They were in SINGAPORE!

"Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" was on TV last night. Bourdain is a bestseller author and chef. He travels extensively to savour the various food of the world. And last night, he went to....SINGAPORE!

For a bestseller chef to praise the food of Singapore, it really means something. He said, "Singapore is a culinary nirvana."

"So it was another day in foodie paradise. And that is Singapore's singular danger. It is easy to get sucked in, to get used to the little things on your daily table, the tiny dishes of sambal or chopped red chili peppers, the soy sauce, even the moist towelettes. You begin quickly to expect them, to take them for granted. And once you get used to the sights, sounds, smells and tastes, there is no going back. Western food becomes eerily bland and flat. You find your soul kidnapped by the memory of condiments". (http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/travel/tmagazine/24singapore.html?pagewanted=3&ref=tmagazine)

Yes, sometimes, I wonder why some are willing to pay so much for an ambience where you can only whisper to each other, use the ever complicated bling, bling cutlery sets... only to eat food that are served in amounts not even enough to fill the tiny corner of my stomach. When there are so much more to enjoy out there.

In the programme, Bourdain went to various food courts, kopitiams (coffee shops), zhi cha stalls (mini restaurants that operate out from a coffee shop)...to try the different dishes. Gosh, the food sure looked exceptionally good and delicious. There were 'tulang'(stewed lamb bone marrow), mee-pok (dried noodles), chilli crabs, roasted pork, beef and mutton rendang, satay, Maxwell Road famous chicken rice...

I can list no more, I am salivating (slurp, slurp)