Night time walk around Singapore

One of my favourite things to do when traveling in a new city is to go explore it late at night. I love late night walks, when most of the tourists have retreated to popular night spots and the streets have emptied. Singapore has a wonderful Promenade by the water with a fantastic skyline which is crowded with tourists in the day but completely empty at night with fabulous lights shining brightly in the water.

I walked with Megs and Rahul around the entire Promenade slowly taking in buildings, listening to Meg's stories about the time she worked in Singapore. She explained the history and the significance of the skyline. I guess it was just wonderful walking with my best friend taking in little details of the night. I was grateful that Rahul and her walked with me so late at night with barely anyone around. Once we got to the massive towers that balance a ship on top (the view from the top I hear is outstanding with an infinity pool and gardens in the sky), I saw the alien like structures of the Gardens by the Bay. I decided to go across the various connecting bridges and walk through the alien structures. Here I was, one in the morning, standing under these giant mystical and slightly out of this world forms. As Meg's explained that I probably liked these crazy supertrees is because they reminded me of my project in school- a whimsical and seemingly impossible home for an alien and a human. Though highly criticized, The Gardens by the Bay, are quite amazing.  For a country as small as Singapore, it continually invests in making beautiful public spaces, free to its people, for recreation that would capture their imagination. Gardens by the Bay is in its 1st phase, it probably has several years to go before all the plants grow on the structures and the vision is fully realized.

So before I get carried away telling you about all the things going on in my mind that very very late at night, let me share the photographs I took that night.

Perfect song for this magical city walk. 

Kaya toast, a slab of butter and some half boiled eggs

You would think I would know something about this popular Singaporean / Malaysian breakfast by now. But I did not till I sat at a little cafe chain called Toast Box after hours of walking through Bugis Junction Mall in Singapore and watched a young couple dip toast in half boiled eggs. They seemed like they had poured soya sauce and pepper in their eggs and the toast was thickly laden with butter and a jam. I was intrigued to the point I was unashamedly staring at them eat their snack. Seemingly breakfast food, people were ordering this late into the evening. Who says breakfast should only be eaten in the morning.

So the next morning I got my own Kaya Toast and coffee from Toast Box. I did not venture the half boiled eggs yet. And then that afternoon I stopped by another local cafe and bought the set breakfast for lunch. Yes and this time with the boiled eggs and soya sauce and pepper and all. It was quite interesting. The coffee in Singapore was outstanding. The best filter coffee I have had yet.
So what is Kaya toast. Well its a jam like spread made of coconut, eggs and sugar. Its got that warm curstardy taste to it. Its offset by a generous helping of salty butter on freshly toasted bread. Its like a bite of heaven in your mouth. It goes perfectly well with coffee.

Kaya toast became a popular breakfast in Singapore and Malaysia when local Hainanese people who worked on British ships serving jam and toast for breakfast adapted it into their own diet. So instead of serving toast with fruit preserves they made their own local version of coconut jam called Kaya.

I have to say, I loved this breakfast so much I had a Kaya toast almost every morning with my cuppa joe. At Toast Box, they several different kinds of toasts - I tried something called a Floss toast which is basically pork shavings on the Kaya served on a thick slice of bread. Yes you heard me right- pork shavings. Its an interesting combination - think bacon and syrup. They had a peanut butter too that seemed very popular but I did not try. I wish I had more time and more mornings in Singapore to lap it all up.

freshly baked bread, coffee and lots of eggs

Superb coffee

A slab of butter sandwiched between Kaya slathered toast

True to their word, the coffee was outstanding and so was the toast

the half boiled egg

Half boiled egg, soya and pepper. Not a bad combination

More Kaya toast

Delightful cup of coffee

Floss on toast and coffee and eggs

Oh yes! Half boiled goodness. Getting a hang of this breakfast

Floss toast: light shredded pork on Kaya toast- sweet and salty

Eggs once more

Peanut butter pastry

Some more cold coffee

The perfect breakfast song

Make some noise ONLINE instead!

Hello! Happy Diwali Y'all. I'm excited to see a much reduced playing of firecrackers though its not all gone yet. So we at Landor Mumbai (for those who may not know- but thats where I work in the day) decided to make a fun noisy online Diwali card that encourages you to make as much noise online instead. Also eat some awesome food today and play cards and win lots of money. Have a great year ahead.

So here it is- my favourite is making noise Gangnam style and the barfi song and ofcourse Manmohan Singh barely audible. Hahaha!
Just click on the image below or go to makesomenoiseonline and scroll your mouse slowly down and move it over each of the elements and enjoy the collection of sounds.

We also just adopted a little puppy. His name is Walter. And Walter is frightened of all the crazy Diwali noise. He keeps running frightened around the house trying to hide under everything. So here is for all the little animals that are suffering. Make some noise online instead!!!
'Ello Walter!

Karavalli at the Gateway- One of my favourites in Bangalore

Karavalli came highly recommended- especially by Mr. Fox. Since work got me to the Gateway, I decided to give it a try.  I usually don't like eating at the hotel restaurant I am staying at unless I have to but I was more than pleasantly surprised.

Well first of all the Karavalli is set in a charming Mangalore type house garden with a little pond. Its what Mr. Fox calls an urban oasis. Secondly, the service is outstanding, the staff is well informed and explain the cuisine beautifully. As a matter of fact I requested Mr. Vinod serve us each time I went there because of his knowledge of the cuisine and his wonderful demeanor. Third- in the past few months I made several trips to Bangalore and made sure I had at least one meal there. And let me tell you each time the food was flavourful and surpassed expectation. It is a hard thing to uphold quality, I have noticed in the hospitality business.

So what did I eat? Below is a visual poetry of my meals at Karavalli. Each time I tried to order something different. Let me tell you about my indulgences- fish wrapped in banana leaves, their chicken and lamb curries, banana flower vegetables, pineapple stew, beef fry, lamb legs (to die for), Kerala parotha, appams. Each meal started with a glass of hot rasam and bowl of fried papads. The flavours are a mix of all coastal cuisines- Goan, Mangalorean, Kerala. I love coconut curries and these made my heart sing.

I can easily say that the Karavalli is one of my favourite places to eat in Bangalore.

Enchanting outdoor seating

Lunch with the lovely Maddie

Always a great host- Vinoth

The Urban Oasis

With the Chef and Vinoth

A cold beer - the best accompaniment

Eating traditionally on banana leaves

Fried fish. 

Fish wrapped in banana leaf

Juicy!

Fried fish all gone

Rasam in a lovely cup

Beef fry- spicy and succulent

Pineapple stew and vegetable pepper stew

Payasam (ooh check out my nail polish)

Paan to cleanse your palatte

Just the kind of place that takes you away from all your worries.

Thank you for the brilliant meal.
I leave you with this song that went so well with this meal.