A piece of Singapore
Bringing a piece of Singapore for Filipinos to adore, the newly opened Simply Singapore Style Cafe will not disappoint if one wishes to get a taste of fresh, authentic and affordable Singaporean cuisine.
Located at Marina Mall, LapuLapu City, the kiosk is quite hard to find but it could all be worth it. This Singaporean food joint has it right.
“Basically, we want to change the perception of a lot of Filipinos regarding Singaporean food. It’s not what is shown here. There are a few restaurants selling Singaporean food and all are cooked by Filipinos, not cooked by Singaporeans,” says Allan Perry, Singaporean chef and proprietor.
Only two months in, the small café has gotten the attention of many foodies and has garnered lots of thumbs up for its fresh and strictly no salt and no Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) food. Surely, the food served here is not only satisfying but healthy as well.
“In Singapore, every shop you see offers food with no salt and no MSG. We are all health freaks in Singapore and MSG is very bad for you. People have the perception that if there’s no MSG, the food is tasteless. So we prove them wrong, as a lot of Filipinos commented that they find the food very tasty even without salt or MSG. I always tell them to trust oyster sauce, trust sesame oil. These are all substitutes and, in fact, they are the right ingredients to use than salt or MSG which are artificial,” shares Allan.
With cooking as his original passion, and his Filipina wife Margie who is pregnant as his inspiration, Chef Allan knows that the best way to cook Singaporean food is with lots of love and spices. He also emphasizes that what he serves are dishes with fresh ingredients as he changes his specialties every day. He limits the quantity of the ingredients that he buys and he throws out the remaining ingredients that have not been cooked or sold on that day so that what he may serve is truly fresh as he claims, “If I cannot eat it, how can I serve it to my customers?”
But with all the satisfaction that the café has to offer, its dishes are heavy on the stomach but are actually quite light for the pocket. This makes enjoying fresh Singaporean food a treat— trying out delectable dishes that are good for two but with a price that’s good for one.