At Lau Pa Sat Festival Market, Singapore

Researching online where to find the best food in Singapore, I found that the best advice always given is to eat where the locals eat. And Lau Pa Sat Festival Market is one such place. It's kind of an open food court with plenty of different choices.  When the Komikon group and myself went to visit on the evening of September 1, 2012, many of the stalls were already closed, but thankfully enough, many were still open.

It didn't make the choice any less difficult though, as we really had absolutely no idea where we wanted to eat. But there were a few of us who were just crazy to taste the world famous Singapore Chili Crab. After speaking with one of the local servers and getting nowhere, she called her boss who just happened to be Filipina, and it made conversation much easier.

After much discussion we decided to yes, get the Chili Crab, but we also wanted to try the Barbecue Stingray, Chicken Satay, some kind of noodles, and some kind of veggies. Sorry but I don't remember what they were called anymore, ha! ha! The veggies look like Kang Kong, but I think they're actually "Kailan" or some local equivalent.

Our server suggested we just go to a nearby grocery to buy our drinks as it would be far less expensive.  I still think it's unusual that drinks aren't served where you buy food, but I guess I'm just not used to it. Locals I'm sure think this is how it's always done, and will be similarly confused when they visit the Philippines.

Anyway, after around 20 minutes our food arrived.

Barbecue Stingray and Chicken Satay

Some kind of noodles, some kind of greens.

Unfortunately, I was so crazy hungry by this time that I failed to take a photo of the Chili Crab. Actually, I didn't even get to taste it so much aside from the sauce, which was just delicious.

The Chicken Satay was just amazing. The last time I ate something like this was in 1989 in Jolo. I always craved to eat it again ever since. I never knew it would be in Singapore I would taste it again. As with Satay, it is the sauce that really makes or breaks it. And the sauce is probably the best I've ever tasted. It's crazy. I bought a bottled version of this from Rustans some months ago, and it wasn't this good.

Still hungry, I got a big chunk of stingray and ate it. It tasted like fish, but an awesome kind of fish. I then ate the greens which also tasted so good. Some 30 seconds later, my mouth started to burn. HOOOLLLLEEE CRRRAAAP did my mouth start to burn. I took a drink really quick and my scalp started to sweat. The heat wasn't going away. In fact, I felt it increasing. I had to get something colder in my mouth. I ran for the grocery and got something cold... anything cold. I wish I could say my mouth was literally on fire, because it's not literally on fire, but it certainly felt like it.

Back at the table I stared at the stingray and man, I wanted to taste it again because it was so good. But I wasn't sure I could take the heat of it. I decided to scrape off the sambal topping, taking as much of it off as I can. It still tasted awesome, but it still burned, I couldn't believe it.

I don't understand how people could actually eat something this hot. I'm sure they're used to it, but do their mouths still burn, do they still sweat? Do their noses still get runny? The spiciness of it went beyond what I'm capable of, which kept me from fully enjoying the taste of it, unfortunately.

I didn't even attempt to try to noodles as my mouth was just to singed by this time.

All this time I thought I could take spicy food, but I had no idea what spicy really meant until I ate this food. I like to think of it as a challenge. I will try to get used to it by slowly increasing the spiciness of my food. Hopefully by the time I visit Singapore again probably next year, I'll be eating this still without a problem, and hopefully loving it!