Hainan Chifan Ebisu Garden Place
27 May
It’s been a while since I posted something Singaporean on my blog so today I’m going to talk about what is possibly Tokyo’s best Singaporean restaurant, Hainan Chifan at Ebisu Garden Place. I think Singapore Seafood Republic in Shinagawa is pretty good too so let’s put both of them at a tie — if you are homesick, just head over to either place, and they’ll fix you right up.
This dinner felt like a “food tour” for my non-Singaporean friends, because in true Singaporean style, we over-ordered due to greedy eyes and grumbling tummies. Brooklyn-based Singaporean food writer Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan says it like it is, “Ask any overseas Singaporean and they will tell you they miss the food more than the people.” How true – ha.
Of course we had Tiger beer and you’ll be surprised to know that it’s considered a premium lager loved by Japanese and other foreign folks. Tiger is kind of like super cheap beer in Singapore and it will give you a banging hangover — at least that was how I remembered it five years ago.
Satay – authentic.
Stir-fried garlic kangkong, or kushincai in Japanese, which was a universal take on any stir-fried Chinese veggie, so I would say it was good.
Tauhu goreng – very yummy but it didn’t really look like how I remembered it to be which is a more liquidy sauce. This looked like it had rendang sauce on it but it was a scrummy peanut sauce over a fried tofu and cucumber salad.
“Black” carrot cake (black sweet soy sauce fried with radish cakes) — delicious but not very authentic because of the bean sprouts and other veggies.
Lontong – hmmm, this was good but it tasted like laksa. I think they used the laksa pre-mix to cook this dish but it sure satisfied my laksa cravings…I wouldn’t hold this against them because they do look very similar and it’s a restaurant in Tokyo, not Singapore, so no Singaporeans injured themselves while eating this (no head bashing against the wall nor did we pass out from indignation).
Chicken rice — apparently the star of this restaurant. I did try it ages ago when I first arrived in Tokyo so I can say it’s pretty authentic and my other Singaporean friend in attendance can vouch for it too.
Prawn noodles — authentic. I didn’t have this but my friend said it was quite close to the real deal all things considered. But yeah, they slipped in a boiled egg to make it more Japanesey and labelled it as prawn “ramen” (because most ramen bowls have boiled eggs). I wonder where they got the prawn stock from or if they made it from scratch…
Fish head curry — this was more Chinese style than the super sour and spicy assam type fish curry. Again, I don’t eat fish so this was just what my friend said. And it was good.
Goreng pisang — you can’t go wrong with deep fried banana fritters and this was a winner with everyone around the table.
Durian ice-cream — it was my favourite though it didn’t have a pungent durian flavour. It was probably made with durian candy sticks and toned down for the delicate Japanese palate.
And a very sad looking mango pudding in the shape of a Merlion — this is like the default “Chinese” dessert in Japan which is kind of awful if you ask me.
Bur bur cha cha — brave but “not quite there”, which means it wasn’t very authentic. It was basically coconut soup with bits of beans and jelly strips or mochi things…I couldn’t tell.
Anyway, it was fun “educating” our foreign friends on what Singaporean cuisine is like. As an expat, you sometimes accidentally fall into the position of a haphazard ambassador for your country. This question always tickles me, “Why does carrot cake have no carrot in it?” and people are always amazed that the Little Red Dot is smaller than the JR Yamamote Line. The kangaroo thinks it’s pretty special he’s dating a Singaporean because there are only three million of us on the planet. Singapore is a quirky place if you think about it…
What strange things have you had to explain to foreign friends about Singapore?













































