8 April 2011
Din tai fung
This morning I set out to the new area of Singapore called Marina Bay. I guess its not technically new but it has been developed significantly recently.
The Singapore formula 1 grand prix is focused on this area, as is the new casino.
It is of course, not quite finished, like practically everything in Singapore, so when you get off the train, you are in a building site in the middle of nowhere with signs saying no footpath.
Theres the promise of a new station, and a mall that will connect to it is largely complete, but largely empty, yet the train station doesnt exist yet.
So its a bit of a walk past construction sites to the casino area. Surprisingly, this is still under construction as well, despite having been open for a few years now, it is an impressive facility.
I didnt go in the actual casino, I felt underdressed enough just being in the vicinity in the malls etc. as there were clearly a lot of very wealthy people hanging about.
I did however finally get to go to Din tai fung.
Heres where you get off the train
The casino is in the distance, theres a free shuttle bus but it looks like a nice short walk. As you are probably aware, the casino hotel is 3 towers with an island on the roof connecting them.
Theres a forest, pools, restaurants and nightclubs up there on the roof. You can pay $20 to go up and have a look if you want.
At night they shoot lasers across the city from up here.
The nearby mall is deserted. Most shops arent leased yet, however I had read that if you wanted to get into a Din Tai Fung, this is the place to go. I get here soon after 11am and am surprised they are actually open!
I was excited. Despite the early time as I was there it pretty much filled up, mainly with business people, all before 12. As I left there was already a queue. Its a good thing I decided to have lunch at 11am!
Dumplings came first. They were fantastic. The skins seemed very thin, yet strong and soft. They make them in the store, you can watch the chefs (who all go to Taipei to get trained) rolling out the flour etc.
The chef who rolls your flour and forms your dumplings, steams them, and brings them out to the table.
I also had the beef soup, the beef was absolutely superb.
Despite being in a food court, and my meal costing about $13, this is a michelin star rated establishment, as well as being rated in the top 10 restaurants in the world by the new york times. I believe its also the cheapest michelin star restaurant in the world.
I probably wont ever get to go to El bulli or the French laundry, so this could be the only time I ever get to go to such an awarded place...unless I go back tomorrow!
This is the impressive, but very upmarket marina bay sands mall.
It has lots of water running through it, I think theres some special fountains etc. but they were off. Probably not finished!
They arent really as high up close as they appear from afar. Still the roof deck is impressive.
I am almost certain this was a real Ferrari F1 car. There was a guard and all sorts of warnings about not photographing it, so I lingered outside the door until the guard wandered away and took this snap. Up close it was very impressive, lots of strange jagged edges on the aerodynamics.
The other Ferrari stores I have seen have had a formula atlantic/renault/some other lesser formula chassis painted up in Ferrari F1 colors (London, Paris).
Much like the Hong Kong mall from 2 weeks ago, the Singapore mall has an ice skating rink. Its not overly popular.
This is quite a cool pedestrian bridge.
For whatever reason they have constructed a floating sports arena with quite a large stadium along side it. Its a football pitch now, but fake grass. I dont know what they could actually use it for?
OK, one more photo of the casino. The building that looks like a flower is I think, an art gallery.
The city. It all looks very new, none of the buildings look like they were constructed before 2000.
The singapore flyer, I believe its identical to the London eye.
Typically, Australia tried to build one too, in Docklands in Melbourne (a horrible place to be avoided). It took years to construct, they turned it on, it made half a turn and the main bearing seized. They couldnt fix it, and years later they are still trying to work out how to tear it down!
As I had lunch already quite early, I decided to get a snack, a custard cube, a chocolate brownie and the best milk tea ever, this one had both tapioca pearls and grass jelly.