Don’t miss Chia’s Vegetable Supply: You’ll know Vic Chia by the jazzy show tunes blaring from huge speakers above his stand, and his otherworldly displays of truly esoteric Asian edibles. Hit Tekka Centre-at the edge of Little India-early, and fill up on piping-hot roti prata and masala chai at AR Rahman’s stall, then peruse the aisles of exotic fruit and veg. There’s no sign and no bell just walk in.Īlternatively, you can go old-school experience a combination food market/hawker center that is quintessential Singers. Finish up with a gimlet at the Lion City’s original speakeasy-style incumbent: 28 Hong Kong Street. Neon Pigeon's chef-owner Michael Goodman is a New Yorker by way of Bali, and he definitely brings it in his open kitchen (before you go, ask for a vial of his 'Crack Salt'-sea salt, togarashi, and yuzu, blended into an umami dream). Then, head over to Keong Saik street for a small-plates feast at groovy, slightly rowdy Neon Pigeon order the Southeast Asian-inflected izakaya. Cocktail hour is on the rooftop of the Club Hotel, recently renovated to super-chic effect, and it's conveniently located in the dead center of town.

Singapore doesn’t show up on too many 'world's-best' lists but if you’re a diehard foodie with a globalist’s palate you’re in the right place. Just across the bay, the city’s shiny new National Art Gallery is slated to open November 24: It will encompass a formidable 60,000 square feet and will showcase one of the world’s most comprehensive and impressive collections of Southeast Asian art. A causeway winds around its breadth, dripping with ferns and pitcher plants, and it's wreathed in a cool mist no matter how steamy the equatorial temps get outside.

The man-made, 100-foot-tall mountain within it is home to dozens of high-altitude forest species. It’s a bit weird, and a bit wonderful, and because it’s so damned 100 percent Singapore, you just have to see it (especially if you have kids under 10), even if it's just for a half-hour: It's the Cloud Forest, the biodome in the city’s much-ballyhoo’d Gardens by the Bay.

Just a perfect day