Living in a small city-slash-state-slash-country on a 724 square kilometre island has its advantages. Almost everything you need for comfortable living is a short train, bus or car ride away.
And when you feel like having a change in scenery, the airport has extensive regional and global connections to transport you to foreign lands.
Well, at least that’s how it’s supposed to work. That is, until Nature says no.
Theoretically, it’s now possible to fly again. But with all the uncertainties and inconsistencies in travel policies, we’ve decided to remain grounded for at least another year. Even as the miles expiry clock continues to tick mercilessly.
So, what’s the next best thing to do?
Live vicariously and watch YouTube videos of people around the world livestreaming as they wander around their own countries. Which made us realise that we should also enjoy the experience of being local tourists.
Alaturka Turkish & Mediterranean Restaurant
We chose Kampong Gelam, a heritage district near the CBD with a strong Middle Eastern vibe and numerous interesting shops. Our starting point was Alaturka Turkish & Mediterranean Restaurant, where we arranged to have a long and leisurely lunch with our good friends JM and SL.
The last time we met them was, co-incidentally, also at Alaturka. But that was only for a post-dinner dessert of kunefe and Turkish tea. We didn’t manage to linger and chat as they quickly exceeded their curfew and had to rush home.
Yes, parents with young children don’t impose curfews. They have curfews imposed on them. The tables are turned when the kids grow up to be teenagers. Life is fair that way.
This time, we arranged for a weekend lunch, thinking that they’d be allowed their freedom for more hours during the day time.
We managed to snag the cosy alcove table at the far end of the restaurant, complete with a frosted skylight and decorated extensively with colourful pillows, carpets on the walls and dried flowers hanging from the ceiling.
The main reason why we chose to return to Alaturka was because we saw what diners at other tables were having, and they all looked so appetising. That, and also because I really wanted to have their wonderful kunefe again.
All the items on the extensive menu sounded so interesting and exotic that it was difficult for us to decide what to choose. Luckily, they anticipated that most of their customers would struggle with ordering and created a one-page cheatsheet, aptly named “The Toast of Turkey”.
It contained their recommended dishes, grouped by courses, with specific menu suggestions for different party sizes. There was also an Executive Lunch Menu that looked interesting, but was only available on weekdays.
To help us narrow down our choices, we flipped through their hardcover menu, filled with full-page colour photos. Which you would have thought contained enough information for us to decide what to order.
I guess not, because SL suddenly stood up and started strolling purposefully around the restaurant. She glanced at what was sitting on the other tables, and then started discreetly pointing and asking our waiter to identify the dishes that caught her eye.
The rest of us were trying very hard to pretend that we didn’t know her. Let’s just say that it’s hard to be discreet when you’re in small restaurant and more than 6 feet tall. We ended up ordering the Meze Tabagi appetiser sampler, the Karisik Kebab grilled meat sampler, an eggplant Musakka and breads.
There was a short wine list at Alaturka and we ordered a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, together with a pot of Turkish apple tea. There was actually a Turkish red wine on the list, but I wasn’t feeling adventurous enough to risk ordering an entire bottle.
The food arrived in quick succession and looked as colourful and appetising as the photos in the menu. Portions were very generous and it was good that we had a large table to contain everything.
Although the table was a bit too large for us to hear each other clearly, and we ended up having to scrunch together at one end in order to chat comfortably. The next time we’re back, we’ll probably forgo the fancy alcove and stick with a simple table.
Choosing the sampler plates for both our appetiser and main courses turned out to be a great idea because it was so much fun trying so many different bites with such a wide variety of flavours.
The Meze Tabagi was especially interesting, comprising large ice-cream scoopfuls of different spreads and dips. I particularly enjoyed the three flavours of eggplant that showcased the versatility of the humble vegetable in the hands of a good chef.
We ended up having to stand up and walk over to reach the different dishes. Which actually made the whole lunch experience more fun, because it felt like we were having our very own private mini-buffet. It started to feel like we could have really been enjoying a meal at a restaurant in Istanbul.
For the next hour or so, we happily sampled all the items on our table and took our time drinking and chatting over juicy and smokey lamb kebabs, soft and spicy musakka and chunky pieces of chicken tikka.
Surprisingly we managed to finish almost all the food, except for the garlic bread that we had to eventually takeaway. I still hadn’t forgotten about the excellent kunefe, but there was no way that it would have fit. Another good reason to make a return visit.
We would have happily stayed for another hour, sipping on wine and apple tea, but there was a time limit per seating. Since the curfew activation call didn’t arrive, we decided to wander around Kampong Gelam to walk off our heavy lunch.
Shopping
It was drizzling slightly when we stepped out and the weather was uncharacteristically cool, making it feel even more like we were not physically in Singapore.
We stepped into many shops and bought many things, including pistachio baklava, assorted Turkish delights, fancy cookies, artisanal ice cream (Kochi yuzu shiso sorbet! Sicilian pistachio gelato! ) .
The Turkish evil eyes that were hanging all over Alaturka’s ceiling had caught SL’s eyes earlier, and we wandered around Kampong Gelam looking for them, but she didn’t end up buying any.
JM walked past a pop-up boutique and saw an ugly Christmas sweater in the storefront, complete with LED lights. No, the LED lights were not decorating the storefront, they were embedded in the sweater.
Yes, it was that ugly. Which, of course, made it immensely desirable.
Unfortunately, it was only for display and not for sale. So we spent a good twenty minutes browsing the shelves looking for a similarly ugly one, but nothing quite matched up to Will Ferrell dressed as Santa’s elf.
Ratu Lemper
After a while, we found ourselves at Ratu Lemper and I told everyone that this was a famous shop. The only problem was that I couldn’t remember what they were famous for. There was only one thing that could be done — walk in and straight-up ask them.
“Sorry, I know that you’re famous for something. But could I ask what you’re famous for?” went SL innocently. The super friendly cashier didn’t miss a beat and immediately replied that their most popular item was their lemper.
They had many different flavours to choose from, including chicken of different levels of spiciness and the cashier’s personal favourite, the mutton satay.
Which naturally led to a conversation about our respective favourite satay stalls — her’s was Haron Satay at East Coast Lagoon Food Village, and mine was Rahim Muslim Food at Chong Boon Market.
Between the four of us, we ended up buying quite a lot of lemper. We heated them up the next day, and understood why they were so popular. The fillings were packed with flavour and full of spice, especially the mutton satay version, which tasted like really good, well, mutton satay.
We continued wandering around Kampong Gelam for a while more until SL’s parking started running low, and we made our way back to her car.
Surprisingly, the curfew activation call still hadn’t come, so I suggested that we continue with our “local vacation” and head over to Tanoke for some flights of nice sake. JM is a fellow sake fan, so it was an immediate yes for him.
Marugen
I called Tanoke but unfortunately, they weren’t open and wouldn’t be open for another three hours. Likewise for Kabuke, their sister sake bar. We googled for sake bars in Singapore but many weren’t open during the mid-afternoon, but JM managed to find one that was — Marugen at Chijmes.
Marugen was more of an izakaya than a sake bar, but it did have a reasonably-priced sake tasting set at S$33 and lots of the usual Japanese snack foods to go along with it. I saw bottles of Juyondai (十四代) displayed on the top shelf of the bar counter, and started to get excited.
I asked the bartender if that was available as part of the tasting menu, and he replied that it was. But there was just one small problem. They had run out of supply and wouldn’t be getting any new bottles in the foreseeable future.
Looks like my quest to drink another glass of Juyondai that’s not exorbitantly priced remains unfulfilled, and will most likely remain unfulfilled until Japan is open to receiving tourists again.
We ordered three tasting sets, which translated to nine cups. And since there were exactly nine different sakes available that day, we asked to sample all of them. What our bartender did next was quite dramatic.
He went back to the bar, started taking out large 1.8 litre bottles of each of the sakes and lined them up neatly on our table. The sight of nine different bottles all together was quite impressive indeed.
He then started pouring out individual portions from each bottle, placed the cups three-at-a-time on small ceramic trays and served them to the three of us who were drinking. SL was the designated driver and had a refreshing non-alcoholic beverage instead.
We lost track of which bottle was poured into which glass and asked him how we could tell what exactly we were drinking. He immediately started arranging each bottle behind its respective cup, so that we could take photo records. It was a very effective and visual way of telling them apart, and added to the fun experience of having a tasting set.
The standard fried snacks that we ordered to go along with drinks were quite nice. There didn’t seem to be any other staff at the restaurant, and the bartender was absent the entire time from after we ordered food until he himself served us the food. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a one-man show and he was also doing all the cooking.
We spent another hour or so enjoying our drinks and conversation until it was time for JM and SL to head home for movie night with the dotter.
All-in-all, it was a wonderful five hours spent with old friends, feeling like we were travelling together overseas, without having to step out of the country.
In these extraordinary times we live in right now, it was a memorable experience and a welcome respite that we definitely plan to do more often.
