“it is 34 degrees today,” txted singapore girl, “so aircon is good.” just before noontime, thursday, we met in the air-conditioned wonder of miracle supermarket in chinatown, to stock up on hello kitty rice crackers and green-tea salted-plum candy (and to consider the possibilities of durian mochi), and then we walked a couple of blocks westward to the air-conditioned wonder of mamak.

we were shown to a table in the back, directly beneath the air-conditioner. “it will be cooler here,” said the waiter, but still, it wasn’t quite cool enough to order any of the familiar and comforting numbers on the menu. not today, the sambal kangkong, or the sambal sotong, or a murtabak even, which was available with a chicken or lamb filling. it might have been different if they’d offered a sardine murtabak; back home, the roti uncles fill it with mashed-up fish, straight from a tin, sticky-rich with tomato sauce.

but it was too hot for anything meatier, so i picked something light: the roti bawang, stuffed with slices of red onion. and a teh ais.

the tea showed up first, a beer stein of sweet condensed-milky tea. sweeeet. the roti, when it arrived, came with two curry sauces — a homely chicken curry gravy, and a welcome and excellent surprise of an assam curry hiding little bits of fish.

oh, it was good! the crunchy and succulent just-cooked onions in flaky pastry, the alternate mouthfuls of contrasting curries. by the time it was over, i was sorry to discover that there was no room inside of me for dessert — none of the sweet rotis on offer, or the ais kacang which promised rose syrup instead of a generic sugary flavour. sigh.

so i will be back. it’s great to have found this shiny red restaurant, and its litany of old favourites. it’s only a little bit less great when we think about how much this food costs in singapore.

but here’s the thing — i am in singapore. surprise! me and the kid flew in on saturday, gliding in on a wave of vomit. there are so many things to eat we don’t know where to begin. this afternoon i had a sardine sandwich in the cutest pink cafe ever, followed by a cup of tea and a share of a limonata cupcake, and a chocolate one. i wanted nothing more than to move in.