Singapore's TidbiTs

The calories rich but tasty teh tarik (or spelled as teh tarek) or pulled tea is a unique milk tea found in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made of black tea in combination with sweetened condensed milk (or evaporated milk for less sweetness, and tossing or dragging (tarik) the tea from one container to another at a height to create a frothy effect. This tea is usually drank while having roti prata . Well you can drink it with about any snacks or dishes or you can just sip it on its own as the teh tarik is like a dessert beverage by itself, full if sweetness from the condensed milk and sugar. There is also teh masala or the spice tea, but for locals here we tend to stick with the simpler teh tarik. Masala tea may appeal more to Indians. At many local coffee shops, teh-C is a lingo used to mean tea with evaporated milk to differentiate from the concentrated condensed milk. The letter C actually stand for ' cair ', a Malay word for diluted or unsweetened. That applies to kopi-C t...

Cheng teng is a uniquely sweet local dessert or comfort drink that has been around for generations. This icy cold dessert drinks are popular especially given our local weather that are hot and humid. You can also have your cheng teng (also spelled as cheng tng ) warm or hot. Bedok Corner cheng-teng Cheng teng can be served either hot or cold. It is a potpourri of ingredients that include longan , ginko nuts , lily bulbs , white fungus , red dates , lianzi , barley, etc. Cold cheng teng is added with shaved ice. It is a sweet ‘cooling’ tasting dessert, like most desserts here. Cheng teng is believed to be able to get rid of heatiness in the hot and humid Singapore weather due to the tonic effect of some of the ingredients, which are herbal in nature. Some ingredients are used as part of traditional Chinese medicine, which have been used for centuries. But with so many ingredients in a bowl, cheng teng tastes very refreshing and sweet instead of herbal-ish. The hot or warm version is ev...