Satay by The Bay - Great selction of food from all over the world!!

We have eaten at Satay by the bay a couple of times now and its fantastic. It’s based on a traditional Hawker Court (just a little more expensive to cater for the tourists) you browse the extensive selection of food on offer from Pizza & Pasta, Chilli Crab, Mediterranean, Indian, Chicken & Rice, Seafood and of course all the Satay Stalls.

We kicked off proceedings with a 45 piece platter from the Satay Stall. It comprised 15 Prawn, 15 Beef and 15 Chicken all served with bowls of spicy peanut dipping sauce. It was delicious and at $50 not too bad. There are a few cheaper stalls around but we stuck with the tried and tested stall from our previous visit. There is a huge queue on a Saturday & Sunday from around 7pm onwards but that just shows how popular they are! Things quieten down around 9:30pm(ish)


We then tucked into a Tandoori Mixed Platter. There were four of us so we opted to buy two full platters, 3 nan breads and two portions of rice. This came to $60 but again not too bad when you consider four of us all ate like kings and felt comfortably full afterwards. The tandoori is excellent and well cooked. The base of onions and vegetables soak up all the juices and was delicious with the rice.

We visited the fresh juice stall a couple of time and with a fruit juice costing around $1 it was very good value.


All things considered Satay by the Bay is my new favourite eating place, great food, lovely location, super views and a welcoming breeze off the water.






POINT TO NOTE : During really busy period don’t sit too close to the Satay vendors as it gets really Smokey!!

Satay with Visitors

Ok, so by now you know we are addicted to Satay by the Bay.  I'm thinking of changing the blog title, really, we just can't help it.

So we are well and truly into our first set of visitors being here and are super busy.  Mark has lots of days off, but we pretty much get up and get going.  By the time it comes to tea time and heading home I am pushing past a wall of extreme tiredness by making the quickest meal I can.

My Mum and Grama are only here for little over a week, so I am trying to show them as much as possible as there is so much to see.  Tonight Mark took us out to Satay by the Bay for a feast so that I would not only have no cooking to do, but no clearing up after either.

(Mark..?  Why aren't I one of those rich housewives that have a helper and go out for brunch every day?)  Ok, well seeing as he is being entirely unreasonable (read-normal) I will be thankful for what I have....

and what I have is a very full tummy after this massive feast.  Urgh...I can't move....

Gardens by the Bay by Day

After such a great trip out to Satay by the Bay the other day we wanted to come back and see the gardens in the day light.

I don't think I am ever going to get tired of this view, its amazing.

There was a cool breeze coming from the river so we managed to walk around in relative comfort.

Such a nice relaxing Sunday, Mark has to go away this week and will only just make it back before our first set of first visitors....my Mum and Grama come and visit.  So exciting!

Satay by the Bay

Mark and Rob have had a visit all this week from their UK boss who has come over to check out all of the work they've been doing in this new venture.  He took his wife and son with him who have been having a grand time while he's been toiling away in the office (see Mark, I do see that you work super hard, I am listening!)

As well as this they've also had a visit from another UK based colleague and so last night we all decided to go out and get something to eat.  Rob suggested Satay by the Bay which is the hawker at Gardens by the Bay.  You get to it by heading for the furthest away car park at the Gardens or generally walking until you just about reach the Barrage at the sea front.  

It was super busy and we decided to get a platter full of satays to start with.  Seeing as I'm not really a fish or pork fan I chatted away to Oliver who was the son of the visiting boss.  He was so adorable and was happy to tell me all of the fun things he's seen whilst here.  I was actually getting some really good tips on what to do and where to visit when Mark said that everyone was finishing up and heading off in their different directions to pick their main course.  We were sitting quite near an Indian stand so I had no difficulty choosing what I wanted to eat now that I could freely pick.

Mark and I got a sharing platter for just the two of us which had a great selection of tandoori and butter chicken as well as rice and naan breads.  Oh. My. Gosh.  It was so yummy.

When we were all done we headed back to the car park and taxi rank and everyone split up again.  This was my first trip down to Gardens by the Bay and it is so pretty I know I am going to come back again quickly.  It was so inexpensive for being in such a pretty area.  Although you couldn't see the Sands I am planning on taking visitors down here to grab something to eat before either watching the super-tree grove do its show or the laser show from the back of the Sands.  Visitors-you WILL be taken here!

Start of the Tourist Season

My old boss, Kenny, came to visit in early February which gave me the chance to hone our tour guiding skills.  Kenny was the best boss I’d ever had and I’d been looking forward to giving him a grand tour since before I left the UK.  

Kenny’s friend Ivan had moved to Singapore on a whim only a couple of months before Mark and I found out we’d be moving too.  I remember Kenny speaking about Ivan when Mark had applied for the job here and we weren’t sure how things were going to work out (as well as all of the to-ing and fro-ing that goes along with establishing a new post).  I obviously couldn’t say anything but I listened a little too eagerly when Kenny spoke about what Ivan was up to and what Singapore was like.

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Kenny and I had been emailing off and on trying to sort out where we would meet up and what sort of thing he’d like to be taken to see.  He had tried to get a sim card to make things easier, but unfortunately he had the same amount of luck with that as I did when we first arrived.  This meant that when he told me to meet him at his condo I accepted the sketchy directions and entrance he suggested meeting at.  When I got there I realised it wasn’t as easy as “the door next to the road where the guard stands.”  Having no experience of condos at all I now know I need people to be super specific!

When we eventually met up, after a few tense emails sent with super low battery on my phone, we jumped on the bus into the financial district.  We stopped by Ivan’s office, embarrassed ourselves by staring wide eyed (and mouthed) at the views, then went for a coffee.  We then walked round Marina Bay so I could show him the top of the Sands hotel and had some buttery chicken curry for lunch at the shops.  I made a big fuss of the helix bridge, but he remained unimpressed until he got to the other side of it.  I several pictures of him with the skyline in the background as the only pics he had taken before weren’t really going to be suitable to show family back home.  I think Ivan had only shown Kenny around the bars…so some good wholesome entertainment was called for.  Especially if his Mum expected to see lots of holiday snaps.

We then took the MRT onto Orchard Road (mostly so I could show him another site before quickly moving on to something a bit more interesting) and we got a fresh juice.  It was at this point I saw him massaging his feet, apparently I’m more used to walking around in this heat than him!

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I had been looking forward to this visit for ages and one of the reasons is that its only a couple of weeks until my Mum and Grama come out and visit.  I remember thinking in late November that as soon as Kenny arrived it would only be weeks between other visitors. 

As happy as I am to get visitors and her news from Aberdeen, I’m also really glad that I love it here as much as I do.  There was a while there that I questioned if we’d done the right thing.  I think that when you chat about your new life with old friends it really puts things into perspective.  The things that the old friends are explaining are so different from all of my experiences now, and although I will obviously love each visit (as well as visitor), I also love that I am showing them around my new home town.

Wonder Full, Light and Water Show at Marina Bay

The Marina Bay Sands has a water show that’s put on every night for free at the Promenade, called Event Plaza, in front of the shops.  On school nights it is on at 8pm and 9.30pm, but on Friday and Saturday nights there is another show at 11pm. 

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The water show is put to some lights and music and lasts 15 minutes.  There is also a light show with lasers from the top of the Sands Hotel at the same time.  Its for this reason I would recommend seeing in twice in one night if you can.

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If you sit at Event Plaza near to where the water taxi stops on a specially made little platform you can watch the water show, you would then walk around the bay (so as if you are walking to the Merlion or Fullerton Hotel) to see the laser part of the show.  I have seen the laser part from the Gardens by the Bay side and didn't think it was as beautiful as watching it over the bay.  However others have said they have seen it from the Gardens, so check it out yourself and remember to report back!

A walk at Marina Bay

Marks colleague went out to explore by himself so we went for a walk down to Marina Bay as I think it is the most beautiful area of Singapore.  I'd been before with Sally and Tcina as well as on Thursday, but although Mark wasn't very enthralled by my stories of how lovely it is, he conceded and said he would let me show him during the day.  I also wanted to get close to the Merlion so I could get my picture taken with it.  Mark wasn't willing to play ball, so we decided on a shorter walk around the Bay.

Mark still had a bit of an achy foot, so I ran ahead to get my picture taken on The Helix Bridge.  Engineers would be interested in how it was put together, but I just think it is pretty! (I'm the pink dot on the side of the bridge.)

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Mark had to get a shot of all of the information about it.  I decided to double back so we could walk over the bridge together.

We walked around the bay from the Merlion side and walked across the bridge past all of the stands setting up for Chinese New Year.  There was a race going on too so we occasionally had to jump to the side when a bunch of people ran through the groups of tourists.

I still get amazed at living in a big city and always feel its one of those fake backdrops you see at Universal Studios.

I had hoped I could show Mark the top of the Marina Bay Sands, but his foot was still a bit sore (argh, we need this sorted!)  So we stopped for something to eat at a vegetarian place called Pita Pan.  It was right next to the Science Museum which is the orchid/bowl shaped building at the base of the hotel.

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Mark had a pita filled with veg of his choosing and some falafel, while I had some feta cheese in tomato, onion and pepper soup/sauce.  Mine came with some pita bread which I used to mop up every single last drop of it.  It tasted great and was priced quite reasonably for somewhere at Marina Bay.  The drinks were quite expensive though as plain bottled water cost $3.50 which to me isn't good value.

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I would come back here any time as the dishes were delicious and we had such a great time out casually walking around and people watching.  Visitors, you will be taken here!

The expat becomes the tour guide

When Marks colleague visited on Thursday we guessed he would be quite tired so decided to leave going out until the Friday.  We headed off to Marina Bay for some food as I didn’t know how ready he would be for a real food court that was outside seeing as he was practically melting in the air conditioned house. 

We parked up in the main financial district and walked around the bay to get to the Shoppes at Marina Bay.  Mark had to stop on the way to look at the kites flying around.  I'm sure Mark will put his spin on it, but quite frankly they weren't what id call kites.  Kites are made of string, bamboo canes and brown paper.  These were whirling, whizzing, battery powered, all singing, all dancing machines!  Needless to say Mark stood hypnotised for a while before eventually agreeing to move on (and only because there was a rumble in my tummy).

We stood under the fans, took pictures of the skyline and I pointed out the Merlion on the other side of the Bay.  Neither of the boys were impressed and they should be mightily disappointed in themselves.

When we finally got to the shops Julian said “wow, this place is massive!” to which we replied, “Um, not really, you should see a big mall.”  It’s done guys, we've become blasé already!  When I worked in Aberdeen, at my second last job, I could go the length of Union Street (our main street) in ten minutes to catch my bus to get home early on a Friday!  (Ten minutes was all it took-albeit I was practically jogging down the cycle lane to get home before the rush…but still, that’s a pretty short main street.  Now here I am calling out Marina Bay for what….?  Not being grand enough?)  My brattishness aside we did love showing off about our new home town.

When we got to the food court at Marina Bay we all decided on the Indian stand near the front and ordered three tandoori chicken trays for just under $15 each.  We all wanted fresh juice and three of those together cost under $10-I think my strawberry was the most expensive and that was only $4. 

After we stuffed ourselves on three big bits of chicken and some naan bread we went to walk up past the science museum to catch the light and water show.  If you want to know more about it, look at my post here.

After that we headed back in the general direction of the car.  I say this because we did head one direction and then the other until we finally found where the car had been parked.

Julian certainly seemed to enjoy himself and doing a touristy thing every so often definitely makes you appreciate everything this vibrant country has to offer.