This past Sunday's Washington Post Travel section featured a great story for foodies about Eating Well on Singapore's Seedy Side.
It brought back memories of visiting the various food stalls around the city and sampling everything on offer.
The author, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan described the scene at Sin Huat quite adeptly:
The place also has an especially bare-bones setting, even by coffee-shop standards:
On the night we went in June, the restaurant's lights would periodically flicker and go dark for several long seconds before coming back on.
Our table by the grimy, greenish fish tanks also offered us front-row seats to the sweaty cooks reaching into the tanks up to their armpits to scoop out shellfish whenever a customer placed an order.
My first impressions and fondest memories of Singapore will always be tied to the food scene.
I discovered I could enjoy soup for breakfast and savor the stinkiest fruit known to man (durian).
I also learned an original Singapore Sling at the Long Bar will set you back close to $20 and just because a restaurant looks like a dump, doesn't mean it won't be prepared to charge you $35 and up for fresh crab and noodles.
Ironically, I thought to myself at the time, I'm not even a fan of crab!
While both experiences cost more than I expected, it gave me a chance to enjoy a few spots featured on Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations."
The unassuming Sin Huat Eating House was the scene of the crab feast.
It sits across the street from one of Singapore's red-light districts, a fact that Ian, my Couchsurfing host, mentioned to me when I first gave him the address.
