One of the great benefits of travelling to new places is discovering new foods and cuisine. Singapore is a never-ending-story when it comes to food, as on almost every corner of this mysterious country you can find foods you would not know of or have never tried before! I mean all types of food, meats, seafood, various types of rice and noodles, dumplings, sweat and sour, boiled, fried, steamed, you name it… Last week I went to discover the exotic fruit Singapore has to offer with a group of girlfriends, what an excursion it was!
Fruit markets are very popular in Singapore, not only among tourists, but actually you can spot a lot of locals going there and enjoying the great variety of fruit on a regular basis. The fruit markets have tables and fresh water, they serve fruit and drinks so they are like small outdoor ‘fruit bars’! We saw many of them in the Gaylang area and they were all quite busy. The must-have in every fruit stand is DURIAN, a very special fruit I came across with already, and let me say: yak!, a fruit of special importance to South East Asian, they call it a ‘king of fruits’ here. Its distinctive odor is unforgettable, locals consider it fragrant, but I think it’s very overpowering and somehow offensive as it is very difficult to get rid off once you are around it for too long! Let me also remind you durians are forbidden in all kinds of transport, you can pay a fine is you are caught with it in the train or other public places! Well, those who are durian-lovers please forgive my resistance to ever falling in love with this part of Asian culture, I found other exotic fruit I came to enjoy and unfortunately, they are not durians…
So we chose one of the biggest food markets in Geylang; we ordered coconut drinks and a few types of fruit to sample, we sat down and started the exotic fruit tasting feast! We tried dragon fruit, mangos, rambutans, longans and mangosteens! These were amazing, juicy, sweet, fresh, rich in antioxidants and most importantly, so delicious!
Dragon fruit, also known as Pitaya fruit, is one of the cactus species with creamy sweet pulp inside. It is very nutritious and has very intensive color, beware as it might stain your clothes! You can find dragon fruit with red/purple or white pulp. Yummy!
Rambutans are vivid red fruit covered with hairy spikes that taste a little bit like lychees. To me they looked like ‘hairy fruit! They have white juicy flesh inside which is very sweet yet refreshing. Very original flavor I must admit!
Longans, also known as ‘dragon eyes’ because their shape and size, are small, hard, round, their shells are brown and thin. They are quite fun to open, as they are very juicy and the shells are firm, so it is not easy to get to get to the fruit especially to the first-timers. The fruit flesh inside is also white and sweet…
Mangosteens we tried are purple and have thick shells (there are also yellow ones, but we didn’t try them at the time). When you peel them you find white juicy flesh inside. It’s sweet and very refreshing! It’s called the "Queen of Tropical Fruits", it is one of the most popular tropical fruits in South East Asia and, contrary to what the name might suggest, they are not related to mangoes at all. They do not taste like mangoes… Mangosteens were my favorite fruit of the evening! Definitely, you need to try when you visit Singapore or any other neighboring country!
After all those delicious fruit we were all full and high on sugar. I cannot wait for another discovery trip like that! So girls, what are we discovering next, lah? We did Singapore Sling, Japanese chocolates, vegan food, exotic fruit, what about the famous Singapore chili crab and seafood, can?
