*A very Singaporean National Day*

Regular readers of my blog or those who have had conversations with me will have had at one point or other heard my little rant about a lack of a true Singaporean Identity that was not embodied in some material aspect or other e.g. Food, HDB flats or the Singapore girl etc. The fear naturally is that it is entirely possible to replicate the Singapore Experience, if not Singapore itself overseas, and nothing that truely sets us apart ideologically or existantially.

But anyhow, I will still readily admit that food in Singapore is a very cultural thing. Not simply the dishes themselves e.g. Char Kway Teow or Chilli Crab but the entire social aspect of it and our quest for ever better Fishball Mee Pok. Hence, it was entirely appropriate that today, my mother and I visit two places of food heritage and had pretty decent lunch and dinner. The first is Lau Pa Sat (Festival Market), gods know why there's suddenly this tagline to go along with it. There I had decent (taste wise that could best be said about it) and cheap Dim Sum. Four dishes and a Big Chicken Pau cost $9.80, entirely reasonable. However, I was sorely disappointed by the chicken leg which was bland, and tasted only of oil, terribly terribly sad because that has got to be my favourite dish. The Har Kow (which had no whole shrimp) and Siew Mai were decent. The pork tasted good but was oily and the pau was simply okay.

For dinner, we went to Glutton Square! The food was good (BBQ Stingray and 'La La'), cheap and portions generous. Admittedly, nothing to scream about because you can get really good bbq stuff in clementi. Furthermore, you had to wait in line to get the food which was okay coz they were fast but even so, quite a hassle compared to your neighbourhood Kopitiam. The queue for the oyster ommellet was insanely long, but the oysters in them were huge and the price more than entirely reasonable so I could see the attraction. However, since I only eat the egg, no enticement lah!

Well anyway, Happy 39th Birthday Singapore! Cheerios!