I am almost sure that no other place can beat the Peking Duck from Dadong Roast Duck in Beijing but one can only keep on looking. Being in Singapore, we get access to lots of very good Asian dishes and of course Chinese food is the most spread around. Chinese food can be pretty broad but there are a few very typical dishes that are easier for “westerner beginners”. Peking duck is my favourite one of them. Whoever’s been to London and had horror of those restaurants with brown birds hanging on the windows should read on.Those birds are typically duck that are roasted and cut to perfection to bring out the best flavour of each section.The very skilled chefs firstly cut rectangular pieces of the skin and serve it with sugar. Then the more juice meat is served sliced with thin pancakes, cucumber and sweet sauce. The rest then can be cooked as a stir fry with vegetables, rice or noddles. The restaurants in Singapore follow pretty well this recipe but there are better places to have it. Say no more to dry dark shredded duck meat from Chinese take away in the UK and welcome the good stuff!

Cassia at Capella hotel in Sentosa: by far the absolute best experience. The place is beautiful, the hotel amazing and the service terrific. The duck is also fantastic and goes for a very reasonable price. I totally recommend it.

Paradise Pavillion: this is a kitsch looking restaurant inside an office building off Marina Bay. The duck is excellent but the service in English is a little difficult. I would also recommend this one but know that you will have very little assistance. You should be good given that all you need is the Peking duck

Min Jiang @ one North: this restaurant is at Rochester Park so it has a beautiful setting. Problem is that it is pricey and the duck is not very good. The skin is not as crispy and the meat not as tender and has less flavour as the other 2 here. I would definitely not recommend this one.

The journey of finding the best Peking Duck in Singapore will continue on but for now this is it. Enjoy!

Path to Tanjong Beach

Day1: Sentosa Island! This is a man made resort island with attractions for all tastes. This is where Universal Studios is and lots of other truistic stuff to see. But that is not the plan. Our plan would be to go in the morning to Tanjong Beach. Beautiful beach with a nice relaxed beach club. Very good for dogs. (http://www.sentosa.com.sg/en/beaches/tanjong-beach/). Lunch at the Capella Hotel – best hotel in Singapore. We can savour their special lunch menu of dumplings or Pequin Duck. Excellent view, food and service. While you are in Sentosa, why not pampering yourself with an afternoon spa. The Spa Botanica has amazing facilities and services. You can enjoy an afternoon in the different pools, jacuzzis or mud bath followed by a scrub and massage to relax after a long flight. (http://www.thesentosa.com/spabotanica-en.html)

Day2: Marina Bay area. Go around the beautiful bay, have a quick look at the Merlion, ArtScienceMuseum and extravagant Marina Bay Sands. Then head to Gardens by the Bay and perhaps enjoy an Afternoon Tea inside the Flower Dome at the lovely Pollen. (http://www.pollen.com.sg/#!/experience). From there head for an unforgettable sunset at 1Altitude @RafflesOne. (http://www.1-altitude.com)

Arab Quarter

Day3: Culture time! Start by China Town to savour a typical Singaporean breakfast at Maxwell Court. Rice cake or carrot cake are highly recommended (both savory dishes). Have a look around the amazing architecture and if you are really into t stop by URA to see an free exposition about the evolution of Singapore. Temple of the Tooth, Club St and little streets around will provide a nice contrast from sky scrappers in the financial district. From there head to Arab Quarter. Walk around the street and do NOT miss Haji Lane. Adorable little area. If you up for totally local food check out Claypot chicken rice at a local stall or a murtabak at Zam Zam's. After that head back to China Town for a well deserved drink at at the Screening Rooms. This will give a whole new perspective to roof tops in Singapore.

Botanic Gardens

Day4: Time travel in Tiong Bahru. But before that, why not earn the food of the day. Go for a walk at the Henderson Wave and if you are brake enough walk up the path to MountFaber (highest point of Singapore). Tiong Bahru time! – This is a the 'cool' area of Singapore. What used to be a run down area full of prostitutes now is very chic with little cafes, boutiques and cool art shops. Certainly worth breakfast/brunch at Tiong Bahru's Bakery for their special caramel pastry. On the way back home, stop by the Botanic Gardens. Dinner at Dempsey Hill is just a stroll off the gardens.

Chewa

Day5: Pulau Ubin. This is what Singapore used to look like less than 100 years ago. Get a little boat and arrive at this unspoiled island where you can go for a cycle or do a typical cooking lesson. On your way back, stop by at Changi Hawker Center for a feast of local amazing food. After all this nature why not stop by the so famous Orchard Road.

Day6: Zoo! Apparently you don't need to be a kid to love this place. I haven't been but it is supposed to be incredible. If you are feeling wild you can even book in for a Night Safari in one of the other nights.

Now I realized that this is not anymore a stop-over in Singapore. Sorry but there is so much to do and so much to see that it gets difficult to choose.

Enjoy!

Singapore used to have a lot of food carts on the streets that were ran by immigrants from China, Malaysia and India. A few years back, the government took all of them from the streets and put them spread across the island in food courts. These food courts have a clean water and sewage so this initiative enable clean street food for the community and visitors. And above all, it is ridiculously cheap. For 10SGD you will eat like a king!

The Hawer Centres are everywhere from fancy Raffles Centre to suburbs. It all depends where you are and how 'local' you can bear to go. Be prepared to share a table, use plastic plates and brave the heat with NO air conditioning or napkins.

They are maid of a combination of food specialists. I say that because these people have been cooking one type of food or some times one dish for their whole lives. They cook each dish to perfection or at least a lot of them do.

The most famous dish in Singapore: Chicken Rice. Tian Tian for example is No1 Chicken Rice but Wee Nam Kee is pretty amazing too and they have several outlets.

Other very famous dishes that are not to be missed are: murtabak, roti prata, Chili Crab, Laksa, Sweet n Sour pork and Satay.

Recommended Hawker Centres in order of fanciness:

• Gluttons Bay: anything is good here. It was chosen by food critics of Makansutra guide. The diference here is that you eat by the Marina Bay. Wee Nam Kee is supposed to have one of the best chicken rice.
• Food Republic @313 Somerset. Have handmade noodles done by this guy. So thick and delicious.

• Maxwell Food Court: Tian Tian!!!! And go at lunch time to catch the lady that makes Malay sweets called Ondeh Ondeh! Little coconut gummy sweets to die for!

• Bukit Batok Food Court: our local Not to be missed. Prata and Murtabak are amazing here and a mst stop for our guests.

As the locals would say: Makan! (Eat on!)

sorry we have been extremely bad at keeping up with the posts. Reason: we moved! We have been living in Singapore for the last few months and we will be here for the next foreseeable future. This means that the next posts will be mostly about our adventures in this side of the world. Hope you enjoy it!

To start off our South East Asia journey, let me register here the key things about Singapore. These will be the topics that you will see me talking about in the future posts.

• People: what a melting pot! We will try to capture here some of the interesting things that we learn about this fascinating mixture of cultures that is Singapore.
• Food: needless to say, Singapore is a paradise for foodies. Because of its location and immigration, here you can find food from anywhere in the world! So far the places we like to eat the most are the Hawker Centres.
• Parks: it is very true that this is a City in a Park. There are so many parks, gardens and nature reserves that you can get lost in nature throughout your whole stay. Some are good for a stroll, some for flower watching, others for proper hiking and others to stay away from…at the end of the day, this is still a tropical country with all sorts of wild life.
• Cultural Sights: because of the Chinese, Malay and Indian influence, in Singapore you can find very interesting places to visit. Mosques, temples, Little India, China Town, Arab Quarter. All with its own beauty and keeping true to its origins. Walk around Little India on a sunday and you will really feel like you are in India.
• Modern Sights: Singapore is a super modern country that got developed exponentially in the last couple of decades. Because of that you can see shiny new constructions all over the place. Special ones are of course Marina Bay, Gardens by the Bay, Orchard Road and Sentosa.
• Glimpse of Paradise: despite the modern feel around the CBD (Business District) you can still find pockets of Paradise in and around Singapore. Cross to the very end of Sentosa Island to have a spa retreat in a tropical jungle or go to Pulau Ubin to cycle in the wild.
• Night life: anything from sky bars to karaoke bars. Here you will find whatever you are looking for.
• Travel: from Singapore one can go very easily to places like Bali, Indonesian Islands, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and and and. The list is huge.

Hopefully you will enjoy Singapore as much as we are.

xx