8/31/2013 - Tanglin Halt Peanut Pancakes

I needed a creative break from the family adventure and also wanted to catch up on the current comings and goings of our lives in Singapore.  Hoping to journalistically pop back into Hanoi and start back up with the tour of Southeast Asia tomorrow.

One of the great parts about the family adventure is it has inspired us to try and do something new and different each weekend.  We got off to a good start last weekend by venturing into uncharted waters and a new hawker centre.  Our unsuspecting target, Tanglin Halt Peanut Pancakes.  Much like Doc Brown, I needed fuel.  I had a lot of expense reports to catch up on, which in Singapore is a rather dangerous, physical activity what with the copious amounts of scotch tape that are used as well as the ever present danger of a life threatening paper cut.  Lots of griddled pancake batter, peanuts and sugar seemed as good of a solution to this problem as anything and much tastier than dumping banana peels and old cans of Miller Lite into Mr. Fusion.

Step 1 - determine the best way to arrive while minimizing the inevitable amount of sweat on a sunny, Saturday morning.  We opted for the bus, the MRT was going to result in a switching trains which usually means you get to the bottom of the escalator just as your new train is pulling away.  Unfortunately, if you take the bus you need to pay more attention than two people planning out the rest of their weekend were doing and suddenly we were one stop past where we should have been.  There is a 30% chance we were laughing about someone on the bus' weekend outfit.  No further comment.  As it turns out, the Tanglin Halt food centre was in between the stops we had to choose from anyway, so no major detour.

Step 2 - actually finding the right stall once you have gotten yourself into the proximity of food centre, still while trying to minimize the impact of the tropical sun.  Two busy street crossings later, we found ourselves weaving through slower walking pedestrians on a side path next some large HDBs. Finally, we saw the telltale sign of smoke wafting over a large building and knew we were close. Once inside though, where was it?  This place was larger than our local Empress Market food centre.  It turns out, it was pretty easy, look for the longest line and sure enough, everyone is waiting for their weekend morning breakfast treat as well.  I got in line while Sarah went in search of a table for us, preferably near a fan.

Step 3- figuring out how much to order and how long would I be waiting?  I was out of the sun, but an open air hawker centre with a roof isn't exactly the temperature of an indoor skating rink (yes, still sweating).  10 minutes later, the line did not seem to be moving, so I put my roughly 14 inch height advantage to work and peered over the crowd of people.  What I saw could have easily been the inspiration for the Henry Ford's assembly line, if the assembly line comprised of one individual.  An elderly man was bouncing back and forth between 2 large skillets the size of garbage can lids, a bucket of crushed peanuts that Oscar the Grouch could comfortably live in, two cooling racks and a preparation area.  Highly efficient, but also a little time consuming, this turned out to be the reason for the slow wait.

15 minutes later, I was at the front of the line and watched him take a fresh pancake the size of an elephant ear off the cooling rack, fold it over and use both a meat cleaver and scissors to divide it up into sections a little smaller than my hand.  Since they were only 70 cents and by now I was absolutely starving, I ordered 5 for the two of us.  He looked me up and down, smirked and chuckled a bit and said "I'll give you a big box." I could only presume I had made a minor ordering error and after we had each eaten one, yes, yes I had. With the help of some Teh Tarik (pulled tea with sweetened condensed milk), we ate close to 4 of them, but afterwards I felt like I had been sitting at an all you can eat pancake breakfast for close to an hour and contemplated looking at my taxi app on my phone to see if 'forklift' was an option for a taxi you could order.

Step 4 - well step 4 really just involved needing a nap after that mini feast.  The recommendation to come on a Saturday (they are closed on Fridays to roast the peanuts) was spot on.  The pancakes were crispy on the outside, doughy on the inside, and each probably had a bag of Planters peanuts worth on them.  Luckily this place isn't closer to home, it would have to turn into our only meal of the day.  Maybe next time we'll just walk.... and hope for a cloudy day.