Time for the food court

I remember the bemusement I felt on my numerous trips to Singapore, when Kit and I were brought to the Food Republic in one of Orchard Road’s malls, with the hosts telling us that some of the best food was to be had there. One, I rarely dine at food courts, because I know that in Kuala Lumpur at least, the standards are lackluster to say the least, abysmal to down-right puke-your-guts-out food poisoning for the worst case scenario. Two, I hate queuing for food. Self servicing is for dildos, not food! I have a reason for this hate of self service – I am exceedingly clumsy and have been known to tip a pan of sizzling noodles onto the tray, trying to set it on the table!

Food Republic is the largest chain of food courts in Singapore and they are supposed to have garnered all the best hawkers in Singapore. I guess in the draconian Lion City, setting up shop at the side of a storm drain is a big no-no. In Malaysia it is called ‘cari makan’. (For both the hawkers and the law enforcement officers who patronize the very stalls they are supposed to be policing).

Anyhow, the beef noodles I had at the Food Republic I went to was not worth the 15-minute wait. The hole-in-the-wall shop in KL city still has the best beef balls and my dear friend Evelyn has quite a few times bought me a take away of 50 balls to enjoy at leisure.

On Sunday Kit and I walked Berjaya Times Square. He was hungry and after aimlessly looking for a place to catch my eye, he suggested the Taste Of Asia. TOA is the new-ish food court at Berjaya Times Square and to give credit where credit is due, it really does offer a selection from around Asia. There was Japanese, Indonesian, Thai, a lot of mixed rice items from Malaysia, Hong Kong (why do I persist in thinking Hong Kong is a separate nation from China?) and Taiwan. As usual, the cuisine of the Philippines is the biggest outstanding miss from the SEA line-up (yes, I know Myanmar and is in the region too, but the junta does so good a job, even the food is suppressed. Not to mention repressed).

Vegetarian kebab - not much to look at but nice crunch in the mouth.

I had a vegetarian kebab for RM5.50. It was not country-specific, but it was Kyros and I have good memories of enjoying them with my mum when she used to work in the Pacific Bank in Wisma Hangsam. I’d visit her after classes and we’d walk across to Kota Raya for a kebab.
It still remains great. Crisp cabbage, sliced button mushrooms and pineapple with lots and lots of their special sauce in a crunchy wrap is a great way to eat veggies.

The best of the show, the Kim Chi Bi Bim Bab.

Kit actually asked me to order two of the same things at the Korean stall. That is so not me. Why eat one thing when you can sample more? I ended up ordering Kim Chi Bi Bim Bab for him (rice in a stone bowl with assorted vegetables fried with kimchi). It came with seaweed soup which was really tasty. The Bim Bab was very good too. Very hearty and appetizing, and very satisfying.

Not very appealing visually, and not as satisfying as it could have been.

My Kim Chi Jji Gae was a bit of a wash out. It was very sparse, with only a few strands of glass noodles and chunks of tofu in it. It was rounded out by some stray cabbage, and served with rice. It was red, hot and flavourful, but not really as enticing as the stone bowl rice. At RM10.90, I think the Bim Bab was better bang for my buck at RM13.

Our two bottles of mineral water caused us RM2 each, meaning I had less than RM20 left on my RM50 food card. Yes, Taste Of Asia is cashless. Eating there requires you to buy a card and preload it with an amount. After you have eaten, you can turn in the card and regain the balance. A little easier than fumbling with your wallet while juggling a hot plate. And yes, TOA does have a stall with hot plate specialties. But it’s self service so watch out if you see me with a smoking tray.