After three months of living in Singapore, my proclivity for restaurant and hawker center food has started to wane. There is a natural desire to explore the various foods and places you hear about, but ultimately one starts to think about nutritional content. (The healthy eating craze really hasn’t hit Singapore yet – it takes some work to find tasty, fresh and/or healthy cuisine, unfortunately). I start to miss home-cooked meals made from organic produce and fresh food found at farmers markets, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s.
One girlfriend had mentioned the Marketplace at Tanglin Shopping Center as a good place for food – nice produce, fresh meats, wide variety of cheeses and breads, etc. I had stopped there before Louis’ arrival to pick up a light dinner – salami, cheeses, veggies, baguette, almond wafer cookies and basil. This light supper clocked in at about $80…mama mia!
Another girlfriend had mentioned Super Nature organic store so that is the focus of today’s adventure. It’s in the middle of Orchard Road near Tomlinson and it’s hard to find, in the bottom of a condo/office building. The selection is divine – the whole store practically is organic, and they have many familiar brands – e.g., Amy’s soups, Paul Newmann sauces and salsas. They have essentially every food item one could possibly want that is organic, gluten-free and other such specialty items. I also am cheered by the music – it seems they are playing the soundtrack from Austin Powers, as I spend most of my shopping bopping along subtly to that sixties-sounding melody that plays during the intro or credits.
Not totally surprisingly, the prices are high … but they are higher than I thought. Produce runs anywhere from 10-40$/kg, two pounds of free range chicken thighs for 40$, wild salmon at about 80$/kg, organic juices for 20$/bottle, Paul Newmann pasta sauce for 10$/jar. Still, a good find and one I’ll revisit.
I pick up rich red organic pears, two cans of Amy’s soup (I justify that the price, while high, is the equivalent of a meal and one that is way more nutritious than fried fish and rice), two large jars of peeled organic tomatoes from Palermo, a jar of organic baked beans (not sure why, just sounds good) and a bag of organic Turkish figs (a bit of a splurge at 13$). Total bill is just under 50$, which seems reasonable. I talk myself out of a second splurge, a jar of Italian chestnut jam with rum, sugar and spices priced at 16$. I even take the bus both ways, for a total of 1.50, instead of paying 15$ for a taxi.
A successful journey but still determined to find more options...
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