Otters in the city of Singapore - are you safe? How to protect otters and yourself

 

Otters are being protected and encouraged to make themselves at home in the city. The water of the Singapore river was cleaned up some time ago.

Neighbours saw otters by the fish ponds in the grounds of Cashew Heights Condominium near Bukit Panjang in the North west of Singapore. The neighbour who took this photo said she could smell the fish. She told the building management. They checked their cameras and found that the otters, which are mammals, had not sneaked in through fencing as had first been thought. The otters had brazenly entered through the front entrance past the security guard. At the time when the guards were changing over at about 8 pm. 

Next morning when I was swimming with my friendly swimming pal, Vee, (from another block), she hailed the management. My neighbour, Vee, told me that after the otters had left, she noticed a strong smell of fish. 

Otters eat only the heads of the fish. Funny, that. Fish head curry is a local delicacy of the Indian restaurants in Singapore.

The otters also left another strong smell because they urinate marking their territory and making it easy to smell their way back. 

They have a strong sense of smell. They had travelled a distance to find the fish.

The otters had not eaten all the fish. The ponds are large and well stocked with fish. Enough to feed the otters again, should they choose to make a return visit. No need to stock up again.

I remember when the Night Safari opened in Singapore, that it was the first in the world and a great novelty. Now it seems the Night Safari is coming to us!

Are you safe?

Keep a safe distance. Especially if they are with young. Don't run up to take a photo. How would  you feel if an unknown animal galloped towards your baby! The otter is anxious as you approach from a distance, then angry and aggressive when you get near. One tourist ran up to them and spooked them. A second approaching slowly, was attacked and badly hurt.

So admire from a safe distance. It is a privilege to see them. 

If another otter attacked anybody, the poor otters might be shot or carted away. To be sure that the otters are not culled or captured and moved away from the city, don't get too near.

Useful Websites

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

https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/dos-and-donts/animal-advisories/otters

Otter crossing sign, Outer Hebrides.

Muthu's Curry restaurant - what you can eat and drink: famous fish head curry, mango lassi

Angela and husband Trevor Sharot at Muthu's Curry restaurant. I am wearing my curry-proof dress. You can see we are seated at a circular table.

The Booking

We have known Muthu's for twenty years. Back in the bad old days you had to take a taxi to Little India and did not have the luxury of an MRT station. In 2021, we looked online and saw the branch at Suntec city which seems good if you are in that area but if you have a choice it seems fitting to select the  lovely, lively, location of Little India.

We booked online because it was Easter and we had a group of six so we wanted to be sure of having a table. We received no written confirmation of the booking, so we phoned on the day. 

The staff member who answered said there would be no problem finding a table. He was right. The place is huge, so there were plenty of empty tables and a turnover. 

Decor

Decor at Muthu's. Photo by Angela. You can see the long oblong tables for those who like to face others from nearby.

Table Choice

We had a circular table for six diners. The restaurant also has long oblong tables. A section on the back wall has sliding barriers creating a feeling of privacy for groups who are celebrating birthdays or wanting privacy for business.

The Menu Options

You could stop to look at the choices in the cafeteria type central area.

Fish head curry was high on our list.

The green banana leaf arrived fast.

A waiter doled out generous portions of white boiled rice and 2 vegetables.

Next up was the fish head curry in a large circular ceramic bowl. You can also see mango lassi. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Bread

Bread choices include garlic naan and cheese naan.

Drinks

A huge stack of bottles of wine is in a glass column at the back.

Wine bottles at Muthu's. Photo by Angela.

I asked to see the drinks list. The drinks list is separate from the food menu. 

I opted for rose lassi, but it was not available. So I had mango lassi.

Toilets

Clean and modern. In the cubicle I found the knee level shower, like the one I have at home in Singapore. This offers many options, enabling you to wash your hands, your body, the toilet, the floor, or whatever you feel is necessary, before, during or after using the facilities.

The wash basin is a diagonal slope away from you design with no lip for your handbag, so no temptation to stop to apply make up or comb your hair.

Payment

After we finished, and paid the bill for the whole table, giving cash for our share of the food to the person who paid with a credit card, we were not rushed out. Some of us ordered teas and drinks which we paid for separately with cash.

As you leave you can collect their business address card.

Getting There

Farrer Park and Little India are about the same distance from the restaurant. We chose Little India because we live on that line and it saves us changing. The walk past Indian restaurants is interesting.

We walked along from Little India MRT (underground railway) station. You pass another stretch of Indian restaurants before reaching the MC sign for Muthu's curry at the far end. 

Muthu means pearl in Tamil. 

Where Next? Mustaphas!

When you come out, you can either turn left to walk to Little India MRT station, or right to go to Mohamed Mustapha's department store, known for short as Mustapha's. 

Useful Websites

https://www.muthuscurry.com/

Tel:+65 6392 1722

https://www.facebook.com/muthuscurry/photos/

About The Author Angela

Angela Lansbury is a British author who has lived in the USA.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

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Singapore's Must Eat Food: from fish head curry to seasonal delights like pineapple tarts

INDIAN
Local fruits and fruit juices:
Fruits/Durian: Any hawker centre /food court (durian in season)

What to eat?
Chinese: Fish - seafood restaurants on the east coast such as Jumbo (must book).
Choose your fish from the menu and/or from the aquariums around the restaurant.
If you don't like fish, try lemon chicken, or chicken with cashew nuts.

Indian Fish: Fish Head Curry
Fish head curry is a large fish head served in sauce in a casserole dish with a cover.

Vegetable curry as a main or side dish and boiled white rice or fried rice are served on a green banana leaf cut into oblongs like a place mat but serving as a disposable plate. In more basic places the green banana leaf is laid directly onto the table. Here in Muthu's Curry restaurant the banana leaf is on a try.

Where to try it?
M u t h u ' s Curry. (I had to insert spaces. Autocorrect changed the spelling to mouth.)
www.muthuscurry.com

Banana Leaf Apolo,
54 Race Course Road, Singapore 218564.
Tel:6293 8682.
48 Serangoon Road, 01-32 Little India Arcade, Singapore 217959.
Tel:6297 1595.
www.thebananaleafapolo.com

CHINESE
What to eat?
Lo Hei - Chinese New Year national dish for Spring (Chinese New Year)

Durian cakes, crisps or ice creams

Durianmpire has several branches. I went to Bukit Panjang Plaza, near Bukit Panjang MRT train station at the northern end of the Downtown line. In the same area, to the northwest, is a branch at Jurong West Shopping Centre.
Other branches are at Changi airport, terminals 2 and 3 in the departure halls.

Pineapple pastries
Pineapple tarts are tiny but so delicious.

Red Bean paste dumplings (fast food served hot from glass-sided revolving heated dispenser on the counter at a 7-11 or similar newsagent and corner shop)

Red Bean paste sweets

Moon cakes (autumn / harvest/ moon festival) - food courts in shopping malls and department stores, seasonal pop-up shops and kiosks, even ice cream parlours, supermarkets. The cakes may be sold singly, as sets of two or four. Some sets including elaborate gift boxes at prices from about £5-10 for one to £25-£100 for a box of four. The most expensive are in a tin with origami sections or a colourful container with four drawers, with gold ribbons and booklets.

Why so expensive? They are little works of art with embossed designs, bought as gifts to VIPs and business associates.

Although they are only muffin or fist size, they are hugely calorific and rich, and usually cut into four or eight pieces, or smaller slices, served to a group of people.

(See earlier post on moon cakes.)

MALAY
What to eat?
Peranakan food
Where to try it:
(Check local papers or hotel concierge)

Cheap eats:
Any hawker centre or food court in the basement/ground level or top floor or a department store or shopping mall.
Indian: Any clean looking corner shop or restaurant in Little India.

Luxury and Expensive Food:
Glamorous and typically Singaporean:
1 Raffles Hotel
2 Marina Bay Sands (rooftop skyscraper restaurants on T shape skyscraper with triple towers - must book)
3 Revolving restaurant, circular, above skyscraper (keeps changing hands and brands - has been a Westin, Swiss hotel, Compass Rose).

Chicken Rice and Duck Rice
If you prefer to stick to conventional European style food, chicken rice or duck rice are available cheaply in the hawker centres or food courts.

Cheesecake and Rainbow Cake
For a dessert with visual appeal, try rainbow cakes. For the familiar, find New York style cheesecake in the usual worldwide coffee bar chains such as Starbucks, and the local version, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. (See my previous posts on Rainbow cake in Singapore.)

More information from hungrygowhere.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer 

Muthu's Curry restaurant, Little India, Singapore

Fish head curry is Singapore's signature dish and although you can eat it in Indian restaurants all over Singapore, the area which springs to mind is Little India.

The Little India MRT (mass transit railway) station has several exits. We took exit D but found E would have been nearer. You walk along Race Course road, passing several other restaurants and a Methodist church.

Mouth's Curry has a sign over the entrance recalling how it dates back to 1969. i remember going there when you had to take a taxi or a bus, before the railway station made the area more accessible and no doubt the prices higher.

You still get big green oblong living place mat banana leaf on your tray, ready to receive a dollop of curry.

Cutlery, poppadum, green banana leaf.

The toilets are upgraded and the decor, all very civilised, clean and comfortable.

We ordered mango lassi. The fish head curry in a great sauce was the best feature of the meal. I must admit the chicken in a so-called cashew nut sauce did not taste particular like cashew nuts, not like chicken with cashew nuts in a Chinese restaurant. I'll bypass the dish next time.

Our desert was glulub jamun, very good. We could have had it with kulfi. Service is not fast, nor rushed. If you are in a hurry or impatient or want everything served together, perhaps an Indian restaurant is not for you.

But if you want fish head curry, this is the place. The fish head is large. I don't know what happens to the rest of the fish. It is too large to be swimming live in an aquarium like the ones at the Chinese restaurants down on the coast.

If you want wine, they have a wine list of wine by the glass or bottle, and a display of bottles.

We were at M u t h u ' s Curry, 138 Race Course Road, 01-10, Singapore 218591.
Tel:6392 1722.

Other branches are at Blk 7 Dempsey Road, 01-01 Singapore 249671,
tel: 64745128;
and Suntec City: 3 Temasek Boulevard, B1-109/177, Suntec City Mall, Singapore 038983,
tel:6835 7707.

www.muthuscurry.com
M u t h u 's as you see is a brightly lit, large restaurant, with big glass windows.

Banana Leaf Apolo is slightly nearer the station and slightly smaller and more secluded, but still large. Take your pick, or alternate between Mu t h u's and Banana Leaf Apollo:
The Banana Leaf Apolo, 54 Race Course Road, Singapore 218564,
tel: 218564.
48 Serangoon Road, 01-32 Little India Arcade, Singapore 217959.
tel :6297 1595.
thebananaleafapolo.com
 
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Singapore Visitor's Sights

Attractions, Museums and Gardens
Areas to see: City centre, Chinatown, Little India.
Hotels to see: Raffles; Shangri-la (waterfalls); Hyatt (waterfall); Sheraton (waterfall); Marriott by Tang's department store (palm trees in lobby); Marina Bay

Gardens By The Bay. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Gardens By the Bay Flower Dome

Gardens by the Bay Flower Dome.

Photo by Trevor Sharot. Copyright.

Gardens By the Bay
Gardens By the Bay riverside walks
Night Safari
Zoo
Bird Park
Marina Bay Sands top floor
History Museum
Philatelic Stamp Museum
Peranakan Museum
Bridge, pedestrian, painted
Bridge, pedestrian, helix
Changi
Old Ford Factory

Fish head curry. Banana leaf. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Tours and Rides
Singapore Flyer
Duck tour
Sentosa Island
Hop on hop off bus. (Check whether you get a free bus tour from Changi or around the city by showing your Singapore Airlines ticket.)

MRT
A must see. Stunning stations include the busy and delaying multi-storey, multi-walkway Dhoby Ghaut station. Go to the latest station which opens Dec 27 2015, Cashew Road, and ride the loop where the windows suddenly go white and block the view as you pass within feet of the windows of skyscrapers built beside the stations and tracks.

Shopping
Orchard Road
Mustaphas (Western, Indian, large sizes)
Underground walk from ION to basements 1 and 2 from Orchard station to Ngee Ann City
Chinese department store in Chinatown

Special Restaurants and Foods
Fish Head curry and rice and curry served on a banana leaf in a restaurant in or near Little India such as Muthu's.
For a cheap meal, go to a hawker centre, a circle of fast food kiosks of various nationalities including Chinese and other Asians and usually a Western one and if you are lucky a fruit and justice bar, in the basement or top floor of most shopping malls.
For moderate to expensive fun at an informal place try IO.
For a special occasion, book drinks or dinner Raffles Hotel or at the top of Marina Bay. Or gourmet.
For tea time, try the rainbow cake. (See my earlier post.)
For a gourmet dinner, try the place I reviewed in an earlier post, where the chef makes surprise dishes for you (Fratini restaurant).You might also like the buzz of the waterside restaurants along Boat Quay and Clarke Quay. You can also dine on a boat.

Seasonal foods:
Moon cakes (autumn), all flavours, sold in restaurants, department stores, special shops which pop up, bakeries, markets, delis, even ice cream shops.

Moon cakes.

Chinese New Year - restaurants and clubs have New Year dinners, at which the main dish is a mixture of foods in a communal bowl eaten with chopsticks, starting by everybody tossing food in the air above the plate, called Yusheng. (See Wikipedia, Hungry Go Where and lots more sites.) Wear washable clothes.
See my previous posts on Singapore

Seasonal events
Formula 1
Great Singapore Sale
Chinese New Year (lights in streets and lion dances)
Boat trips to islands

Events:
Guided tours of museums.
(Talks. Join Friends of the Museum.)
Speakers' Groups. (See Toastmasters International website, find a club.)
Hash House Harriers. (Running through the jungle.)
See the free newspapers at the entrances to railway stations.
Buy The Straits Times. You may find a copy on your plane or in the airport lounge. Singapore daily newspapers are online.

Lions and lion dances, Chinese new year

Cassata Siciliana from IO italian Osteria.

Discounts -
see maps which are free from Changi airport and major hotels.
Bargains - fixed prices in some shops. But get a Chinese friend to negotiate bargains even in shops with fixed prices. If assistants follow you around, try looking keen to buy, asking price, then walking out and see if they chase after you offering a lower price.

Angela Lansbury has been a resident of Singapore for more than ten years.