Urban Hawker in New York: Anthony Bourdain had the idea. How did this Singapore street-food market in New York turn out?

[Singapore Hawker Culture transplanted to New York]

Poached chicken rice from Hainan Jones at Urban Hawker in New York, on Jan 9, 2023.
Rachel Vanni/The New York Times

January 23, 2023


NEW YORK — Some people get excited each time New York City puts in a bid to host the Olympics. Not me. I think, “Who needs it?” The attention the Games bring may be helpful for Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, Los Angeles and other small, easily overlooked cities. But all I can think about is the traffic.

One plan I did support was the idea of building a sort of Olympic Village in Manhattan where top competitors from around the world could show off their speed and grace before cheering spectators. I refer, of course, to Bourdain Market, a gargantuan food hall that would have been modelled on the hawker centres of Singapore.

Brief Hotel Review - Late May 2019

In May 2019 we visited Tokyo (specifically Narita and Ueno) and Hokkaido for 2 weeks. Here are the hotels we stayed in and my brief "review" or impression of them.

Omotesando Street in Narita - The Street of Unagi Restaurants

[Not to be confused with the Omotesando in Tokyo, Harajuku which is a high end fashion street.]

Omotesando Street in Narita Town is the Street of Unagi restaurants. I have also heard the term "Omotenashi", which means "Public face" (Omote), and "Nothing" (Nashi), which together means to serve with nothing hidden in one's public face.

I am sure I am mangling the translation, so take this as a rough translation.

So the Unagi restaurants on Omotesando grill, and even prepare the live eels in full view of the public. There is nothing hidden. (Coincidence or intentional to the idea of Omotenashi? I don't know.)

If you are queasy about seeing your food prepared (and by "prepared", I mean "slaughtered") before your eyes, this is not where you want to be. Unless you intend to go to an Unagi Restaurant and order chicken.

Visiting Singapore?

As a Singaporean, I don't do travel tips for visiting Singapore.

But I watch videos of tips on travelling to Singapore. To see what misinformation is being shared.

And I nod at certain points. Or I laugh at some ridiculous misunderstanding and misrepresentation of Singapore's quirks or idiosyncracies.

Or get furious at some misinformation or outright lies (most likely just uninformed. They are not lies if the person really believes it) in the video.

So here are a collection of videos with tips for visiting or travelling to Singapore that I found quite informative (and mostly if not completely true). If there are any misinformation, I think they are quite minor and should not present any real problems.

Things you need to know before you go to Singapore. Singapore weather: Hot, humid, and rainy! Singapore Language: English (or Singlish!) Singapore Money: It's the Singapore Dollar -- bring cash! Singapore Laws: Don't chew gum! Singapore Food: Eat at the Hawker Centres. Singapore Public Transportation: Take the Singapore MRT, it's clean, fast and cheap! 

Brick House Furano

Have you heard of Furano?

I first heard of Furano when an Ekiben I bought proclaimed that the beef was authentic Furano Beef. I had no idea what was so good about Furano Beef but like a tourist, I was duly impressed by the marketing.

I found the beef quite nice. I am not a gourmand to be able to explain WHY it's nice or HOW it's good, but I liked it.

And that's how I heard about Furano.

I was looking for accommodations for our coming trip to Japan, Hokkaido, and was considering whether to spend a day or so in Furano. Maybe meet up with some cows. Get some authentic Furano Beef.

And that's how I found Brick House, Furano.

A comparison of Zoos - Ueno, and Singapore

First off, let me just say I'm Singaporean, and damn proud of our Zoo. And it is an award-winning zoo, so we have reasons to be proud of it.

But this is a comparison of two zoos, mainly because I have been to the Ueno Zoo recently (early Nov 2016), and returned to the Singapore Zoo recently (early Dec, 2016) and the impulse to compare and contrast was strong.

Anyway, these are just my impression, and, spoiler alert, I think the Singapore Zoo is much better generally, although there are some good points with Ueno Zoo.

Hotel Review in point form

As usual, I'll provide "+" for plus points, and "-" for negative points, and "=" for neutral points. Positive and negative points are personal and of course subjective. Review is based on one instance of stay at the hotel, so YMMV.

Features or attractions not used may not be mentioned nor rated.

Caravan Park overview - From Perth to Exmouth

This is a brief over view of the Caravan Parks we used, and the places we visited.

1) Sunset Beach Holiday Park (425 km from Perth, Britz, 4 hrs 40m), 21/7 (1 night). Powered Site. This park is right by the beach, with strong winds. The bathroom/toilets are accessed with a code. As it was only our first night, we did not need to empty our chemical toilet so I did not find out if there was a dump point.

The nearest IGA supermarket was about a 10 minutes walk. When we got there, we had dinner at a burger/fish and chips joint. The lamb burger I had was dry. The fish was like fish fingers. The chips were great (all the chips we had on this trip were great!) and we filled ourselves on that. But we cannot recommend the place (it is located with the IGA).

The walk back to the caravan park was in near pitch black darkness. It was bracing. Walking from our motor home to the bath was not as bad as we feared (cold, but not intolerably so). Rained during the night. The sound of the rain on the roof in the cold cold night, as we huddled and cuddled beneath the comforter was quite nice.

There was a drainage point for "grey water" at the site.