Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: East meets West in A Tropical Garden City

I’m writing this blog post for Foodbuzz’s “24 Meals, 24 Cities, 24 Blog Posts” event, a first ever real-time, global “live blogging” event featuring 24 food bloggers (including me!) who will all be blogging on the same day about their meal experiences the day before. I was totally surprised, and happy, when I found out that Foodbuzz has counted me in to be part of the 24. Thank you, Foodbuzz! This is a photo essay on my gastronomic adventures in the Singapore Botanic Gardens Vicinity.

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The last time I went to the Botanic Gardens was years ago… I have always wanted to go there for a picnic, but B and I always managed to find some excuse at the last minute. Our idea of regular exercise and nature = playing golf or tennis … on Wii! =P We need to do something about our unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle! So after pulling the life support from the computers & TV and hiding all the game consoles, we considered seriously, for the first time, about getting a real life … i.e. real fresh air and sunlight (sans the handheld game consoles and laptops) and of course, we won’t forget the good food – alfresco style (no eating sloppy meals in front of computer screens or tv).

First stop: Japanese Food at Greenwood Avenue

I’m not rich but hey, I’m eating in a rich neighbourhood today! (cheap thrill =p) Btw, the car parked outside Raku is not mine. =P

First stop of our food-trip-cum-Botanic-Gardens-Romantic-Escapade, Raku Japanese Restaurant located at Greenwood Avenue. I have heard raves about the place and I have always wanted to try the food. The restaurant is situated in a posh, quiet district, and as we approach our destination, one can’t help but be taken in by the calming charm of the neighbourhood.

We ordered the ala carte buffet and we weren’t disappointed with the quality and authenticity of the food! We stuffed ourselves silly with the food. For the sake of art and food porn, we sacrificed our waistlines by ordering a vast array of food in small portions. Lookie at some of the food we ate!

Glorious Japanese food at Raku (L to R) – Unlimited sashimi, fried oysters, fish porridge, cod fish with spicy roe.

More Japanese goodness (L to R): Grilled mackerel, assorted sushi, tempura, Japanese clear soup, chawanmushi, salad, soft shell crabs and ebi fry with wasabi mayo.

Salmon skin with fresh salmon maki

Best agedashi tofu I have eaten!

Soft Shell Crabby

Second Stop: French affair at Bukit Timah Road

Wait… where’s the picnic? Don’t worry, the full feast of Japanese food we just had was just the entrée, now we are heading to buy some food for the picnic! (my waistlineeeeeee :P) Just a mere 5 minutes drive from Raku, we popped by Choupinette (means ‘sweetie pie’ in French), a French bakery-deli located next to Coronation Plaza.

French pastries from Choupinette - Food for our picnic
(food photos taken at Botanic Garden)

We bought macarons (all flavours of it!), a loaf of olive bread with herbs, strawberry chou-chou and some brownies. Complete with Perrier water, no less.

Why did we choose French pastries? Besides the fact that they taste oh so good, they are so small, so cute, so colourful and so photogenic too, don’t you think? They are great practice targets for outdoor food photography, for nothing beats natural light from Mother Nature.

Don’t they look lovely? Now that we got our picnic food, we are ready to move on to Botanic Gardens, also another 5 minutes away.

Third Stop: Botanic Gardens (yes, finally!)

The picnic food that went into our bottomless, elastic tummies =P

Macarons love ::-*:

What’s a picnic without a walk in the park? We weren’t the only one enjoying the park. Dogs, swans, kiddos, families, dating couples, joggers, tourists, budding photographers and the elderly were all taking in the fresh air, vast spaces and lush greenery. It was a day when everyone is relaxing and having a good time.

I seldom do outdoor photography so this was a chance for some practice! =P

Little boy pushes a pram

Some sights at the Botanic Gardens

Dreamy girl on hammock

So that concludes my adventures at the Botanic Gardens vicinity. I really enjoyed the good food, fresh air and the sun! Now that I have eaten my fill, I have to work out (real sports, not wii) to burn off the extra calories I consumed today =P

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I realised from looking at all the other 23 participating bloggers, that I was the only one from South East Asia. So perhaps you wish to know a little bit more about Singapore:

• Singapore is tiny: It’s just a red dot on the world map. It takes about an hour to drive from one end of Singapore to the other.
• Singapore is a city-state: And because we are so small, we have to fill out travel immigration forms as “Singapore, Singapore” for the field “State, Country”.
• Singapore is a tropical country: Due to our proximity to the equator, we do not have the 4 seasons. Yes, we get the sun 365 days a year. Our weather range from hot & humid, to unbearably warm, to warm with occasional rain, to hothothot! =P

Since we have to live with this type of weather for the rest of our lives, we might as well make the best of it, by basking in the sun more often (with glorious food) … right? :wink:

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(Update)
Foodbuzz’s 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs Round Up

Related Blog Post:

- Food Review: Raku Japanese Restaurant

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