4 nights in Singapore during Chinese New Year – Year of the Fire Horse. Restaurants were very busy with celebrants enjoying Yu Sheng, a must have salad that involved the whole table standing and tossing the ingredients high in the air to bring good fortune.

We maybe would have done better if we’d planned in advance but we had some great food anyway.

We started with La Pau Sat, at 130 years it is the oldest Hawkers Centre in Singapore with 69 food stalls and 8 satay stands outside on Satay Street.

The prawn satay were delicious. 2 SGD a piece.

We added a vegetable biryani, some paneer tikka and the biggest naans I’ve ever seen.

Tips on Hawkers Centres. Bring some cash, not all vendors accept credit cards. Bring tissue packets to save your table and wet wipes to wipe up the table first and after. You must clean up when your finished or you could face a fine.

Raffles Long Bar – No trip to Singapore would be complete without a visit to the home of the Singapore Sling. In 1915 ladies weren’t allowed to drink alcohol so the bartender created a drink that looked like a fruit juice. At 42 SGD, it’s the most expensive cocktail I’ve ever had. Bags of peanuts are on every table are included and you get to toss the shells on the floor or maybe enjoy tossing a few at your favourite person.

Dinner at Ce La Vie is one of the ways you get access to Level 57 at Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The food wasn’t fantastic. I really liked the tempura flower tempura with wasabi aioli and the turmeric foam on the miso eggplant was the best flavour of the meal. The halibut was blah, it’s hard to impress someone from British Columbia with halibut. David really liked the truffle risotto. The shimeji mushrooms were really good.

Violet Oon Singapore is rooted in Peranakan heritage blending Chinese, Indian and Malaysian flavours. We couldn’t get a reservation at the National Gallery location so tried Dempsey Hill, a former British Army Barracks now featuring hip, upscale food and entertainment .

The room was warm and inviting.

We both loved the Gado Gado. It doesn’t look exciting. Boiled potatoes, steamed cabbage and green beans with tempeh, fried bean curd, cucumber and boiled potatoes don’t sound like much but add the sweet and tangy peanut sauce and your hooked. I’m already working on my recipe.

Cod in creamy laksa sauce and sambal eggplant were both very good.

The service started out very good but descended into chaos before we finished. I think the National Gallery location would have been the better of the two.

We still had chili crab to try and we were having trouble getting a reservation. Our concierge suggested a place frequented by locals No Signboard Seafood Restaurant on Geylang Road. It was an experience. At one point a car drove through the restaurant, to a parking lot out back.

There are no pictures of the chili crab, it isn’t an attractive dish and looked daunting when it arrived. Large bibs and plastic gloves were provided. If we ever go back I’m trying white pepper crab, many people told us it was their favourite. I think I’d prefer it.

We did manage to guzzle down a plate of prawn chips and chili sauce and some other mystery snack before we even saw the crab.

We went to visit the Budda Tooth Relic Museum. It was right behind the Chinatown Complex Hawkers Centre. Trenganu St, a historic pedestrian street runs right between them and is full of multi cultural stores and food stalls. We had excellent samosas and I discovered that I love coconut water.

Food is a big part of travel and Singapore offers everything 165 Michelin Selected affordable restaurants to 3 Michelin 3 Stars options. It’s a fascinating place and I’d love to return someday.