EATING OUT AT SINGAPORE

Food is a national obsession in Singapore - every time everywhere you go, whatever the time of day, you will find the locals eating. The choice of restaurants, food courts and roadside stalls is overwhelming and the temptation to try every one of them enormous. food courts are large areas, often car parks, transformed into a mass of tiny, steamy stalls. You can wander around ordering dishes from each, then sit and feast while you watch all the cook busily at work.

Three great cultures and their foods - Malay, Chinese and Indian - come together here about 150 years ago and have created, in Singapore, a culinary crossroads a food lovers' paradise. But if you peeped int the kitchen of a Singapore home, you'd recognize most of the ingredients - oyster sauce, fresh root ginger, lemon grass, chilies, coconut, egg noodles, and spices - as they are now available in Britain.