When I was cooking with Paunnee, she told me of this place, the Golden Mile Complex. She said that is where I would be able to find the glutinous rice steamer basket and pot along with all of the right Thai sauces and pastes she uses.

It’s been over a week since I went to Paunnee’s to cook our Thai favorites so I really felt like I needed to cook them myself while some of the memories were fresh. Memories don’t stay as fresh for as long these days…..

I asked my friends Laurel, Jennifer and Paunnee to meet up at the Golden Mile Complex this morning. i would have been lost as a goose without Paunnee! I’m so glad she was able to come with us.

Little Thailand. Who knew??? I just love how every culture is represented and blends together in Singapore but it’s also very cool that it seems like every culture has their own “land” as well. There are plenty of Western places all around Singapore but we also have China Town, Little India, Arab Quarters, Malay Village, Lucky Plaza and Little Thailand. That’s probably not a complete list of “lands” but those are the only ones I know about.

The place is much more local than most places in Singapore. Less sterile, less updated but with more character and culture. Just like I like it! In the Wikipedia article I link below, it is described as a “vertical slum”, “terrible eyesore” and a “national disgrace”.  So, maybe that gives you a good picture of what it’s like. :) That kind of describes the condo I live next door to also. Golden Mile Complex is one of the earliest multi purpose buildings built in Singapore. You can read up on it in this Wikipedia article. It’ll probably be torn down in the not so distant future so I’m glad I get to experience it while I’m here.

The Lonely Planet Description says, “This is Thailand: the whole human circus wrapped up, packaged inside an unattractive shopping centre and transported to Singapore (minus the motorbikes running you down on the pavement). This is the place to come for Thai groceries, including all the essential roots, leaves and pastes you’ll struggle to find anywhere else. Stay for lunch or dinner.”

I like “the whole human circus” bit.  Kind of like my house some days. Maybe that’s why I felt sort of at home there.

As far as what we found inside… A million and one travel agencies, Thai Disco, Supermarket, restaurants, shops selling all the homemade Thai sweets and snacks, hair salons, cheapo toy stores, and of course a 7Eleven. :) We got there early, 10:45am, so many of the shops hadn’t opened yet but we mainly went for the Supermarket and that was open.

I got SO MUCH STUFF there, sauces, oils, pastes, rice, glutinous rice steamer set, veggies, snacks, noodles. A basket full of groceries and enough for 4-5 meals, minus the meats, for $81.25 SGD. The pot and the basket to steam glutinous rice in was $8 SGD together! After that, I went to Tekka Market in Little India which is really close to get the other veggies and fresh ground coconut I needed and spent $18. Enough groceries to make Green Curry Chicken, Tom Yum Soup, Lemon Beef, Stir Fried Veggies w/ Noodles and Mango Sticky Rice. All for about $100. Not bad. Speaking of bad, I think it might not be a place you want to take your family to at night. Just sayin’…

Here are a few photos I took today.

I had so much fun today! I came home and cooked Green Curry Chicken and Mango Sticky Rice. Story about that in the next post. I pretty much fought and lost on the Green Curry Chicken but I slam dunked the Mango Sticky Rice. It was funny when I came home and Anna was helping me put everything away. She kept saying, “This makes you happy, Mom, huh?” She knows me well. I loved experiencing something new and to get to share it with friends was the cherry on top.

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