The Clarke Quay Food Trail: Bayang Balinese Cuisine, Xiao Cheng Gu Shi Ba Kut Teh and RAS Indian Restaurant

I had the honour to be invited by Singapore's award-winning Food & Travel magazine to join their Clarke Quay Food Trail one Saturday afternoon last year for lunch. I am always up for food trails, but the ones hosted by Food & Travel are always good fun - the previous one I went for was a dinner edition at Clarke Quay which involved soju bombs and riverboats.

The Food & Travel team are a good bunch of people to hang around with, so if you do read about any more food trails via the magazine you should definitely try to sign up!

In this Clarke Quay Food Trail, we visited 3 locations. First up, Bayang Balinese Cuisine at 3A River Valley Road, #01-05, Singapore 179020. We sampled a good range of Balinese food, which is slightly different from the typical Indonesian fare. 

My favorite would probably be the satay from this appetizer platter. The meat was fresh, not overcooked and well-marinated with a tantalizing mix of spices and sweet sauce.

There's also a unique chicken dish (forgot it's name!) which was interesting, but probably not something I would order again because it's too exotic for me. 

The beef rendang was fabulous though. Two people can just share this over some rice! There are two types of rice too - one that's steamed with banana leaves (the best kind) and one which is in a yellow conical shape.

And order their chicken soto soup. It was really comforting, flavorful and probably good for your soul.

There's also the grilled fish, which turned out to be surprisingly fresh and full of meat that went well with the crispy marinated skin. I really enjoyed this despite not a big grilled fish fan (due to the amount of bones).

Next stop, Xiao Cheng Gu Shi Ba Kut Teh at #01-08 Blk E Clarke Quay, 3 River Valley Road. It's just right near where the old Zirca used to be. I would normally have just the pork bone soup with a bowl of rice, but for tasting we also got some veggies and the pork trotters which was quite well done! I must caution that this BKT is probably average in terms of tastiness though. But at least there's this option now for supper after clubbing at Clarke Quay!

Lastly we headed to RAS, the Essence of India at #01-05A at Block 3D for an authentic and satisfying contemporary North Indian lunch experience. We tried all the classics like Tandoori Prawn, Palak Paneer and Butter Chicken to go with our nice naans.

I would definitely recommend that you guys check these 3 places out for some authentic and very flavorsome food from all over the world! Thank you Food & Travel magazine for hosting us and surprising us with a very cute picnic gift basket after that (even includes plates and jam!)