This is embarrassing. I haven’t updated this blog for two months.
Both June and July were hectic for me as I took a trip to Hong Kong and Singapore, then I had to follow up on many things after I returned from the trip.
My trip was so packed that I was exhausted when I came back to the US, but I managed to have some fun. Yeah, you guess it right, the fun was often food-related.
It was my first time visiting Hong Kong and Singapore as a vegetarian. This gave me a very different perspective on the food scene in both cities. Hong Kong and Singapore are infamously food-obsessed, and although I’m a Hong Kong native, Singapore seems more veg-friendly to me.
I was in Singapore for about 36 hours. When I wasn’t doing business or meeting with people, food was top of my mind as I checked out food places around the city. Kind of crazy.
If you’ve been reading this blog, you know I love Indian food. I made a mental note before the trip that I must try Singapore’s Indian food. I've never been to India and won’t go in the near future, and Singapore is as close to India as I could get for authentic Indian food.
My hotel was in Little India (that’s partly why I picked it), so there were tons of Indian vegetarian options as I walked back to the hotel from the subway station. I followed my Lonely Planet guide’s recommendation and picked Komala Vilas Vegetarian Restaurant. Housed in an old building probably dated back to the early 20th century, the restaurant felt pretty traditional.
The moment I sat down in it, I knew I was at the right place. It passed the golden rule of ethnic restaurants: the percentage of customers from the ethnic group represented by the cuisine should be as high as possible, and I was probably the only non-South Asian there.
The restaurant serves typical South Indian food (like dosas and vadas, but google to find out how it’s different from its northern counterpart served in most US Indian restaurants). I was starving and quickly ordered a paper dosa. The menu was mostly text and I didn’t bother to find out what many items were exactly.
The dosa came quickly on a stainless steel plate along with coconut chutney and sambar. Like any good dosa, it was warm and crispy. The chutney was excellent and I quickly finished my serving. The server carried around an interesting contraption that linked two bowl-sized containers together and he spooned more chutney from one of them onto my plate. Then I got a idly (steamed lentil and rice cake) plate with the condiments and they were equally good.
Komala Vilas is known for its Indian sweets. I happened to sit next to the display case for sweets and couldn’t keep my eyes off them. I know there are many different types of Indian sweets, but this was the first time I saw the variety. Most were bite-sized and shaped like a ball or bar, and contained nuts or dried fruits. I bought a bunch of them to take back to the hotel.
The final check: about S$12, which was very reasonable, and only because I got too many sweets.
Ball-shaped Indian sweets with coconut in them
Assortment of Indian sweets, many of which had a strong milky taste
How did I like the sweets? Though I profess to have a sweet tooth, I can’t say I like Indian sweets much. The sweets I bought were dense and had too much milk or butter/ghee in them. I had to drink water to wash away the milky taste in my mouth. I was glad that I tried though.
More to come on a Singaporean franchise I had planned to try before I stepped on the plane to Asia…
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