foodie.tv

Well!  Economy class airline meals aren't ever going to be a good benchmark of a cuisine - but picture this:

Air Lanka from Colombo to Kuala Lumpur & Singapore:
Breakfast:  3 plain roti with dhal, chicken curry & pol sambol, and tropical fruit salad (papaya, mango, canteloupe, pineapple)
Lunch:  Dry curry fry of potato, pea & other assorted vegetables in a chewy bun

Qantas from Singapore to Melbourne:
Dinner: Grilled chicken breast with steamed green beans, whole roasted baby potatoes, green salad with vinaigrette dressing and fruit salad.

I know which meals I'd choose any day hehe..!!

Fortunately Euge and I had anticipated the spectre of BORING FOOD (arrrrgggghhHH!!!!) and taken urgent preventive actions.  On the 4 hour stopover in Singapore, we visited Sim Lim complex to check out some IT hardware.  On the way out, with little time to spare, we stopped by a little store outside the complex to order takeaway - just a simple salt fish fried rice & a mee goreng.  Ooh..and my nostalgic Sarsi to go with that :-)

Hop into a taxi just 10 steps away and ask taxi driver if permissible to eat in his pristine car.  He smiles and assents (must get crazy requests like this all the time from tourists - after all this is Singapore! where food is still - if not the best in Asia and therefore  the objective of foodie tours, then - at least  a  very  bad idea to miss out on while in Singapore) 

Anyway Euge and I happily chomp through our serves, comparing notes and eventually swapping dishes, then swapping back.  Happily, the pickled green chillies I'd observed in the window at the takeway were right there, tucked away in a little bag beside the piping hot rice.  And Euge gets a half-orb of juicy lime to squeeze over his mee goreng - the essential touch.  Yum.  Euge declares it the best mee goreng he's ever had.  My fried rice isn't half bad either - better than any I've had in Australia anyway (strange to say, but the salt fish was fresher ~grin~)  Well if this is our verdict from a no-name, randomly selected outlet, imagine the upside.

Anyway, arriving at the airport we thank our driver for allowing us to stink up his car.  "No problem", he grins, brandishing a can of air freshener..."I'm prepared!"  Obviously not the first tourists to beg his indulgence hehe...

So you see, it wasn't half so bad when that boring chicken landed on our meal trays somewhere over Indonesia.  We just smiled philosophically at each other, polished off the salads, and tuned in to the excellent inflight entertainment.  :-)