Singapore Breakfasts

My Singapore trip in late October was a big, fat fail in many counts. It was an incredibly frustrating experience, with some days chock-full of uncertainty (usually: "Where am I going to stay tonight?"). I was on a very tight budget that weekend, and for the first night I was even left alone, stranded in the Lion City with little over $200 and a description of six decent backpackers' lodges I could try  - an admitted miracle, as I received a call from the lovely Lee Ek from BackHome KL while I was waiting in the boarding area- at 10pm in a foreign land.

The Singapore Writers Festival, which I attended the first three days of and was the main reason I was in town, was a pretty fun experience. I met Lat, Philip Jeyaretnam, Edwin Thumboo. Literary folks.

[caption id="attachment_52" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="The ultimate highlight of the Singapore Writers Festival was meeting Lat, whose cartoons are a veritable national treasure."][/caption]

What I remember most fondly about the trip was my breakfasts. I had pastries every day, walking down on my own at 7am - when I did wake up at 7am, of course -, down from the Peninsular Plaza, crossing over to the building by (on? adjacent?) Capitol Theatre. A Singaporean I had met the day before gave me a short tour of the City Hall area, and she made a particular note to point out to me that the Capitol Theatre was part of P. Ramlee's legacy.

There was a bakery at Capitol Theatre, right at the corner, the pointy edge of the corner facing the mall that housed City Hall MRT. I was looking for eggtarts but failing that other pastries would just have to do. Butter buns, cream baguettes... things with cheese on top of them and things that didn't have cheese on top of them.

They were good. I was buying for three people on a budget, but a butter bun and a sweet cream baguette for each person along with a can of ice lemon tea only set me back about $8. Sure, it comes up to RM20+ when you convert, but for eight dollars for three people...

It felt like real breakfast.