Very tasty naan-like breads from a street vendor

Hotpot with lots of meat

We accidentally ordered the meat twice, oh well.

Another night we had dinner at a newly opened BBQ restaurant. I asked whether it was Australian beef and was told “No, made in China”. It was very tasty.

You can never have enough meat for hotpot

One night we went to a restaurant called Grandma’s Kitchen, a popular chain serving local dishes as cooked by Grandma. While there was a long queue, I don’t know whether we got a foreigner bonus and but got a table without waiting. In general we saw very few Westerners, maybe less than a dozen in two days.

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the dishes as we were so hungry but I can say it was very good and fair prices (we paid €30 for three people). There are outlets all over town. We went to the one at Hangzhou Towers (杭州市体育场路538号).

More meat at Grandma’s Kitchen

In a shopping mall we stopped for some dessert at a restaurant specializing in mango desserts. Insanely sweet but not too bad.

Insanely sweet mango dessert

Last but not least, here are some photos of food we did not try during our visit (and I doubt I will ever try):

Some kind of fried (?) chicken feet

Roasted baby chickens (?)

and of course, the duck heads:

Duck heads

We were expecting food fairly similar to Southern Indian but were positively surprised to find a unique cuisine that does a great job at using the country’s countless vegetables in spicy and flavorful (and colorful!) curries. Below are some recipes that our host in Ella shared with us. You will need some basic spices but nothing too exotic.

Spices at a market in Colombo

Sweet aubergine mix
Chop up 2 aubergines and fry them. Get them out of the pan and add some onion, salt and some green peppers.
Put 200ml of vinegar in a hot clay pot, add four bog spoons of sugar, 1 tea spoon of chilli flakes. Cook it till it boils and get’s syrup. Them add the aubergine mix. Mix it and let it cool.

Sweet aubergine mix

Potato curry
Cook potatoes, let them cool, add some onions, 1 tea spoon of turmeric, 10 curry seeds, salt garlic, curry leaves, tomato. Put some hot water in a pan, add the potato mix. Add cocos milk and let cook for a couple of minutes.

Potato curry

Baked banana
Put oil in a pan, add vegetable bananas, turmeric, salt, curry leaves, let it cook in with some water. Add some cocos milk and let it simmer for some time.

Baked banana

Sambal
Onion, pepper, lemon, salt, Maldivian fish chips, mix it. Add fried bittergurd and mix it. You can also do this with okra.

Sambal

Beans
Cut the beans and add coconut rasp. Add turmeric and salt. Put 100ml coconut oil in a pan, heat it, add onions, curry leaves and fry it, then add the bean mix, let it bake for a couple minutes.

Beans

Leek
Cut the leek, add a lot of curry leaves, salt, a bit of turmeric, curry powder and chilli powder. Heat coconut oil, add about 20 chilli seeds. When they turn black, add the leek mix. Add tomato, and onion and four big spoons of coconut milk, let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Leek

Mushrooms
Boil the mushrooms for 5 minutes, then fry them. Chop 3 onions, fry them in vegetable oil until they turn dark, add 1 tea spoon of chilli flakes, add the mushrooms, curry leaves, salt, let it cook for 5 minutes.

Mushrooms

Okra
Chop the okra, add turmeric, chilli, salt. Put onions in 200ml coconut oil, curry leaves, bake it, add the okra and 2 spoons of coconut milk, cook for a couple of minutes.

Okra

Can fish
Get the mackerel out of the can and crush it, add onion, curry leaves, salt, pepper. Put 2 tea spoons of chilli flakes in coconut oil and bake it, them add the fish mix. No surprise but this was our least favorite of the bunch.

Can fish

Happy cooking!

The Thai community in Singapore isn’t huge, especially when compared to other South-East Asian nations like the Philippines. But their social focal point is definitely worth a visit. Located on Beach Road, the Golden Mile Complex is where you want to be heading. There isn’t much gold but the place has its charm in its own right. As soon as you enter, you no longer feel you’re in Singapore but more as if you’re somewhere in Bangkok. The complex has the atmosphere of a parking garage built in the 80s, but that’s what makes it special somehow.

Main hall

If you’re looking for a job requiring Thai language skills, this is the place to go.

Everything is Thai. You can get Thai newspapers, Thai massages, Thai food, Thai groceries and even Thai toothpaste. You can spend an entire afternoon/night there, starting out with grocery/clothes shopping, continuing with a meal of top notch Thai food and ending the night in one of the Thai discos or karaoke places (some of the cheapest beer towers in town!).

I can only recommend a trip to Golden Mile. Even if you’re just going for the food, you’ll have a good time. Try to find the DVD shop with two big TV screens outside and ask yourself why one is always showing Thai boxing and the other monkeys dressed up as humans. Or get caught in a spontaneous water fight. Or attend a live music show.

One of our favorite eateries, Lucky Thai Food

Papaya Salad

Always good for a surprise: children having a water fight as part of the celebrations for Songkran festival (Thai New Year)