My Fish Ikasumi Curry

April 21, 2007: We went to a local coffee shop on Jurong West Street 41 and had a curry fish head for lunch on April 20 (yesterday). It was a sweet-sour Chinese fish-head curry simmered with some sweet pineapple. The coconut milk was not smoothly blended into a smooth gravy but it tasted good somehow. I do not think I'd go there another time because I prefer my own home curry dish. I did enjoy going to the vicinity where the coffee shop was located, though. The provisional shops offer countless varieties of wares- and they make up a colorful buzzling area. I came back again today.

At CK store, I bought a value-pack of MagicClean (KAO) sheets for SGD 9.90. It's SGD2 cheaper than Meidi-ya's promotion price but I realized it was manufactured a year and a half earlier in late 2005. I also bought two pairs of cotton boxer shorts for home use. It's cool; I suppose boxer shorts are unisex stuff. Then I passed an Indian woman selling fresh curry paste at a rather dark corner among the rows of shops and got 60 cents-worth of fresh cumin, chili, galangal, and all the colorful aromatic spices all packed into a bag. She shortchanged me - meaning that I paid SGD 1 for that bag.


At home on April 22, I bought squids and red snapper from the fishmonger and then a bag of freshly grated coconut,lemongrass, ginger, red local onions, and coriander at the wet market. While cutting the squids, I'd this idea of mixing the squids and their ink into the curry. I expected good results since the Italians made use of squid ink for their delicious stew and ravioli. Indeed, nothing was not a let-down at all and was given the boost with a B & G Chardonnay 2004. For Vit-C intake, I opted for the bitter gourd. It was a perfect meal in the tropics.

Muslim Indian Food

On Friday March 17, I picked up some freshly baked naan, kaldi prawns and dhal. My food order was inspired by Song Khim's gift of emping belijau - one of my favorite Indonesian snacks. It has a bitter aftertaste, which I think makes it good accompaniment to spicy food.

My favorite take-out place is Al-Ameen Tandoori Cuisine on Upper Bukit Timah Road. The shop itself has expanded two to three times over the years. It is serving naan 24 hours! Upper Bukit Timah probably started to draw in a more cosmopolitan crowd thanks to this North Indian eating place. Before it was a 'piang' (unfashionable, rural, bad-taste) quiet row of unsightly shops.

The owner, a chubby man flashing some gold jewellery, is always behind the cashier counter counting the endless flow of cash, and he speaks no English. He looks like a rather new Indian migrant to me, and his assistants are all his kin. This exemplifies a small Indian diasporic community.

The cafe is always packed with foreigners of different origins in the evening. The spirit of the scene is reminiscent of that reflected in the picture taken by Gilles Massot at the Maneeswara Hindu temple in Singapore. (I hope he won't mind me using his pix here.)