Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar 2016 under $20 - #yumyuminmytumtum

This year is the first year I went down to the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar and I would say, IT IS DEFINITELY WORTH THE HYPE. Besides the wide variety of food that they offer, the ambiance and light fittings are something that is definitely worth experiencing and seeing!

Some general tips before you head there:

1. Bring along wet tissue & keep it in your pocket, or anywhere that is easily accessible so that you can wipe your hands if they get dirty!

2. Wear clothes with sufficient ventilation cause it will get crowded & hot there!

3. Bring along a backpack/slingback that you can carry infront to protect your valuables.

4. Bring along sufficient plain water to hydrate yourself.

5. Empty your bowels at Paya Lebar Square (right next to Paya Lebar MRT Station) first cause there won't be any toilets there haha.

MOST IMPORTANTLY...

Bring along a positive attitude and have fun!!

You must have read in so many other online articles about the new 'hipster' food that have been introduced to the food bazaar, but honestly, some are grossly overpriced and probably not worth the cash (unless you are willing to part with your kaching). In this post, I will introduce you 5 food that will cost you less than $20, yet won't leave you feeling sore about missing out on those exorbitant hipster food.

1. Paddlepop Pudding

Price: $4

Smooth, runny texture. Pleasantly sweet, not too overbearing. Furthermore, its paddlepop colors are instagram-worthy, and won't cause a big hole in your pocket.

There is another stall selling a similar paddlepop pudding. It has slightly more vivid colors and a little more colors in the tube, but it's $5. So since we're on a budget here, this $4 substitute does its job pretty well too.

2. Cheese Potato

Price: $3

My first encounter with cheese potato would be some time back when I was in Taiwan, and I loved it. Hence, when I read online that the bazaar offered this, it was on my top list to hunt it down. With a little bit of top up, you could get extra toppings like ham pieces, egg, etc. However, I went for the original because I wanted to taste the potato on its own.

It is actually deep fried potato doused with a very generous serving of warm molten cheese. The serving definitely does not look like what they advertise on their banners, but hey, it still tastes good. It sort of tastes like KFC's cheese fries, except with more crunchy potato, warmer cheese, and a more generous amount of cheese! I would say the Taiwan version I had wins hands down, price-wise and taste-wise, but this isn't too shabby either.

3. Coconut Ice Cream

Price: $5

Lo and behold, the famous Chatuchak coconut ice cream has also hit the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar this year. The serving is really really generous. Instead of using the top of the coconut shell as the "bowl" which other stalls do, they actually use the bottom of the coconut shell = larger volume!! The coconut ice cream scoops were heavy with the sweetness of coconut flavor, whereas the actual coconut meat itself wasn't that sweet, but has a refreshing after taste. The chocolate sprinklers did a really good job giving the coconut meat the nice touch of sweetness that it needed! I would say you could share it with a friend so that your tummy still has space for more food later on!

4. Potato Twist

Price: $2.50

Flavour tried: BBQ

I actually know this better by the name "Potato Tornado", but it seems that every single stall that sells this calls it "Potato Twist", so alright, Potato Twist it shall be. Let me just say this, the whole stick is long, and it's heavy. And that actually makes me happy, because I feel like my money is well spent haha. Let me just tell you about this stall. We queued for about 10 minutes for it. The queue wasn't long, however, the uncle seemed to be too swarmed with takoyaki orders that he totally neglected the others that wanted to get their hands on the Potato Twist! There are other stalls that also sell these Potato Twists @ $3, which if given a chance again, I would rather try the $3 ones out. Let me tell you why below.

The Potato Twist from this stall wasn't bad, it tasted nice. In fact, the potato was fried nicely, not overly greasy or soggy. However, the only thing that turns me off is how little the BBQ seasoning was used. Oh, and also the inefficient queuing time. From the $3 stalls, the BBQ-flavoured potato twists would evidently be 'redder' cause there are more generous dressings to it. But oh wells, this is $0.50 cheaper afterall, so...lets not complain so much.

5. Sotong Bakar

Price: $4

Flavour tried: BBQ Sauce

This stall is not hard to spot. It's black-based posters will definitely stand out.

The sauce is awesome. Really. The sotong itself is pretty chewy, but not rubbery chewy kind. Still manageable for someone with braces, like me. Paired with the BBQ sauce, the whole snack is really worth the hype. Queue wasn't very long, and the stall was very efficient in serving too.

There was actually a longer queue right beside, queuing for the fried sotong. The fried sotong is selling @ $7, but I have seen other people eating it and they had a really hard time trying to bite off a mouth from the fried sotong. It went till the extent that one of the girl had to use her fingers to hold the rest of the fried sotong in place before she could gnaw a small piece off. That was a major turn off for me, which was why I skipped the fried and went for this instead - because I don't want to dirty my hands since there wasn't any place to wash my hands clean.

Now, that's a wrap for the 5 food that you should try when you head to the Ramadan Bazaar 2016!

Total damage to your pocket: $19.50

Well, you may ask, what about the hipster food?

Hipster Food #1: Rainbow Bagel $8

A palm-sized bagel for $8...it is a pretty novel idea (and probably instagram-worthy), but is it really worth the money? You decide.

Hipster Food #2: Watermelo Volcano

$6.90 for Medium

$12.90 for Large

Above is a ninja-shot of someone else's watermelo volcano LOL

It is pretty big in size (even for the medium one), buuuuuut, the queue is insane. Serious. To me, not really worth it. Just watermelon nia. HAHAHA.

Hipster Food #3: Macaron Ice Cream $4

I was actually pretty excited to try this prior to reaching the bazaar. However, when I reached the stall, I saw that the macaron shells were just all piled in a plastic tub and it was totally uncovered. Uhmm and there was even a fly resting on one of the macaron shells. So that kinda turned me off major. I know what y'guys are gonna say: "it's a pasar malam, how clean you expect the food to be?" "You think the rest you never see means very clean meh?" Point taken, but I wouldn't be able to get past myself knowing that I just saw a giant ass fly crawl over the food.

Anyway, there are many other stalls selling a wide variety of items - snacks, drinks, decorative items, home appliances, clothes, shoes, accessories & also lots of henna stalls! The henna stalls are actually really popular amongst youngsters!

Overall, the food bazaar has much for you to try, and also perfect for you to immerse yourself in the festive spirits. Hence, if you have the time, do pay a visit to the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar before it ends in early July 2016!

Till next time!

Crystal

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