True Singaporean food is hard to find but tucked away in downtown Toronto is a gem of a place called Merlion.
In case you didn't know Merlion is a reference to the city-state's symbol – literally a stylized sea lion ("mer" being "sea" in latin). The Merlion has the head of the ferocious beast but the body of a large fish.
Merlion is only a few months old. The problem is that it tends to disappear in the cavalcade of restos lining the Dundas Street part of Toronto's downtown Chinatown. The décor is simple, recalling tropical scenes and tables topped with vibrant batik cloths.
RUN, don't walk to this place! I urge you to devour its spicy, gorgeous food.
Its chicken satay is appropriately well-seasoned with garlic, chilis, coriander and cumin and the peanut sauce is so good, you'll want to preserve it to dump on your rice.
The Char Kway Teow - rice noodles fried with shrimps, sausage, egg, fish cake and beansprouts – has the perfect amount of stuff. The salty sausage interspersed with enough egg, shrimp and veggie that it's a meal-in-one. It's the same with the Hokkien Mee, yellow noodles fried with similar ingredients.
Much of the dishes from Singapore borrows from a mixture of Chinese cultures (teochew, Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien etc…), Indian foods and Malay cuisine. Expect a deep well of spicy foods and a rainbow of flavours.
SOYA MILK LIKE MOM MADE
As you can imagine, it's heavy on the seafood so check out the Fish Curry with okra and tomato or the Spicy Fish in Banana Leaf and most of all, the Oh Luak – oyster omelette. Also due for a tasting would be the Crispy Spicy shrimp, done in a way that you will have to eat the shell and lick your fingers as it is dressed in sambal sauce. As well, the Singapore Chili Crab should give you untold pleasures.
My other fave plates from Merlion include the simple Hainanese Chicken Rice (a steamed rice and chicken dish with dipping sauces), Teochew Duck, stir-fried sambal green beans, Chicken Curry and the Blachan Kangkong. Kangkong is sometimes referred to as water spinach or tung choi. It's a hollow-stemmed, dark green veggie that’s chockfull of vitamins. The blachan or belachan, is a dried chili shrimp paste used in much of the cooking in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
One of the best things about Merlion is that it serves home-made Soya Milk as well as Chendol and Teh Terrick - neither of which I will explain but urge adventurous types to try.
I've eaten Merlion food three times now but would love to go back for more. Specifically, other dishes that warrant a tasting: Sambal Egg, Popiah (roll-ups), Ipoh Hor Fun (rice noodles), Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), Sambal Mussels and the eggplant.
Makan, Makan!
