Food shopping in Singapore can be a challenge, so no wonder the locals favour eating out at the hawker markets. In general, the supermarkets that look and feel more like a Western supermarket will cost you the most and those that loudly yell “you’re living in Asia” will cost you the least. No single supermarket will stock every item on your shopping list and every individual store from each supermarket chain carries different products.
The Supermarket Hierarchy
Member Benefits: How much can you save?
I just worked out that I saved $310 using my ANZA Membership in the last year: $168 savings on entry to Go-Go Bambini for playgroup, $84 on a case of Chandon, $40 at The Butcher and $18 on tickets to Disney on Ice.
With our other great discounts you could save even more. We have up to 30{d2c05350095ed942d62ca1635aad234a702e9575e5f9632e6c89e76dec25dfbf} off your bill at restaurants and bars: Burlamacco, Dallas, D’Bell, Harry’s, Hog’s Breath and the Prince of Wales.
10{d2c05350095ed942d62ca1635aad234a702e9575e5f9632e6c89e76dec25dfbf} off concert tickets for André Rieu and Pete Murray.
Save on meat and fish with discounts at The Barbie Girls, The Butcher, The Fishwives and The Swiss Butchery.
Get fit and well with discounts at Orchard Clinic, Core Synergy Studio and Gym and Tonic.
Decorate with discounts at Ni-Night and John Sullivan Design.
Read up with a special subscription offers from Expat Living and Harper’s Bazaar.
Save when you travel with discounts from Accor Hotels and Resorts, Le Meridien Angkor, MesaStila Resort, The Mulia Bali and VillaBali; special packages from Angsana Bintan, Ayada Maldives, Kata Rocks Phuket, Laguna Bintan and corporate rates at the Orchard Hotel.
Keep your eye on the website ‘What’s New’ feed or our Facebook page for new offers as they arrive.
Fine Art Prints as a Keepsake Gift for Friends Leaving Singapore
‘Shophouses’ by Clare Haxby
When expat friends, colleagues or neighbours return home after their time in Singapore, finding the right gift can be a challenge. One idea is to give a fine art print with a Singaporean theme. Kathy Chamberlain explores 3 artist options who provide a selection of their work as fine art prints. Each have very different paint styles from Derek Corke’s more traditional water colours to Clare Haxby and Diana Francis who have more contemporary styles.
Derek Corke
Lotus Culture: Shop for a Cause
Lotus Culture is holding a Grand Sale in celebration of their Third Anniversary. All items are at a discount of up to 50{d2c05350095ed942d62ca1635aad234a702e9575e5f9632e6c89e76dec25dfbf}. These are high quality products sewn by survivors of human trafficking in Cambodia. All proceeds go to the beneficiary. We accept cash and cheques. This is one action that you can take to help to rebuild the lives of survivors of human trafficking.
The Grand Sale will be held 1-4 May 2014, 10am to 6pm at 108 Cairnhill Road (near Newton and Somerset MRTs).
Lotus Culture is a Singapore registered company that partners with Cambodian NGO AFESIP to provide employment to graduates of the AFESIP vocational training program for survivors of human trafficking.
A Ball Gown on any Budget
The countdown is seriously on to Anza’s 50th Anniversary Black and White Ball. For all those ladies looking for a relatively last minute ball gown purchase here are some options for a broad range of budgets .
Eighty Two Tales, is a small boutique store with lots of personality in vibrant Haji Lane. It specialises in affordable men’s and women’s designer apparel and also offers some great accessories in the way of bags, chunky bracelets and elasticized belts. Check out the other boutiques in Haji Lane while you are there for clutches and accessories.
At Eighty Two Tales in Haji Lane this fabulous geometric print maxi for $60.
Swedish fashion giant H&M offers a good range and caters to any budget
Affordable but sophisticated and elegant black maxi dress for $24.90
www.hm.com/sg/product
And a floaty, lined white sleeveless dress with sparkly embroidered yoke, $159
www.hm.com/sg/product/
Pop in to Metro at Paragon for full length black and white gowns from $170. While you are at Paragon, also check out the US designer BCBGMAXAZRIA and UK label Coast for their red carpet range of gowns as well as glam accessories.
Avana, now in the Shaw Centre (#23-11), stocks high-end gowns, including the black velvet gown featured in the ANZA Black and White Ball 2014 advertising.
20 things about Singapore that at first appear unusual but become normal:
1. Petrol station attendants who fill your car up with petrol.
Kelly has her own blog at http://ourbigexpatadventure.wordpress.com/
Peranakan Magic : Learning to Cook Peranakan Style
Learning to cook with local ingredients can help a person feel more at home in a new country. Before moving to Singapore, Australian Sue Mannering had never heard of the Peranakans and thought a wet market meant making purchases whilst wearing galoshes. A cooking course on the East Coast also turned out to be a lesson in culture, food shopping and ‘targeted pounding’.
Who are the Peranakans?
According to the Peranakan Museum’s Visitor Guide, Peranakan means ‘child of’ or ‘born of’ in Malay and is used to refer to people of mixed ethnicity in South East Asia, particularly in the Straits. The majority of the Peranakan community is made up of Chinese Peranakans who initially settled in Malacca, Java and Sumatra but in the 19th Century, drawn by trade, migrated to Singapore and Penang.
Some cooking magic Peranakan-style
Intrigued by the word and the culture, I decided to participate in a Peranakan cooking course at Cookery Magic, hosted by Ruqxana Vasanwala. The recipes on the course sounded charming with names I found hard to wrap my tongue around like Ayam Tempra (chicken in soy sauce and lime) and Gulai Ikan (hot and sour fish).
Accompanied by my mother and daughter, who were on holiday in Singapore, we entered a kitchen in the back of Ruqxana’s East Coast home. There were woks sitting on portable gas burners, cooking utensils hanging from every available space and five cats resting in various poses.‘The style of cooking associated with the Peranakan culture is called Nyonya, the Peranakan name for women,’ said Ruqxana. Soon we were pounding garlic, shallots and chilli into a paste with a mortar and pestle. ‘The rempah (spice paste) is the most important part of the cooking process,’ said Ruqxana,. She inspected our work. ‘You’ll have to do some targeted pounding,’ she said and pointed out specks of chilli and garlic that were almost invisible to the naked eye. ‘You want the rempah smooth.’ Our hands were aching but Ruqxana said using a food processor doesn’t release the spice flavours as well as pounding. Nor will it produce a paste of the same texture.
Ruqxana dry roasted belachan, a dried shrimp paste, by taking a teaspoon of it and placing the spoon over an open flame for a few seconds. She added it to the rempah. This shrimp paste, which has a sharp odour, is a common ingredient in Peranakan cooking. As Ruqxana added spices to a heated wok to release their flavours, she sprinkled her cooking with stories of Peranakan traditions. For example, a Nyonya woman could tell if her future daughter in law was a good cook by listening to her pound the rempah.Then the magic happened. ‘Taste this,’ said Ruqxana and proffered a spoon she had dipped in the sauce in the wok. She wanted to know if the flavour should be adjusted for sweet, salty, spicy or bitterness. It was perfect, I thought. I could detect each flavour and yet it was a delicious complex mix that ended with spicy. Ruqxana insisted I taste again. Sweet, I decided, and in went more palm sugar (gula melaka), and more chilli.
The wet market
All the ingredients we used that day can be purchased at my local wet market, a market that isn’t wet but sells fresh fruit, meat, seafood and vegetables. I also discovered belachan, coconut cream, assam (tamarind), dried chilli, dried prawns, a variety of bottled sauces and pink torch flower (which the stallholder presented to me for free). It makes a nice contrast to strolling down a supermarket aisle with a trolley.Now, my favourite purchase from my local wet market sits beside the food processor on my kitchen bench – a heavy, black mortar and pestle.
Peranakan food facts
There are regional differences in the preparation of Peranakan food. A dish from Penang could use more tamarind, making it Thai in flavour. One from Malacca might use more coconut milk, which is an Indonesian influence.
Find out more about Ruqxana’s classes at Cookery Magic
Learn about Peranakan Culture
Visit the Peranakan Museum
Sue Mannering is an ANZA member who contributes to the ANZA Guide to Singapore and the ANZA Magazine. She’s also the author of the Singapore Food Diaries blog.
Come and Train with ANZA Soccer
ANZA Soccer’s Head Coach Yakob and his professional team of coaches have put together an off-season training program open to both current players and other ANZA members. This is a great opportunity for kids to try out ANZA Soccer before the full season registration starts in May.
Sessions will be held on Thursday evenings from the 17th of April to the 5th of June. They will focus on soccer skills and fun scrimmages to keep the kids “fit to play” during the spring and early summer.
Click here to register or find out more about the program.
For more information about ANZA Soccer, please visit the Soccer Homepage.
Check Out Keong Saik Rd
This Chinatown neighbourhood used to be a prominent red-light district, but in the past few years, handfuls of fantastic bars, restaurants and cafes have sprouted up all over the neighbourhood – from spectacular cocktails to authentic Carribbean fare, and everything in between. Check out ANZA’s top picks.
1 Taratata Bistrot
35A Keong Saik Rd
Tel 6221 4506
taratata.sg
Owned by French chefs Philippe Nouzillat and Bertrand Raguin, this bistro serves excellent, authentic fare. The service can be very good too, and the black-and-white-tile décor with red leather recreates a Parisian dining experience. Esquina Tapas Bar
16 Jiak Chuan Rd
Tel 6222 1616
2 Muchachos
22 Keong Saik Rd
Tel 6220 0458
muchachos.sg
Muchachos has some of the best-value Mexican food you’ll find in the Lion City – the burritos are very large, very tasty and very reasonably priced (at around $12). The venue’s cool, too – think industrial black-and-white décor with exposed light bulbs.
3 Bartini
21 Keong Saik Rd
www.bartini.com.sg
This new addition to the street is the third iteration of the original Club Street bar. Formerly the Restrospective, you can expect top-quality cocktails and a good party vibe.
4 Lime House
2 Jiak Chuan Rd
limehouse.asia
Tel 6222 3130
Laid back, with a Carribbean vibe, Lime House has top-notch service and their Wednesday night 3-for-1 rum punch deal is hard to beat. Their menu also features favourites such as traditional Jamaican Jerk Chicken.
5 Mariko’s
4 Jiak Chuan Rd
Tel 6221 8262
marikos.com.sg
This Japanese restaurant is named after a fictional streetwalker, with minimalist styling and a well-priced menu – with interesting items such as Octopus Carpaccio and Miso Cod.
6 The Cufflink Club
6 Jiak Chuan Rd
Tel 9694 9623
thecufflinkclub.com
A very slick cocktail bar, albeit fairly laddish (Hemingway fans will feel right at home). It’s not uncommon for the dance floor to get busy later in the evening. Watch your wallet – the drinks can get expensive.
7 Tantric
78 Neil Rd
Tel 6423 9232
Good for a girl’s night out, Tantric has an awesome beer garden at the front which is usually jam-packed, giving the venue a house-party feel. An added bonus: they offer double house pours for $10.
8 Esquina
esquina.com.sg
Esquina started the ball rolling in Keong Saik, the first of its kind to open in the area back in December 2011. Created by Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton, this small restaurant isn’t cheap but has excellent food (not just tapas) and a great atmosphere.
9 Oriole Coffee Roasters
10 Jiak Chuan Rd
Tel 6224 8131
oriolecoffee.com
The coffee here is really good – up to the standard you’d see in Melbourne or Wellington. The décor features a funky arrangement of hanging light globes, and budding baristas can take coffee classes upstairs.
10 Burnt Ends
20 Teck Lim Rd, Singapore
Tel 6224 3933
burntends.com.sg
It’s best to arrive at this East-meets-West bar and grill early for a front-row seat. A long counter seats 17 diners shoulder-to-shoulder and almost face-to-face with the chefs as they do their thing – their huge kilns are something to marvel at, too.
11 Keong Saik Snacks
CLOSED
49 Keong Saik Rd
Tel 6223 0660
keongsaiksnacks.com
Another in Chef Atherton’s stable, this small intimate venue has amazing food and delightful wait staff. It’s more affordable than Esquina, and don’t be misled by the name – you can get proper sit-down meals here, paired with good wines.
12 The Library
47 Keong Saik Rd
Tel 6221 8338
From the outside, The Library looks like an innocuous glass-fronted room with a bookshelf at one end. But tell the bookkeeper the secret password (get it from Keong Saik Snacks) and you enter the bar – a dimly-lit speakeasy with some truly imaginative and spectacular cocktails.
Ann Siang Hill
With a rich ambience of the old estate, Ann Siang Hill is a delightful enclave of conservation shop-houses filled with plenty of local bars, restaurants and boutiques. Founder of Travelshopa, Renée Lodens gives her top nine picks on a day out along Ann Siang Hill.
1 Shots Café
Address: 90 Club Street Singapore 069458
Contact: 6224 9259
Website: www.theshotscafe.com
Café by day, bar by night; Shots Café serves everything from delicious coffee to organic colas and for those who want to party, tequila. Its lively vibe makes it an ideal meeting point for gatherings and catch-ups with friends. They also have a selection of sandwiches, pies, cakes and more for the peckish lunch crowd.
2 Mythology
Address: 88 Club Street Singapore 069456
Contact: +65 6223 5570
Website: my-thology.com
A multi-label boutique stocked with a curated selection of chic independent labels from all over Asia, a shopping trip to MYthology never disappoints. Owner Apsara Oswal has a natural eye for talented emerging designers and a visit to MYthology always promises a surprise, as new designs are constantly brought in on a regular basis. 3 Pistola
Address: 93 Club Street Singapore 069461
Contact: 6438 2185
Website: www.facebook.com/pistolasingapore
This Asian-Mexican eatery serves mainly burritos, tacos, quesadillas and rice bowls with a local twist. Coriander, Kimchi and mango salsa add an Eastern flair to the classics, and are a nice little treat for fusion food lovers too. Finish your meal with an ice-cream cookie or a corn cup with coconut for dessert.
4 Oxwell & Co
Address: 5 Ann Siang Road Singapore 069688
Contact: +65 6438 3984
Website: oxwellandco.com
With the rustic ambience of an old shophouse, Oxwell & Co has a certain alfresco charm that keeps you coming back for more. While they serve cocktails and light snacks on Level 1, head up to Level 2 where the main restaurant is situated. As they have limited seating, be sure to make reservations beforehand especially if you are thinking of heading there during weekends.
5 Swagger
Address: 15 Ann Siang Road #01-01 Singapore 069695
Contact: +65 6223 5880
Website: swaggerstore.co
A hidden gem on the charming Ann Siang Hill, Swagger is definitely the go-to men’s boutique that I would recommend to dress your man from head to toe. Offering custom-made apparel and handmade shoes that can be customised according to your personal preference, shopping will definitely excite them as much as women’s boutiques exhilarate us.
6 Scoop
Address: 19 Ann Siang Road Singapore 069699
Contact: 6423 1213
Website: www.thescoop.com.sg
Modeled on the classic press clubs of the world, Scoop is Singapore’s dedicated hangout for hacks and flacks, and also attracts crowds who enjoy dining in its journalism-themed ambience with drinks and bar grub. Enjoy a drink with some pizza, burgers or poutine.
7 PS Café
Address: 45 Ann Siang Road #02-02 Singapore 069719
Contact: +65 9797 0648
Website: www.pscafe.com
Tucked away at the very end of the street is PS Café, the ideal place to rest and relax after a long day of shopping. I always enjoy a nice afternoon tea and desserts here with a quick trip onto the roof for a glorious view of Chinatown and the CBD.
8 Aston Blake
Address: 89 Club Street Singapore 069457 (By appointment only)
Contact: +65 6337 3504
Website: www.astonblake.com
A savvy bespoke menswear label with a fierce eye for detail, Aston Blake is all about individualism. The local label also offers a myriad of extra services that adds a lovely touch of luxury. For instance, you will find made-to-measure services at no additional cost, as well as gift-wrapping and international delivery services, which makes sending a present to that special someone overseas all the more convenient.
9 Drinks & Co
Address: 44 Club Street Singapore 069421
Contact: 6222 2005
Website: www.drinksandco.asia
Drinks & Co. more than a your local bottle shop – though it does stock house spirits, and wines at the best price you’ll find in the CBD. Swing by on your way to a BYO shindig, or stop off with a group of friends to wind down over a bottle and a few nibbles.