PURVIS STREET

Next to Seah Street is Purvis Street which offers even more eating opportunities. Without question the 'king pin' is Gunther's ... Singapore's #1 contemporary restaurant under Chef Hubrechsen Gunther of Les Amis fame. This extremely talented but unassuming young chef from Europe has single handedly redefined top end dining in the city state. He is easily at par with any fine dining chef in Hong Kong, in my view. I especially like Gunther's set lunches which are always full of surprises and delightful. Top end eatries are not on my agenda this visit so I passed.

Next to Gunther's is Girabaldi where I only had drinks previously. I found the bar extremely pleasant, and the drinks menu avant garde. I also checked their menu but my sources said the food is authentic and creative.

Further down the road there are more places including an obviously old chicken rice joint with big Chinese characters 'Chicken Rice' printed in blood red, the name is Oi Kwan or Chou Kwan, something like that. It might be worth a try lah, just to see how and why it survives even though I seldom see customers there. There is also a Thai Bistro, whatever that means, and a local pastry shop. If you are gamed, try the Hai Ji Tea Restaurant. Its claim to fame is they serve genuine Hainanese grub, all cooked and served by Hainanese or descendants of Hainanese. The debate as to whether Hainan Chicken Rice actually came from Hainan Island, or is it the genius of a Singaporean chef is still alive but ask the folks here, there is no doubt whatsoever it is indigenous Hainanese. That said, the 'must order item' is not chicken but the Lamb Soup. The lamb is slow cooked, with juicy and flavorful meat almost off the bone, and the soup is beautifully strong with ginger, fungus, tofu skin, and water chestnuts in it. Too bad winters do not exist here as this is what our older generation labels 'stomach warming cuisine'. As to why it is always so noisy at Hai Ji, I was told it is only Hainanese dialect in play.

Come to Purvis in the morning and I bet you can have breakfast, lunch, tea, drinks and dinner all in one day on this boulevard in downtown Singapore. I shall do that, some day.