as Newton Circus, probably because it's located in the middle of a large traffic roundabout - the UK utilizes the Latin word for circle this way as you probably know, Piccadilly Circus being the most famous "round open space at a street junction".

The Newton Centre gets mixed reviews from Yelp and Trip Advisor (Singaporeans are foodies by nature and express strong opinions), but it's so close to our hotel that we just had to give it a try.

Down past the MRT entrance, across a traffic light and up over an overpass and there we were. The Yelp naysayers were right: The hawkers seem to hawk a little more aggressively when they see tourists on the way, but a smile and simple "We're still looking, thanks" kept them at bay.

Since we had read this Trip Advisor review of Stall 70, we decided to take the easy way out and go with it. The owner sat us down and suggested some offers. We chose to split one large Tiger Prawn, an order of - what else? - Singapore Noodles, and lemon chicken. We ordered a Tiger Beer separately from a beverage stall next door to split and our food was ready before we knew it.

It was all delicious. Usually when we've tried "Singapore-style" noodles at home, the results have been a soup mixture of overcooked noodles. Here the noodles were almost al dente and of a dry quality that Brian especially enjoys. As for the Tiger Prawn and chicken, they were both outstanding.

The total bill for our food was Singapore $52 (about US $39).

It may not be the most "authentic" hawker center, it may be more expensive than some, but it certainly met and even exceeded our expectations.

The proprietor Stall No 70, Delight Seafood, Ms Tan Kwee Gek ("Yummy Yummy, in Your Tummy") showed us her collection of business cards offered by satisfied customers and presented us with her card. We of course reciprocated so, if you visit Stall No 70 anytime soon, look in her collection for the Wandering Warners.

A fun and tasty experience!

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