Singaporean cuisine has becoming more and more familiar as a lot of restaurants have been offering them and more restaurants are put up which claims to serve authentic Singaporean dishes. One of them is Singapore Food Republic by Nasi Lemak.
The restaurant is proud to say that they are the only authentic Singapore restaurant in Manila with a Singaporean chef. Ingredients are also imported from Singapore. Singapore Food Republic was established by Singaporean chef and entrepreneur Mr. HK Tan together a Filipino business partner. Located along 4th Ave in Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig and has been serving tastes of Singapore since 2011.
The restaurant is very spacious perfect for family gatherings or after work meet ups. The serves are dresses in a traditional Singaporean dress wearing a smile.
If you don’t know what you are ordering they will gladly explain them to you and also recommend what best partners with. You also will get Singapore eating 101 to best experience the taste of the Singapore dishes you ordered. Ordering a food you like is easy but knowing how to eat it correctly/properly is a different story. We do have “how do we eat this?” moments.
The restaurant serves a wide variety of dishes such as those listed in CNN Travel’s “Top 40 Singapore Foods We Can’t Live Without“.
The Singaporean dishes served proved that they deserved to be in the topped 40 list. Starting with Kueh Pai Ti – this eye candy is a combination of fresh ingredients topped with prawns served in a mini cup-like shells and chili sauce. It’s a mouthful of surprises.
Crispy Baby Squid is one familiar appetizer. It tastes like the usual crispy “dilis” or crispy “pusit” that you can buy form your local sari-sari store. It taste sweet but not as spicy as you the ones you can buy from the store. It’s super crispy and caramelized which makes it sweeter. It maybe too sweet for an appetizer.
Thai Style Tofu – It’s tofu covered with special breading, then deep fried to perfection. The deep frying didn’t reach the tofu inside. The tofu was cooked but not fried.
Satay Sticks – Singapore’s version in barbecue, available chicken and pork. It has a curry taste and goes together well with its peanut sauce.
Lemon Grass Seafood Sticks – It’s made of shrimp, fish and crab sticks. It’s very delicious, something new to my palate.
Char Kway Teow – I’ve had my taste of this before and frankly they all taste the same. This one is no exception, nothing fancy but this is everyone favorite and remains to be their best seller. It has chili, soy sauce, Chinese sausage, bean sprouts, chives, prawns and egg.
Singapore Laksa – My favorite of all the Singaporean food I’ve tasted. It’s noodles. prawns, and fishcake cooked in curry soup. Their version isn’t as spicy as expected, just the right degree of spiciness.
Indonesian Beef Rendang is best eaten with the the green rice you see with the photo. I just forgot what it’s called. It’s beef cooked in coconut milk with ginger, chili, turmeric and lemon grass.
Malaysian Chicken Curry was inspired from the chef’s regular visit to Malaysia and was considered one of the best dishes in town.
Fish Curry is a huge bowl of curry Maya-Maya or the Snapper fish. Fish is really tasty and was cooked just right. It wasn’t soggy like what I expect if you cook fish with curry as it requires a lot of time.
Singaporean Chili Crab – cooked in a rich blend of tomatoes and chili and is served with deep fried mantao (bread). Although it’s called chili crab the level of chili is tolerable, nothing to be afraid of.
Bah Kut Teh – Pork ribs simmered for hours in a clear broth infused with the essence of different herbs and spices. Served with dark soy sauce (concentrated soy sauce) and chopped chili.
Hainanese Chicken Rice has been served in restaurants but no one actually tells them how to eat them right. I honestly don’t know what to do with it’s three sauces: pounded ginger, chili with garlic and premium soy sauce. The soy sauce is to be mixed with the rice, not too much. Then the other two are placed on top of your chicken before devouring them.
Sago Gula Malaka is one of the desserts served. It’s sago molded with caramel served with coco sugar. Take a piece of the sago then scoop the sauce from the bottom. I’ve eaten more than one, that’s how good it is.
Onde Onde – not to be mistaken as pichi-pichi, it has a taste and identity of it’s own. This one has to be eaten as soon as served. What you do is put it in your mouth but don’t chew it, you squeeze it and let the melted coco sugar filling burst and let the flavors mix in your mouth. You can’t have just one.
