Chinatown and New Foods continued

Prior to heading out to Chinatown, Morris and I had to enjoy some delicacies right at home on Cluny Park Rd.

As you know, Deb broke her toe earlier this year. As a result of the injury she received a number of fruit baskets. Within each basket, there was fruit and, as in all good fruit baskets there was: oatmeal, birds nest and essence of chicken.

As it was the middle of the afternoon, we did not partake in the oatmeal. (Who eats oats after 12:00?) But we had to sample the birds nest and the essence of chicken.

According to Wikipedia, birds nest is:

is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swifts are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup. The edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nests are composed of interwoven strands of salivary laminae cement. The nests have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium.

And essence of chicken here is: “Essence of chicken with abalone extract.” The sample here is made from “pure abalone extract together with the finest selected chicken.” Our bottle was prepared using “traditional double-boiled method, giving it a very flavourful taste.”

Both foods help cure the ill and, in the case of essence of chicken, it is “particularly suitable for a highly stressed lifestyle – from work or family commitments.”

While I don’t seem to have the family commitments at the moment, my non-working lifestyle seems to be quite high stressed, so there was no doubt I was going to try the essence of chicken.



However, as we say here in Singapore “In for the Essence, in for the Nest.” We sampled both. The verdict?

Birds nest, which includes “natural” sucrose in its list of ingredients, was not too bad. If you drink it without chewing the gelatin parts (of the nest), it is a sweet, thick liquid.

Essence of chicken tasted like thick soy sauce. I hope my family commitments do not become stressful so that I don’t have to drink the essence as a daily supplement.



In Chinatown, Morris and I met a few locals and a few Filipinas enjoying an afternoon without work. A good time was had by all.



If all goes well, Morris may be back in town in April to celebrate the birthday of our new friend, Jamal. If so, Morris (and I) will try to stay on Jamal’s good side as he told us one of his friends is a big time criminal who has no problem causing harm to those who deserve it.







Bjm 10.30.08