Eggholic - egg-citing and eclectic, Indian style restaurant opened May 2025 (in NW London)

Egg-holic Restaurant in Hatch End, Pinner, London, England. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

 I entered Egg-holic in May 2025 (Thursday 8th), their first full evening open to the public. It's a friendly family affair. The Patel family. Two Hatch End Patels are running the franchise, father and son. I met mother, and she pointed out that her daughter had popped in. 

Angela Lansbury,  left, Mrs Patel, right. Egg holic restaurant menu board behind. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Plus the two US-based Patels (unrelated) who started the business over in America. They were staying around for the first two weeks to supervise the cooking and add their experience and expertise. 

Since everything is cooked on site, the American founders have needed to train the new UK staff how to cook all the dishes to ensure everything in the UK is consistent with the standard, style and menu in the USA. However, it's possible that the long menu might have one or two seasonal or permanent additions later in the year to offer regular customers a new experience. (Patel junior had already spent time in the USA.)

I shall come back to the Patels in London, England, India, the USA and worldwide. But first let's look at the menu.

The menu on the back wall. The mural in Indian languages on the right. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The illustrated menu is over the counter at the back, like in McDonald's, Costa and other places you are probably familiar with.  But there's also a fold over paper menu if you want to sit and read the menu. 

You carry a number, signifying your order, to your table. You can pay first, with a credit card. In that way it's like the Wetherspoons pub across the road.

The Indian and Western Food

You can find egg dishes, chicken dishes, and cheese dishes. 

Among the sandwiches for children I spotted cheese (minced) and chocolate (spread) sandwiches. With white bread (brown bread should be available later).

It came with crisps.  Check whether chips on the menu means crisps called chips in the USA.

You can try samosas. Potato.  Indian breads.  

There's also a Thali, at £13.99.

DRINKS

Drinks include assorted lassis. I had a pink rose flavour falooda, with a wide straw for sucking up the thin noodles.

DESSERTS

Desserts include Kulfi, Gulab Jamun with ice-cream, or Brownie with ice-cream.

DECOR

The Indian Style Decor

A screen shows Bollywood films with lots of dramatic dancing. 

A large version of their logo is on one recessed wall.

On the right of the serving area at the back is a mural in assorted Indian scripts. They are hindi, gujurati, Punjabi and Telugu, popular well-known sayings from various blockbuster films.

All the family and the USA visitors were friendly and chatty and happy to chat about their business, your business, and the world. They told me that the Patels originated in an Indian state north of the seaside port of Bombay, now called Mumbai. Being business savvy they spread all over the world so now you will meet people called Patel in the USA, UK, India, everywhere there are money and friends to be made. As the old saying goes, if you want to run a successful restaurant or shop you must wear a big smile.

Opening times.

They are open 5 to 10 pm, so for tea time or evening dinner, not breakfast nor lunch.

Phone (0203) 7933 0179. 

381 Uxbridge Road, Pinner HA5 4JN.

I visited when they opened in Hatch End, Pinner, London on Thursday May 8th 2025.

Useful websites

https://leverageedu.com/explore/infotainment/translation-of-hindi-bollywood-dialogue/ 

Please share links to your favourite blog posts such as this one.

Update Oct 2nd 2026. 

A sign in the window says they have relocated.

The new venue will probably be announced on their website which mentions the USA, Canada and the UK.

https://eggholic.uk/

What's kosher, where? Breakfast, brunch, Bagels and kosher food at SoYo restaurant, Golders Green. Compared and contrast with halal

 We were looking for a restaurant near Brent Cross Shopping centre for a meeting with friends in the near future. One of the group wanted a kosher restaurant. 

What do kosher and halal food have in common? No pork. Why? Because they both follow a rule from the book of Leviticus (Latin for laws) in the bible. Jews refer to the bible. Christians added the New Testament about the life of Jesus, and called the original bible, which Jesus followed, the Old Testament. 

Why no Pork?

The rules about eating kosher, not eating pork, were dropped by the ardent follower of Jesus, Paul, when preaching to non-Jews about the messages of Jesus and the Resurrection. 

Moslems came along. They followed Mohamad.  (His name is spelled in English various ways, depending on how you translate the Arabic letters into the Roman alphabet. Nowadays you might conform or to be different the different countries with different pronunciations.) The Moslems kept the old, traditional, rule about not eating pork. Some people say the Christianity is Judaism made easy, whilst Islam is Judaism made difficult. (One month of fasting for Ramadan, whereas the Jews have just one day at the Day of Atonement. Christians give up one food for lent. Jews give up all kinds of food for the period including and surrounding the seder.

On the other hand, in some ways Judaism has stricter or more extensive food restrictions. No shellfish. No milk eating at the same meal as when meat is served. This is either the word of God, or a humanitarian rule that you must not kill a milk feeding calf in front of its mother, using the milk to cook the calf. (Calf cooked in milk is a classic and popular dish in Jordan, still, nowadays, in many places in the Middle East, as I discovered to my amazement, on a press trip to Jordan on a Rolls Royce car rally. 

This rule accounts for the fact that SoYo restaurant has two branches side by side in Golders Green. One serves meat. The other serves only fish, eggs, and milk based dishes. 

How do kosher and halal differ in supermarkets? Both have no pork. The Jewish section has no shellfish. As I am allergic to shellfish, crustaceans and molluscs, this suits me very well. 

Where Are Kosher Restaurants?

You will find both kosher and halal food sections in supermarkets all over London but particularly in the East End of London and North west London. For kosher sections in supermarkets, bagels in supermarkets, and Jewish style or kosher food in delicatessens and restaurants you could look at (alphabetically) Edgware, the Finchley Road, Golders Green, Hendon, Stanmore, Temple Fortune. 

A relative suggested several places in the area. We vetoed a family favourite, the cafe in the Hendon park by Hendon Central station. Great for a sunny day in the park. 

We wanted something more formal, more exciting and filling, with a chance to sit and talk to friends at leisure. But not as luxurious and expensive as a Michelin restaurant, and the upmarket Chinese Kosher restaurants.

B & K

Our favourite for a big meal in an informal setting is B&K, Hatch End, and Edgware, is a salt beef, deli, take away and restaurant.

Bagels in Brick Lane

How about a bagel? London has two famous bagel shops in the East End, in Brick Lane. At least one of them is open very late, possibly all night. Before going anywhere, check the times. 

Sabbath and Sunset

Strictly kosher restaurants have to close dusk to dawn on the Jewish sabbath, which in the UK means dark falls early evening on Friday in winter. So the restaurants won't be open Friday evening, in winter.  However, they will be open Saturday. 

In summer, the sunset time is different. You can find out by a diary, the newspaper, or your watch, or mobile phone, or computer or kitchen or oven clock (or rather, when you can see three stars).

Bagels - Why The Hole?

I started researching bagels when I turned my family history into a novel (still yet to be printed and published - next job!) I was looking at the lifetime of an ancestor on my father's side who came to the UK from Ukraine, from Lemberg, as it was then called in the 1880s. At that time or earlier Bagels come from Poland, Ukraine which was at different times under different rulers and languages, and Western Europe. 

One story goes that bagel sellers would put bread on a stick and make a hole in the middle of the bread to thread bread onto the stick. 

Another story is that the hole was for the benefit of the buyer. Why? Going back a few centuries, houses did not have a cooking range or oven, which would have been a fire risk and required fuel. Every house head food buyer or cook went to the baker with their dough.  Or, if travelling, bought ready made food. 

Another theory goes that when the householders were shopping, housewives, men if women were not allowed out of the house, workers, or travellers, would buy bread to take home or eat later. The buyer would thread the bread on a string around their neck in order to leave their hands free and keep the bulky bread handy (or hidden?!).

So there you have the story to entertain yourself or tell your friend next time you eat a bagel or kosher food or halal food.

Two options in northwest London.

So Yo restaurant

They have more than one branch. You can book a table by phone.

Useful Websites

For both the Golders Green and Edgware branches:

https://soyo.co.uk/

Update on my visit in the next post.

American English - British English

take out - take away

Portuguese Pastries and Polar Puffs in Singapore, Macau in China and London, England

 

Custard Tarts and Almond Tarts from Polar in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury

Portuguese egg tarts, sold in Singapore, are known in England as Maids of Honour. If I remember rightly, which I rarely do, the original recipe was said to be the secret of "The Original Maids of Honour shop" near Kew Gardens, south of the Thames, near Hampton Court, the summer palace. The tarts were supposedly made by the maids of honour of Portuguese Queen Catherine of Braganza. I may have got the story wrong, but, as the saying goes, 'why let the truth get in the way of a good story'.

Wiki has other ideas:

Maids of Honour tart (also known as Maids of Honour cake and Richmond Maids of Honor) is a traditional English baked tart consisting of a puff pastry shell filled with cheese curds.  A variation is to add jam or almonds and nutmeg.   Traditionally the tart was a puff pastry filled with sweetened milk curds.

The tart is said to date back to King Henry VIII when he witnessed some of the Queen's Maids of honour eating some cakes and demanded to taste one.  He found them delicious and named them after the maids.  There are ideas that go even further, citing that the maid who made the tarts was imprisoned and had to produce them solely for the King. However, there is another theory that they were named after Anne Boleyn, a maid of honour at the time, who made the cakes for Henry VIII.

A tea room in Kew, south-west London, "The Original Maids of Honour", dates back to the 18th century and was set up specifically to sell these tarts.

Photo from Wikipedia.

In Singapore, a friend brought as custard tarts for tea. He said: 

"These Portuguese tarts were made in Macau, an island which used to be Portuguese. (It is now Chinese.) Some Macau Chinese people came to Singapore, bringing the recipe with them. 

"Now Polar is one of the most popular pastry bakeries in Singapore. They have many outlets and their cakes sell out fast."

Polar cake box from Singapore. Photo credit, photo by Angela Lansbury.

The cakes you buy come in protective cardboard boxes with a distinctive shiny green outside. You carry off your purchases wrapped in a striped green and white 'plastic' bag bearing the word Polar. Polar, which is a reminder of polar bears might seen odd in the hot tropics.

Polar is a halal bakery, handy if you are keeping halal or have halal visitors.

Useful Websites

UK

https://web.archive.org/web/20140202174505/http://www.theoriginalmaidsofhonour.co.uk/about/history/

SINGAPORE

https://polarpuffs-cakes.com/

https://www.halaltrip.com/downloadable-halal-travel-guides/

The Author

About the Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Books by Angela Lansbury
How to be the best man. (Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Wedding Speeches and Toasts.(Ward Lock / Cassell.)
Unforgettable British Weekends.
Poetry Workshop Workbook.
The Tailor and the Spy. (Lulu.)
Larry The Talking Labrador. (Lulu.)
Writing Poetry for fun.

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

 

Kosher crackers and kosher Ice Cream? What is kosher ice cream? With Pork Or Without Pork? Where do you get it? Who cares about it? UK, USA.

Baskin Robbins, Hatch End, Pinner, Middlesex, UK, sells kosher ice creams. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Next door is Tesco Express which sells kosher food and kosher wine.

Tesco Express branches, and larger branches of Tesco, as well as other supermarkets in the UK, sell items with kosher labels such as these crackers (matzos) by Rakusens. Photo by Angela Lansbury

Here is the kosher symbol from rakusens crackers. You can buy kosher goods in Tesco in Hatch End, for friends or family or yourself, or a gift. But many people don't realise that next door to Tesco in Baskin Robbins you can buy kosher ice cream.

 I was in Baskin Robbins when I saw a sign about kosher ice cream. Afterwards I went online and discovered that Tesco online also sold kosher ice cream.

Tesco online sells several brands, Haagen Dazs, Ben and Jerry's, and Swedish (soy sorbet).

What could be non kosher in ice cream? Surely nobody uses pork in ice cream?

Yes, they do. In the USA. 

USA Ham Ice Cream

For example, Windy Brow Farms in New Jersey, USA makes a ham and French toast ice cream, salt with honey for sweetness, as well as vegan and other ice cream.

Pork in Ice Cream

Less obvious pork products can be ice cream. Stabilizers can contain gelatin from pigs or non-kosher cows.

Kosher & Halal

I looked up the differences between kosher and halal products. On both sides, kosher and halal, the strictly orthodox have different rules from more liberal groups. Among the differences, which were new to me, camel and rabbit appear to be halal but not kosher. The blood is removed from meat by Jews using water and salt, by Moslems by using vinegar.  

Shellfish & Alergies

Some people would be happy enough to buy a product which was not obviously containing shellfish. (Orthodox Jews and those with allergies.  I have allergies). 

Other might be concerned that the premises and production process should be check to ensure no cross-contamination of work surfaces and machinery. Or even handling by non Jews who might be idolators. 

Quite a few ideas which were totally new to me.

In addition to this there are the covid-19 regulations about how many in the shop, eating cones in the doorway.

We bought our ice creams, I chose pistachio, and we trotted home happily.

Useful Websites

KOSHER (& others not Kosher)

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/frozen-food/ice-cream-ice-lollies-and-frozen-desserts/ice-cream-tubs/all?dietary=Kosher

https://www.graeters.com/kosher-ice-cream (USA)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Islamic_and_Jewish_dietary_laws

https://www.kashrut.com/consumer/ice_cream/

Ham, or vegan, or other ice cream from 

windybrowfarms.com

About the author of this travel blog

Angela Lansbury is British born and bred but has also lived in the USA, Spain and Spingapore and visited countries around the worl

She is a semi-retired teacher of English language and literature and a member of Toastmasters International and five clubs, Harrovians in the UK, three in Singapore (BHA and TCA and Senja-Cashew), a club coach for Nee Soon South, and a member of online only club, Singapore Online Dynamic. To find a club go to Toastmasters International Find a club or look on Facebook. BHA meets the first Wednesday evening each month, login 6.45 for 7 pm start Singapore time (SGT), which is noon in London UK, during British summer time, until clocks go back the last Sunday in October when the UK reverts to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

What's the difference between living in London and living in Singapore? A friend asked me.

WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SINGAPORE?

 My friend wrote: 'Where would you rather be?

' I thought you would have been speeding back to the sunshine of Singapore. I’ve never been there and unlikely to now, but it looks very different from here and I am just wondering what you feel about the differences in the two places, and your two homes..... what do you miss about Singapore when you are over here, and what do you miss about London when you are over there? Which place are you happiest in?

'Nosey? Well, that’s a writer’s prerogative. '

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT LONDON?

 I love London. My family and many long term friends are in London. I like the semi-detached houses in the suburbs, the art deco, and grand Victorian buildings, the cultures.

British Food 

Yes, and the food.  

1 I miss British food. Potatoes. 

2 Proper porridge. The cheapest private label will do.

In Singapore porridge oats comes from Australia and most is precooked. The raw stuff is not milled as fine so we give it a few seconds whizz in the liquidizer. It took us a while to work that out. 

In London, Waitrose supermarket provides all the British favourites, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. Other supermarket have Scottish shortbread, porridge oats, and all kinds of potato. Thick cut marmalade. You can also buy Thai soups and Indian food.  

4 Fish and Chip shops

5 B & K Salt beef bar and restaurant. Salt Beef - eat in or take away. Fried fish balls. Lokshen pudding. (Noodle pudding, like a cake, cold or hot, with lemon and sultanas.) 

WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT SINGAPORE?

Singapore Food and Drink

1 Chicken Rice/ Duck Rice

2 Indian food served on a green banana leaf.

# Durian Ice Cream and Durian Cakes and Durian Paste (like green toothpaste) on Desserts. 

Mandarin oranges and lanterns for Chinese New Year. Mooncakes in autumn for the harvest festival.

Singapore

Toastmasters Friends

 I have even more friends from Toastmasters in Singapore, 

The trains run on time. Above all, weather wise, in winter I would rather be in Singapore. Summer sun all year. Longer days, daylight. 7 pm all year. 

Christmas Lights

As for Christmas, yes Christmas in London means pantomime and outdoor ice skating. The must see lights are in Oxford Street, Regent Street, and the stores such as Selfridges, Harrods, and Hamleys toy store. Many suburban streets also have lights. The big Xmas tree in Trafalgar Square is the focus of many photos and activities. Hot chestnuts are sold from kiosks in the streets. 

America has the biggest and best decorations. Individual houses with scenes on the front lawn, rooftop displays. Blocks of flats and offices with a cross and bow of neon to make an oblong building look like a giant parcel.

Christmas is good in Singapore. Because the streets are full of shops and filled with seasonal lights, all along Orchard Road. With multi-cultural areas in addition, you have lights for Indian/Hindu festivals, as well and the Chinese and Malay communities - and Christmas. But the lights for Christmas come down on what in England is Boxing day, Dec 26, changing to a Chinese or other festival, whereas in the UK light often stay up until January 6th.

Religions in Singapore

Singapore is geared to shopping, like New York run by the Chinese (who are the majority, from nearby China. China has whole cities geared to providing goods. At least one city is like a huge industrial estate, supplying the UK Poundland type shops). Singapore shops employ multi-national and multi-racial shop assistants. Anything which can promote the buying of goods and services is promoted. As a result, every festival is a chance to attract shoppers with lights. 

Halloween in Singapore

Halloween is also big in Singapore. In shops and Toastmasters clubs.

However, in Singapore, the devout Christians may refuse to partake in Halloween. 

All Saints Day is a Catholic celebration, in France. (I learned from my Catholic French au pair girls who stayed with us in the UK when our now adult son was small). 

The Protestant countries and Church of England and Anglican groups do not have saints days or name children after saints. 

 Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a big event in decorations and meals at hotels and restaurants and shop windows and shops and online in Singapore.

But Muslims, especially those from neighbouring country Malaysia, are told that it is not a Muslim event and encourages promiscuity and fornication and they should not celebrate it or partake in it so they do not participate in table topics (impromptu speeches) on what did you do for Valentine's Day at toastmasters meetings. 

UK & Irish Names

So in the UK, you would find a Catholic Irish maid called Teresa, but from Northern Ireland an Irish, Northern Irish, girl called Elizabeth. (So I was told by an Irish friend at the Writers Circle in Harrow, NW London, when we were discussing choosing appropriate and popular names of heroines and major and minor characters in novels set in England and Ireland and worldwide. 

Jews and Hanukah in London

Jews and Jewish festivals are a feature of shops and restaurants in NW London (and New York and US cities). The best Jewish food, in my opinion, is from B & K in Edgware and Hatch End. Salt beef and , or Kosher Chinese Kuo Yan in Edgware. (In Edgware where Anne Franks father lived postwar, unknown even to local liberal and Reform Jews).

You see the orthodox Jews in the big black hats in Edgware and Golders Green, and on Saturday everybody in their fine clothes with ladies wearing smart hats going to synagogues.

At Hanukah a giant menorah has been lit outside Edgware station, in NW London.

Jews and Hanukah in Singapore

The synagogue in Singapore in heavily guarded and it is no longer easy to get in like it once was to admire the architecture, take a tour, pay in advance for a meal and look at the shop.

In Singapore in 2019, a giant menorah was lit in Orchard Road.

Valentines Day in England

Heart shaped everything in London. 

Valentine's Day in Singapore

Heart shaped everything in Singapore.

The government policy is for everybody to join in everything.

The devout Muslims may refuse to attend or decline to speak about Valentine's Day. I was once asked by a Chinese Singaporean (Christian?) why a Jewish man attending a meeting declined to join in Singing Christmas carols. I was unable to explain why. (Now I can see why. In Singapore the Muslims I know see Jesus as just another excellent prophet, who pre-dates their religion, but was not The Messiah. The orthodox Jews recognize carols as hymns, many of which refer to Jesus in the manger or the messiah being born,'the little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head and so on) and in Europe, I think at the time of the Inquisition, maybe as late as WW2, Jews were forced to convert to Christianity and in some cases then promptly killed to ensure they went straight to heaven to prevent them recanting later.)

Shopping

Orchard Road has some expensive department stores. However, head to little India and the giant Mustapha's on two block has parts open 24 hours, and is a bargain store, crammed with foods and goods.  

SHOPPING IN LONDON

What's different to buy?

Cheese

In London, UK in late 2020, the bigger UK supermarkets have more of Marmalade and Cheddar cheese and English cheese and French cheese. Some Asians are milk intolerant and Singapore has a couple of expensive cheese shops and you can get Brie. But England has more English cheeses.

Toothpicks

I also look for the triangular toothpicks by Wisdom.

Pills

Chewable Vitamin D

Chewable vitamin D tablets.

Thyroxine

Only available from a doctor. In Singapore I had an online consultation, first time for me and her. I got a pack of 50 pills, twice the 25 a month quantity.

In the UK you get a pack of 28, and if travelling can ask for two packs.

Cheap Clothes

In the UK you can buy second hand clothes in charity shops. In Northwood the cancer research shop had a washing machine so all their clothes, although second hand, did not carry the germs of the sick and elderly who had died and whose widows or children had done house clearance by giving the clothes to charity.

SINGAPORE SHOPPING

In Singapore you would look for market stalls around the suburban railway stations, especially at any festival or national holiday.

In the UK you can buy clothes at large supermarkets, not just Marks, also Siansburys and so on.

In Singapore there is often a Tesco rack inside a convenience store, like the kosher section in some supermarkets in the UK, a tiny rack with wines and sweet biscuits and savoury crackers (in London the kosher section might have matzos) and chocolates.

SINGAPORE HOMES

Homes - in Singapore most people live in high rise government built blocks which are rented out, though they can be bought with a loan from your own CPF, government administered tax into your personal savings scheme of bought on you must stay here for five years before re-selling at a profit.

Flats in Singapore often have a scullery, tiny box room just big enough for a small single bod, like the third bedroom in some small semis in the UK, for the maid or nanny or to store your suitcases, or for a baby or small child, and a toilet. The flat we rented did not have the third toilet connected. It would be a good idea to connect it during Covid-19 for any visitors. However, there are proposals to charge a water rate depending on the number of wash basins, showers, and toilets. So, whether as owners or renter, we (and you) would be paying more for water.

In the UK more homes have baths, which are warming in winter. In Singapore our landlady had converted the bath into a shower. I have got used to this. Can't waste time filling a bath, waiting for it to fill and empty, taking a bath, cleaning a big bath.

In the UK I can buy in my Tesco express. Dr Beckmans carpet stain remover with attached brush. Very handy. Works a treat.

Insects

Singapore flats have cockroaches and termites. The are outside the building and get in.

In the UK, more spiders.

The UK has adders. Singapore has many kinds of snake. Call the authorities or the local workmen who will catch it and eat it. 

Covid-19

Going back to Singapore you pay a large amount of money covering your enforced quarantine in a hotel with meals delivered to the door.

If you are on homestay they can phone you and ask for a picture of your surroundings. No messing about. 

heat sensors at airports to take your temperature.

Most people are law abiding. They live in government run blocks of flats and won't risk upsetting the government. 

Singapore has a history of dengue fever, and according to a Singapore based Indian friend from Toastmasters, Singapore takes this more seriously than in India. We have huge banners near bus stops telling us the figues for the dengue cases in the area, with the five step mossie wipe out.

Every week you hear the noise and see the white smoke, and sometimes hear a siren, warning you to close your windows because at ground floor level workers with machines are spraying a mist of foul-smelling, choking mosquito killer spray and mist.

On my Singapore phone, in both the UK and Singapore I have opted to receive the mid-day and mid-night update on the cases of Covid-19 in Singapore.

UK Gardens

In the UK we enjoy seeing the birds, squirrels, foxes and cats.

Singapore

I enjoy the coconut palm trees.

Horrid Haze

I hate the haze, choking you with winds from fires in Indonesia when the cut down the jungle to plant palm forests, every other summer it seems to me. Our affluent friends, the really relatively rich, fly off to their second homes in Australia. You listen anxiously to the radio or TV or news online and read the reports. When it is at its worst all outdoor places close, and all those partly outdoors, the schools, the playgroups, universities. Even if the pupils could travel, without waiting at outdoor bus stops, the gardeners and gatekeepers and cleaners and car park operators and maintenance workers are not allowed to work and the buildings and outdoor food courts shut down. 

Although a small number of allotments exit, most people in Singapore would grow plants on balconies.  The government sent out seeds. Two packets per household, on request. One of mine was for pak choy which is a Chinese vegetable I don't like. I think it is stringy with no flavour. 

British cucumber is better.

Singapore has more mango, papaya, tropical fruits, durian. I like durian only when mixed into ice cream or cake. Then I love it. A cross between banana and chestnut. Fresh it smells of sulphur. 

Singapore is and and humid all year. Sometimes I look forward to returning. Not just family. Escaping the cockroaches. Singapore is hot and humid all year.

What Do I Like about London?

1 London is better in the summer, not so sticky.

In London I have a garden. In London you can grow apple trees, grapes on a vine, rosemary on a bush. 

The trains during Covid-19 are relatively empty, never a problem getting a seat. I am happy in London in summer. Transport is free in London for my age group. At the moment.

In England I have a dishwasher. Most homes in London have dishwashers. Most homes in Singapore don't.

There you have it. 

About the Author

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

. Please see my other blogs and share links with your friends

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

Keeping Kosher, Halal, Vegetarian, Vegan in Singapore, The Orient, The World

If you have any dietry restriction, whether you are a diabetic avoiding sugar (like my late father and my Indian friend in Singapore) or are entertaining multi-cultural groups, it is a good idea to check the menu in advance when visiting a restaurant, or ordering take away food for guests.

What to Watch For
Many people know that Moslems and Jews don't eat pork. It is forbidden in the bible, in the book of Leviticus which is a Greek word meaning laws.

Kosher
In addition Jews follow two extra rules:
No shellfish
Not eating milk and meat at the same meal

Kosher Milk
Not mxing meal and milk in the same meal. Hence kosher restaurants serve either meat or dairy foods. If you want milk in your coffee after a meal meal in a kosher restaurant, you might be offered non-siary creamer, soya milk, almond milk or another alternative.

Pork
If you like trying local food, watch out for pork in Chinese food. Pork can also appear as a centra in dumplings.

Meat
The word meat is used to indicate pork in restaurants which do not wish to offend nor attract objectors in areas of Muslims, and to disguise beef (non-kosher) in restaurants in Hindu areas, and lamb in Japanese and oriental restaurants and areas

Fish and Shellfish
Confusion can occur as many people don't understand the difference between fish and shellfish.

Halal Alternatives?
You can avoid pork and lard (pork fat) by eating in a halal restaurant. However, they frequently put shellfish, small prawns otherwise known as shrimps, in the rice.

Vegetarians And Vegans
Some vegetrians are vegetarians for dietary reasons. Others are vegetarian on humanitarian grounds.
Some vegetraians eat fish but not meal.
Some Hindus are vegetarians and others are vegans. Some will eat meat most of the time but not on certain days devoted to a particular god, rather like traditional christians not eating meat but only fish on Fridays, or giving up foods or drinks during the 40 days of lent.

Vegans
Vegans are a stricter form of vegetarians.
Vegans do  not eat antying from animals, fish, birds, insects.

Alternatives
Ask guest what they eat or don't eat. Ask restaurant staff to mark which boxes of food, even pizza, are meat, fish, or vegetarian.

Tip For Travellers
You can translate vital words into several languages and print them out to show restaurant and catering staff.

Allergies
I am allergic to shellfish. A kosher restaurant suits me because I know it will not serve shellfish.

Singapore Airlines Special Meal Advantages
Singapore Airlines allows you to select special meals. Usually you have to choose more than 24 hours in advance so that they can order the specail meal from another kitchen and get the delivery on time for the flight.

An advantage of the special meal is that you are given your meal first on take off. You also get your meal early before landing, so you have time to visti the toilet afterwards before the rush.

Unfortunately they do not distinguish betweeen fish and shellfish. So by selecting no fish you are also depriving yourself of the chance to be served salmon (or trout or plaice or any other fish).

Singapore Airlines Special Meal Disadvantages
Your food comes from a special kitchen preparing specail meals of the type you specified. So you miss out on the exclusive meals of your airline or your premium seat.

How To Find Kosher Food
Look online for:
kosher restaurants,
kosher delis
kosher brands
kosher goods in supermarkets (eg Tesco and major supermarkets in NW London)
Jewish tours often stop at kosher restaurants and the tour leaders can advise
Jewish tours - if you allow pop-ups you are likely to be sent ads for kosher restaurants and hotels if you search your holiday dstination for Jewish tours
Jewish newsapers and magazines, eg USA and London based, carry ads for kosher restaurants worldwide
Visit destinations with Jewish museums, such as Israel, Prague, London, New York, Warsaw

Useful Websites For Travellers
Singapore Airlines
singaporeair.com

UK Kosher Restaurant, called Tish
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/07/a-kosher-restaurant-open-on-sabbath-how.html

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Bali's Beautiful Experiences - A Beginner's Guide

Indonesian flag.

Local food specialities:

The local basic rice meal, equivalent to Singapore’s nasi  goreng (fried rice), is nasi campur (“champur”).

Balinese satay, for which they use bamboo skewers.

Babi guling, roast suckling pig, which you will see everywhere. Remember babi like bay , and g as in pig, so you can avoid it, if you or your companions are following vegetarian, kosher or halal diets. It does tell you that Bali is not Muslim so pig is prevalent on the menus.

Restaurants

In Kuta, eat at Poppy’s – excellent, popular and longstanding authentic Balinese restaurant hidden in the heart of town – you can stay there too.

Another famous Balinese restaurant is Bumbu Bali in Benoa north of Nusa Dua. There is now Bumbu Bali 1 and 2.

The local wine available at Poppy’s and elsewhere is Hatten Wines. write to the winemaker if you want an guided tour.

Also see Métis below.

Attractions

Temples

Bali is called the island of the gods. Bali is not Muslim but animist/Hindu. Temples are everywhere, even up the volcanoes, and little offerings at every threshold.

Tanah Lot. Photo from Wiki.

Visit Tanah Lot, a temple on an offshore rock, at sunset, north of North Kuta. While up there, you could dine afterwards at Bali’s top French restaurant (in a very romantic setting) called Métis.

Water Sports

Benoa is also the place for water skiing.

Arts

The Arts Festival I have already mentioned in a previous post. Tickets at the door.

Mas, which means wood, is a wood carving area. Remember to bargain.

Carvings
We asked why some carvings were more expensive than others. The number of carvings, the details on the faces and leaves. How much of it is 3D? Is the carving just on the front surface or also up the sides?

Balinese carving. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Side of balinese carving. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Ubud is the arts and crafts centre though it has been a bit spoilt by over-development and traffic jams. 

Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall famously threw their wedding reception at Café Lotus, worth a coffee or lunch stop. 

UBUD Hotels
Absolute must.


Fabulous hotels.

If you can't afford to stay at one of the top hotels. pop in for a drink or a meal or have a look to plan to come back.



Rice terraces in the East with Mont Agung as background. Photo from wiki by

Ubud is also the place for white water rafting on the stunning Ayung river. My family have done it many times,  and say it is fab. Water is highest in January and will be calmer in July. E.g. 
http://www.baliraftingtours.com/ayung-rafting.php . 

Then eat at the cliff-top hotel Kupu-Kupu Barong (meaning giant butterfly) where we stayed for three days way back when.

Notice that repeated words mean plural.

North of Ubud are the Jatiluwih rice terraces, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and other rice terraces. Worth taking a one day coach tour up North to see the scenery. Not vital to reach the North coast for an overnight, the beaches have volcanic black sand.

Kings Tombs

Kings' tombs, near Ubud. Photo author, Michael Gunther. Wikipedia article on Ubud.

I was not over-excited by the kings tombs. Nothing like the wonderful monuments in Cambodia.

Monkey Forest

Accommodation

No shortage of options naturally. Mentioned Poppy’s above. It’s also fun staying in homestays and they cost just a few dollars. My family use booking.com though I’m sure AirBnB works, too.

Travel Tips

1 Sunscreen

Keep sunscreen and insect repellent handy. If you have to put them in your checked luggage, get them out when you reach the airport. You don't want to get bitten whilst waiting for the hotel porters to deliver your luggage. Nor to dash off to eat or swim without unpacking and not having the vital protection. 

2 You could be told that you can buy sunscreen at local shops, which are a walk away. Meanwhile you want to go to swim or take a tour or have a massage.

3 Check timings. 

You may find the massage or tour or concert is booked tomorrow or having a day off.

4 Check availability of gym or pool

Is the pool accessible every day of your stay? It could closed one day a week for maintenance. It could be being re-built (happened to us on a ski weekend in the USA, when I picked a hotel with a pool because I was a non-skier. Or the steep staircase with sheer drop one side for access is without a handrail (happened to me at the start of this year in Siem Reap, Cambodia). 

Have a happy trip!

Useful Websites
https://www.balitourismboard.or.id/
http://www.baliraftingtours.com/ayung-rafting.php 

booking.com
https://www.duolingo.com/course/id/en/Learn-Indonesian

https://wikitravel.org/en/Balinese_phrasebook

https://wikitravel.org/en/Indonesian_phrasebook

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

Travelling, And Staying And Eating For Free When You Are Not Working

If you are unemployed or a carer or retired and still active but don't have a business budget, you can still travel free. How?

By working your way up an organization until you reach an unpaid vluntary post or paid overseeing post which requires you to travel. I shall give you three examples.

UK
Currently (Jan 2019) London pensioners get a free travel pass for buses and trains within a certain zone. (And those UK pensioners over age 75 get a free TV license -but they are detating withdrawing this.) Many museums and attractions give discount entry fees tothose over a certain age. The same applies to nationwide organizations involving art galleries, exhibitions, museums and events. But sometimes exhbitions charge. Some museums have a free day once a week or once a month.

Charities
The staff in shops for charities in the UK are unpaid volunteers. However, the people at the top are given salaries. They will either get a paid for flight, or be able to ask an airline for a free or reduced flight as a donation to the charity. In exchange the press releases, thank you letters and so on may have to refer to the donation of the free or reduced ticket.

Markets often offer free tasting of food.

USA


Not For Profit
To give but one example, normally Toastmasters International will expect members to make their own way to meetings. However, in many cases you can link up with somebody else who is travelling to a distant meeting by car. Those at the very top who are full-time employees will have their fares paid for to go to conferences and international events which they are organizing. Attending local conferences will also provide opportunities for free or donated travel, for speakers and orgnaizers.

Some inhouse clubs' companies pay for the annual Toastmasters membership or pay half. You may then be able to claim travel to meetings on expenses or find somebody with a car to take you to the other office if meetings are held at the company's other office or alternate addresses.

Other Special Interest Groups & Diets
A member of a vegetarian, kosher or halal or vegan society was able to travel for free. He either had his fare paid for by the society or by a local manufacturer of vegan products. He might have been able to have a hotel paid for by a sponsor, or to stay with a friend, within the organization, and be sure of having vegetarian or vegan food at his host's home.

When I was a student, I met an Orthodox Jewish boy who travelled across the world to a friend's wedding. My friend went to a synagogue every Friday night and was invited to the Rabbi's home or the home of a prominent member of the congregation (usually one with an eligible daughter or two!)

Nowadays, with security concerns, you would probably need to get your home rabbi to vouch for you and to write a letter of introduction in advance. You would need this both to get into the building past the security guard, and attend a service, and to get invited to a home.

Jewish
Some outreach Jewish organizations offer free Friday night meals. You might need to find the location and register in advance, either for security of if only so that they can have enough catering.

Hindu
Hindu organizations often have free food at temples for special occasions. I have had a vegetarian meal at a Toastmasters meeting of a dozen people in a temple outbuilding in Singapore.

I have also been taken for a free lunch to a temple with hundreds of people and road signs and parking in a field for a festival at a Hindu temple near Watford in North West London.

Organizing An Event
I have heard parents of competitors in chess and other contest complaining about the high cost of fares to contests. However, if you are organizing an event for ten or more people and book a coach,  drive a coach. or book a hotel, as the organizer you may be allowed a free place.

Weddings & Honeymoons
A bride and groom will often be given a free night at a hotel where they hold a wedding reception, as part of the package. Check around.

If not, ask for it and negotiate. If not, the best man as the organizer might be offered a free room.

Drivers
Drivers often receive complimentary meals at shopping complex stops, and a free room at an overnight hotel.
A driver's hotel room might not be top standard, or might be a single room with no outlook. But, as they say, beggars can't be choosers.

Homestay Pairings
You also have many options of organizations which pair up people for free homestays.

Travel Industry
Find a part time job in the travel industry, and you will be able to spot cheap off-season offers as well as discounts for travel agents.

Nannies and Childcarers
You could take a job overseas, where the accommodation is with the employer. Or accompany them when they go on holiday. All found - fares, accommodation and meals.

School Trips
Many school trips require a teacher or adult for every ten children (rules vary with different countries and organizations and ages). Check what options are available.

Carers
Many museums offer free entry to a carer or person pushing a wheelchair.

Discounts - Stated Or Negotiated
Some countries offer discounts or free entry to their own country's military, schoolchildren in groups, children, or other groups.

US Hotel Discounts
In the USA you can often ask a motel receptionist for a discount for the military, emergency services, of simply local businesses.

All the best for your travels.

More information from:
http://www.citycapper.com/news/3-ways-you-can-eat-free-london

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Khazaana Indian Restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam

In Vietnam my first choice of restaurant would be Vietnamese, not French, Italian, Chinese or Indian However, after several days of Vietnamese food our lover of Indian food insisted that we try out an Indian restaurant, and this proved a happy find.

Like most restaurants in Hanoi, the ground floor was better than the upstairs room (except for those with fine views over a lake). I loved the tent like feel.

A new friend from Laos was one of our number and she had not tried Indian food before. Surprise. (We have eaten Indian food about once a week in London, England for decades.) So we had a lot of explaining to do.

Halal, for example, means no pork.

We ordered plain rice, stuffed paratha (bread) korma chicken (supposedly with nuts - couldn't find any or notice any but the flavour was lovely. We had enough left over to take away for lunch the next day.

With bottled water and one dessert shared between three, the total was the equivalent of about nineteen pounds sterling.

Any room for improvement? Yes, the gulab jamun centre was not solid but too liquid. One of our number who is a keen cook said it must be under-cooked.

Apart from that the food was lovely.

We were too busy chatting to each other to talk to the staff so I never asked the menaing of the restaurant name and I checked their website but could not find it. A google search revealed that it might mean treasure in an Indian language.

www.khazaana.vn

VN of course stands for Vietnam.

Halia Restaurant At Botanical Gardens - change

Problem
Halia restaurant at Botanical Gardens has become halal with no wine served. That's great if you want to avoid alcohol or the cost.

However, if you have a wine buff or want champagne to celebrate a birthday or special occasion, you might need an alternative. they don't serve wine and don't do BYO (bring your own) either.

Answer
My wine buff chose to transfer to another restaurant, excellent but pricey, called Table at 7. (Later post on this later.) Taxi had to be called to a pickup point outside the Botanical Gardens gate.

Halia also does catering for homes and offices. handy if you or some of your guests need halal food.

USEFUL WEBSITES & INFO
Halia at Botanic Gardens Singapore
1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden
(enter via Tyersall Avenue)
Singapore 259569
tel: (65) 8444 1148
Email general.hsbg@thehalia.com
www.thehalia.com

Author
Angela Lansbury

The Longest Day, and Latest Sunset affecting the English, Jews, Muslims

Problem
When do I get long days and late sunsets?

Answer
July 21st, today, Thursday in 2018, is the longest day. However, that does not necessarily mean the latest sunset.

Why does the sunset time matter?

1 VIEWS OF SCENERY VERSUS PEOPLE
If you want to eat outdoors at a restaurant you might want to book an outside or inside table. You might want more light, especially for photographing a view over London.

When dating you might want bright light to get a good look at your date. You might want less light if you have a fabulous voice but not much in facial department. You might want to hide your bald head or wrinkles in the more romantic candle-light indoors.

2 Jewish groups or couples might want to book a Friday or Saturday meal when kosher restaurants are open, which is different in summer and winter. In winter in the UK, in an area with kosher restaurants such as Golders Green, you will notice that the restaurants have closed earlier when it gets dark on Friday evening. But the restaurants are opening earlier on Saturday evening when it gets dark. By contrast, in summer the restaurants will close later on Friday, but won't open early on Saturday evening because it is still light and the Sabbath.

Opening and closing times are also going to be changing gradually throughout the seasons all year.  So check diaries or Jewish newspapers or signs on restaurant doors or websites.

If you are visiting a Jewish host who is observant, they may be using the traditional method of judging sunset by when you can see three stars. In a city where it is so cloudy and polluted that you cannot see any stars, you will have to go by the calendar. Ask your hosts what time you should arrive and what food or drink would be appropriate.

3 Moslem groups observing Ramadan, which last a month and has just ended, cannot eat or drink in the daytime all month. However, they can eat and drink after sunset. If you are providing food and drink for a group which has Muslim members of visitors, they have not eaten all day and will be very pleased if you have halal or vegetarian food they can eat.
The evenings and weekends at the end of Ramadan you will have big celebrations in the Muslim restaurants and areas eg in parts of Singapore and in Muslim countries with a Muslim majority or a large Muslim minority or restaurants and shops and residences area.

UK light nights
Travelling from Singapore to the UK, the long days are lovely.

Useful Websites
visitsingapore.com
vistibritain.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset

Author, Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

NEED SPECIAL FOOD FOR AN ALLERGY OR SPECIAL DIET? Allergy ha ha! No, it's not funny - what to watch for

Problem
Diets of all kinds are catered for online - but rather more essential to plan in advance or take your own special food on an airline. You can buy food for all kinds of special diets: eggless, free of MSG, gluten-free, halal, kosher, low-calorie, nutfree, and free of all kinds of foods you need to avoid when taking pills.

People often joke that the Chinese eat anything with four legs except the table, but many of them are lactose intolerant.

Airlines offer lots of meals. However, on Singapore Airlines, if you have a shellfish allergy the only way to get a meal supposedly without shellfish is to order a kosher meal. 

In-flight you really don't want to come out with a rash like chickenpox, swelling around your eyes and mouth and throat so you can hardly breathe, and non-stop retching for 24 hours even after you have vomited up your meal. 

Surprise - Mistake
I've had bad reactions to shellfish twice. The first time I ate crab by mistake for salmon. I had pointed at a pink fish sandwich filling when staff in a sandwich shop did not know the English word (for crab). 

The other time was after eating king prawns in a restaurant.  

Spots
It's disgusting and alarming for others to see you covered in spots. The sufferer, bystanders, even medically trained people might wonder whether it's chicken pox and contagious. Rashes are one of the danger signs which mean call a doctor. Could be meningitis, or bubonic plague (still prevalent in Africa). 

Without a doctor, you don't know if it's a food allergy, food poisoning, chicken pox, or shingles (a late in life recurrence caused by chicken pox earlier in life) or something else contagious. It could be dangerous to the person suffering, and passed on to you if you touch them.

Swelling

Then there's the swelling. You look pretty ugly with swollen eyes. Swollen face, Swollen mouth. Not what you want on a honeymoon, anniversary trip, nor any happy holiday. 

Nor, if it comes to that, a business trip. Just imagine, you are the sales person hoping to seal a deal. 'Yes, sir,' you or the sales person shakes hands with the potential buyer, 'all our food and drink is organic and healthy. Excuse me, sorry to retch over this contract I would like you to sign ... you will sign, won't you?'

Retching
I brought up the food and thought that's it, thank goodness it's over. It wasn't. I went on retching, just saliva, for hours. It's exhausting for the sufferer when you keep retching even when there's no more food in you because your body has gone into spasms. 

No sleep all night. The reaction is not amusing. Even if no long-term consequences, no start to a holiday for the passenger and companions. Not something passengers and staff would like to see on an airline.

So forgive me, I am not amused by the idea of accidentally eating something to which you have an allergy.

You can also develop allergies. Usually, possibly, after increasing amounts, or increasing events of eating something to which you are slightly intolerant. I love strawberries. After a long hot summer when I ate strawberries every day, sometimes twice a day, at the end of the summer I started swelling up around my mouth and went to the doctor. 

She said, "It's an allergic reaction. What have you been eating? How often?"

About ten years later I was tempted to eat a strawberry. I tried a tiny amount. Fine. Half. A whole one. Half an hour later, a couple more. Next day, a whole plateful. OK!

Luckily, even when I am surprised (by teeny shrimps in soups in Korea and rice in Thailand and Malaysia and Singapore) - most customers and servers - even at the Sheraton Towers hotel buffet - cheerily tell you they don't think the food contains any shellfish. I turn over the food and check. I can usually smell shellfish. A sharp smell. Pungent.

If I eat it I know immediately that it's shellfish. Sharp taste, like pickles in vinegar, like kimchee. Worse still, tingling in my mouth, inside lips seem to be pressing on my tongue - swelling.

I spit out, race for the toilet, retch, spit, clean my teeth and tongue, swill water, suck water between my teeth.

Always take care of yourself, your family, your friends, your colleagues.

Safety First
On one press trip, to Italy, the PR lady would not even let me eat fish in case a prawn had sat on top of a piece of fish, or a shellfish sauce had been added. She told me, and the group, that on a previous trip one of the journalists had had a reaction to shellfish. The person had to go to hospital. She, as the PR person in charge of the trip, had to accompany the stricken person to hospital, do all the paperwork, report to her employers and the insurance company, try to organize the following day when she was kept busy at the hospital, consider having to repatriate the traveller early.

The moral of the story?
The morals or lessons of the story:
1 Never give somebody something to which they are allergic or intolerant as a joke - because each experience increases their physical reaction - like vaccination in reverse as the body builds up hystamine as a reaction to try to expel the toxin.

2 Note what you are eating.
If possible give the pilot or driver different food so in the case of food poisoning another pilot or driver unaffected can take over.

3 Label packaged food carefully - fish is not a sufficient description, nor is seafood. I am fine with salmon and trout and smoked salmon and cod and plaice. It is only shellfish and molluscs which cause me problems.

If you are not allergic to nuts, strawberries or shellfish, lucky you. If you find yourself with somebody who can't eat certain products, you can get a double portion!

If you are ever in charge of packaging, supply food, serving food, acting as a guide, watch out for allergies. You could save yourself and others a lot of time, money and worry.

On one trip to a seafood restaurant in Spain I gave my shellfish starter to the person next to me in exchange for his chocolate dessert. We were both very happy!

What are the common dietary needs?
No shellfish (allergy)
No shellish (kosher)
No beef (hindu)
No meat (and sometimes no fish) vegetarian
No eggs and milk (in addition to no meat and fish) vegan
No nuts (allergy)
No eggs (allergy - that's why Bird's custard powder was invented by a man whose wife was allergic to eggs)
No lamb (Asians find it smells offensive)
No milk (lactose intolerance in a proportion of Asians - might be one sister can't drink milk but the other can)
No milk and meat at the same meal (kosher - so no butter on meat sandwiches and no milk in coffee or milky desserts after meat)
No meat (vegans find it smells offensive - I was asked not to eat a meat sandwich on a bus by a vegan tour guide.)
No pork (Halal and kosher - ancient law, possibly practical, reinforced by prohibition, originating from the book of Leviticus which is Greek word for laws in the bible, as it is called by Jews, known to Christians as the Old Testament after they added the new Testament featuring the life of Jesus and disciples.)

My friend Shan started a gluten free import business in Singapore when a member of her family became known to have a gluten problem.

Useful Websites

GlutenfreeSG.com 

email: sales@glutenfreesg.com>

https://www.singaporeair.com/en_UK/sg/flying-withus/dining/specialmeals/
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy

Author
Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.