This morning I woke up at 9am, having gone to bed at around 2 in the morning. We took it easy and ate our creme brûlée and chocolate tart for breakfast. On the first day since coming to Singapore, I was glad that we were only staying for three days. Now, I think I might miss Singapore.

I’ve gotten acclimated to the temperature here and I love the warm breezes and sunny afternoons. Of course, I don’t mind a little air conditioning, but I think this place has grown on me.

For lunch, we decided to try a seafood restaurant that our host recommended. It was called “No Signboard”. That’s a pretty weird name, but there’s a story behind it- I’ll tell you in a moment.

So we arrived at the famous restaurant, which was very big. There was a large fountain filled with koi fish. Standing in it, were statues of crabs and shrimp. A nice waitress led us to a table and gave us some menus.

The menus were as thick as a good-sized book. We found out from reading them that the restaurant’s name went way back. When the two founders started with this business they set up a stall to sell their salt and pepper crab, but didn’t have enough money for a signboard. So people called them “the stall with no signboard”.

Today, though, they are very well known with multiple locations in Singapore.

We ordered chili crab, fried prawns, hollow vegetables in garlic sauce, pea sprouts in oyster sauce, and bamboo clams with vermicelli.

The chili crab was smashing and spicy! The crab meat was so tender and naturally sweet. It went well with the spicy sauce. Cracking the crab shell with the crab crusher was really messy, but in a fun way. In Singapore they give you wipes instead of napkins during meals. We used up our wipes and had fun dipping our hands in the bowls of lemon water.

The fried tiger prawns were crispy and crunchy and bursting with flavor. We ate the shell because it was so delicious and bready. Of course we took off the heads. (Belch!)

The hollow vegetable usually came in a spicy seasoning, but my mom asked for it in a garlic sauce instead. I love hollow vegetables. My grandma makes it sometimes, but not a lot. If all vegetables tasted like this, I wouldn’t mind eating them. But, alas, it was not meant to be. 🙂

The pea sprouts were equally praiseworthy. They were brushed lightly with oyster sauce, which is salty and sweet and thick all at once. My brother loves oyster sauce, so he devoured the veggies with great gusto.

The bamboo clams came in their shell which was narrow and long, like a bamboo. We dipped them in a scrumptious sauce. The clams were chewy like calamari. Underneath them, were clear vermicelli noodles.

With the meal came some buns and rice. My brother wanted steamed rice and my mom and I got bun buns. (My dad was at a conference). The bun buns had been fried and tasted like little, plain donuts. The waitress recommended dipping them in the chili sauce and it was tasty.

At home we took a nap and later hopped on our flight. But we weren’t going home yet. We were heading to Seoul, Korea!

 

Tune in for my adventures in Korea.

-Mackenzie

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