We love Singapore cabbies. On a good day, they’ll tell us things we don’t want to hear, but always find useful later in life while pondering a predicament. On a bad day, they still tell us things we don’t want to hear, but mostly about how their wives won’t sleep with them and they’ve had to go to Geylang to keep themselves sane. Other times, they’re in such a terrible mood they make our lives flash before us as they zip across the city Grand Theft Auto-style.
But enough about crazy cabbies. In our new Food Crawl in a Cab series, we aim to harness their experience and knowledge in our search for cheap chow in Singapore. Our first attempt (read below) didn’t go fantastically, but as with all cabbie experiences, it didn’t end without a takeaway.
After picking us up at Alexandra Road, Uncle Anthony from Comfort Delgro revealed, “Us cabbies will visit a place if we hear there’s good food to be found there. If we don’t like the food, we don’t return. We have some places we will always go to, but that also depends on convenience. For example, the porridge and prawn mee and Owen Road are good, but I only eat there if I’m in the area. No point wasting diesel and opportunity cost.”
Cabbie deets: From Comfort Delgro, picked us up at Alexandra Road.
Cabbie recommends: Marine Parade Food Centre, which he says has great variety and quality. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to taste anything from there because it was closed due to a scheduled scrubdown.
What we got instead: Watercrest soup from G8 Food Hub at 5 Marine Parade Central. Pumpkin rice was available that day for SGD1, as an alternative to white rice.
What we think: Meh. The stall staff was hospitable and polite with all their customers — sadly not a common sight in Singapore these days — but we regret to report that their soup was nothing out of the ordinary. Their pumpkin rice didn’t come with gastronomic surprises, either.
Cost: SGD5
Words of wisdom from Uncle Anthony: “Singaporean drivers are more discourteous and in a rush than ever before. The secret to avoiding trouble on the roads is to not be kancheong and to know where the speed cameras are.”
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