Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
30
Tokyo's Tsujiki fish mar ket ev ery day .
Other than sushi, plenty of places special-
ize in cooked foods including noodles,
delicately fried tempura, and hearty dishes
like
tonkatsu
(br eaded, fried por k, rather
like Wienerschnitzel).
fruit to the r ed and hair y rambutan, they
are all wor thy of a tr y, either whole or
juiced.
Dare to tr y it if y ou will: The fr uit to
sample—the v eritable king of fr uits—is
the
durian,
a large green, spiky fruit that,
when cut open, smells worse than old ten-
nis shoes. The “best ” ones ar e in season
every J une, when S ingaporeans go wild
over them. In case you're curious, the fruit
has a cr eamy textur e and tastes lightly
sweet and deeply musky.
One inter esting note on fr uits: The
Chinese believ e that foods contain either
yin or yang qualities with corr esponding
“heaty” and “cooling” effects. According to
Traditional Chinese M edicine ( TCM)
practitioners, fried and oily foods ar e
heaty, pr oducing heat in the body , and,
therefore, should be kept to a minimum in
the Tropics, and the same is tr ue for some
fruits. Whereas watermelon, star fruit, and
oranges ar e cooling, mangoes, litchi, and
durians are heaty. Taking too many heaty
foods is believed to result in a fever, aches,
and sore throat, for which the best remedy
is to take Chinese tea.
SEAFOOD
One cannot describe S ingaporean food
without mentioning the abundance of
fresh seafood. B ut most impor tant is the
uniquely Singaporean
chili crab,
chopped
and smothered in a thick tangy chili sauce.
Pepper crabs
and
black pepper crayfish
are also a thrill. Instead of chili sauce, these
shellfish ar e ser ved in a thick black-pep-
per-and-soy sauce.
FRUITS
A walk thr ough a w et market at any time
of y ear will sho w y ou just what wonders
the Tropics can pr oduce. Varieties of
banana, fr esh coconut, papaya, mango,
and pineapple ar e just a fe w of the fr esh
and juicy fr uits av ailable y ear-round; in
addition, S outheast Asia has an amazing
selection of exotic and almost unimagina-
ble fr uits. F rom the light and juicy star
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