Singapore
United flight 1 (UA 1) has a morning arrival in to Singapore, which is ideal for food exploration if you have the energy-- you can beat the lines to the busiest hawker stalls. Gerard, who lives in Singapore, was eager to have an excuse to go to hawker stalls, so after everyone got checked in, it was off to Maxwell Food Centre for lunch. Some sort of Chinese mixed grill plate, xiao long bao and pork chop fried rice, seafood laksa, and milk tea filled hungry bellies, then the nearby Champion Bolo Bun's excellent pineapple buns for dessert were a great finish for the meal.
Gerard headed home after lunch, while I then made a very belated stop to the famed Fort Canning Tree Tunnel. Erick decided to tag along, which was kind of nice as standing in line for an hour (!) to get pictures in the tunnel would have been pretty boring otherwise. Not sure it was worth the wait per se, but as one of the final tourist sights in Singapore I had yet to see, was nice to finally cross it off the list.
Christmas dinner was at Colony; apparently high-end buffets are a big deal in Singapore, like Fort Canning Tree Tunnel, I had not made the time to try one until this trip. Not sure it was worth the cost (especially not with the Christmas holiday upcharge), but I can say it was very good. Four kinds of raw oysters, pre-cracked lobster claws, scallops, clams, prawns, and mussels dominated the raw bar, with sushi and sashimi backing it up.
A small-ish dim sum bar was off to one side, as was a juice and mocktail bar, then the center of the hot food area was deceptively small but loaded. Roast beef, ham, and turkey were the Western highlights, roast duck and BBQ pork were the Chinese highlights, lots of half-lobsters off the grill, a cooked seafood section, a whole section of Indian food, breads, and of course, a hot noodle bar with three kinds of noodles.
Went for the seafood first, which was delicious, almost overwhelming. Hard to properly judge the characteristics of all the oysters with all the other seafood, and had to save stomach space for the rest of the menu. Seafood laksa was excellent, har gow was top-notch, but those two items were probably the most skippable, as you can get quality versions of those lots of other places. Roast duck was a tad short of the best I've had, but still very tasty, and the prime rib was done juuusuuust right.
Sushi and sashimi were pretty forgettable, and too many plates of food later (including plenty of broccolini for veggies), the massive dessert station near the front of the restaurant was my last stop. Not sure it was actually a mille-feuille they served, but it wasn't bad, as was the half-macaroon thing. Honestly, dessert was probably the least-impressive part of the meal; maybe ice cream from the other side of the dessert station would have been the way to go.