Merlion

the iconographic merlion fountain at merlion park, singapore

The Merlion is a mythical, hybrid creature, part lion and part fish used to symbolize the city-state/republic of Singapore. The fish body harks back to Singapore’s ancient origins as fishing village—Temasek, which means sea town in the language Javanese. The lion head stands for Singapore’s original name — Singapura, which means lion city in Sanskrit and Malay. With that etymology resolved, on to the grub!

Merlion Restaurant is located at Southern Village in Chapel Hill. The menu features refined Singaporean dishes and street food alike, along with favorites from all over Southeast Asia. Sounded right up my alley from the start. My nose was running and my eyes watering in anticipation.

Our table began by ordering some Tiger Beer and Hot Fragrant Tea. The drink menu also features some pretty girly cocktails. Note: it was a very manly man with our group that dared to partake.

traditional miso soup w/ tofu; hot fragrant tea

The hot fragrant tea was truly fragrant. The scent was floral, but didn’t translate to the flavor. The flavor remained very tea-like.

Next up, our table ordered the Merlion Sampler, which came with veggie spring rolls, curry samosas, coconut prawns and dumplings. The prawns by far outranked everything else on the plate. I’d probably just order those and maybe the spring rolls on a return visit.

a little of everything

The table ordered a variety of main dishes. Here’s the rundown:

singapore laksa

This is my prized bowl of comfort. I was very pleased with my ordering, and experienced no dish-envy (that’s what you feel when someone out-orders you and you’d prefer to have his or her dish). The components of the dish are rice noodles in a spicy, fragrant coconut broth topped with egg, tofu, fish cake, shrimp and a sprinkle of laksa leaves. Laksa is common street food and comfort staple in Southeast Asia. It comes in many varieties and requires quite a bit of time and ingredients. The curry laksa I enjoyed was all about the broth. Shrimp, tofu, fish cake, egg were all great sources of protein, but it’s not about the protein in this dish, or the noodles. It’s about the simmering, complex liquid that’s spicy, sweet and tangy. I recommend siding toward the spoon rather than fork as you enjoy this dish. Spicy.

roti prata with chicken curry

Also a favorite street food, Roti Prata are crispy Indian pancakes. These were served alongside a chicken-potato curry. Mmm, more comfort food. Spicy.

mee goreng

Lesson learned: You cannot go wrong with street food. You will never go astray. Mee Goreng combines egg noodles stir fried with shrimp, chicken, sprouts, tofu puff, potato cubes, green onion, egg and spices in a tomato-chili sauce, garnished with lemon and peanuts. Spicy.

sambal shrimp and calamari

Sambal is spicy paste of chili and aromatic herbs. How pretty and refined—served on a big banana leaf. Spicy.

prawn mee soup

More noodles!—egg noodles and vermicelli, shrimp, slices of pork, fish cake and sprouts. Served with lemon and chili flakes to season to your liking. Spicy.

The pictures speak for themselves here. Each dish is colorful and so evidentially layered with flavors. Go to Merlion now, and enjoy.

It’s snowing in Southeast Texas…

I know. Truly bizarre. In my short 6 months in Houston, I have already seen a major hurricane blow through the city, and now I’m watching SNOW fall outside my window. Granted, it’s not sticking… but I never thought I’d see snow in a place where people decorate palm trees with Christmas lights (but that is a whole other blog entry… once I start my “Fugstalkers” blog) .

Naturally, this snow makes me want to eat 100% winter comfort food. Here are the cravings that were running through my head this afternoon: soup, grilled cheese, hot chocolate, warm cookies, etc. I decided on a recipe from the Eating Well for Two cookbook. The original recipe was for Curried Squash soup with chicken and spinach. I altered somewhat. First of all, I couldn’t find frozen pureed squash (and I’m not surprised: I didn’t know it existed until I read this recipe). I subbed canned pumpkin instead. Secondly, I decided to leave out the chicken. The man at the meat counter was taking too long (patience is not one of my virtues). I used chicken broth instead of the water the recipe called for, and I used full fat coconut milk instead of light. The recipe with my changes:

Curried Pumpkin Soup with Spinach

1 15-oz. can of pure pumpkin

1/2 c. coconut milk (I probably used a little more than 1/2 c.)

3/4 c. chicken broth

1 6-oz. bag baby spinach

Juice of one (smallish) lime

2 tsp. brown sugar

1 tsp. Thai red curry paste

1/4 tsp. salt

I let everything but the spinach simmer in a saucepan for about 10-15 minutes, and then added the spinach and simmered a couple of minutes more until it was wilted. It looks like wayyyyyyyy too much spinach for the amount of soup, but it will even out once it has cooked down. A note: when they say “Eating Well for Two,” they mean for TWO (or one appetite the size of LG’s). I will double or triple this the next time I make it. 

The verdict? So good! The curry paste added just the right amount of heat. This was seriously the easiest meal I’ve ever made. I think I have made it known before that I hate chopping things, and this recipe lacked that activity. I will definitely be making this many more times.