Pandan and coconut bagel, Singapore. The inside of the bagel is very light green from the pandan.
If there is one thing that I have learned from writing a blog while living in Southeast Asia, it is that there is a huge, silent market for bagels.
Bagels in Singapore is one of the most popular search terms that leads strangers to this site. You know who you are.
I generally stick with garlic bagels. It was one of my pet peeves in Maryland that Whole Foods would always have all sorts of frou-frou blueberry and wheatgerm bagels but would never stock a simple onion or garlic bagel. That is wrong. They are bagel frauds.
A few days ago we ordered more bagels from the NYC Bagel Factory of Singapore and they threw in six extra bagels to make up for delivery problems a few months ago. This time, I had to choose nineteen bagels so I deviated from the usual to try something new and unique to Southeast Asia.
A pandan and coconut bagel.
Pandan leaves are used in Singapore to flavor desserts and bread, and also can be used to wrap and grill chicken. It is a very popular flavor and is often paired with shredded coconut or kaya, a type of coconut jam. You can buy the leaves in the grocery stores but we also have some growing in our neighborhood. It gives most things a slight green tint.
Pandan cake with shredded coconut on the side of the cake.
All of the bagels were good — they also met with approval from Elysia’s parents, who live in Queens – but I think I prefer pandan in a real dessert.
Elysia’s dad celebrated his birthday while in Singapore so I picked up a pandan and kaya cake from a nearby bakery.
It was delicious but, as they taught me to say in graduate school, more research is needed.
Citrus and her grandfather, blowing out his birthday cake candle.
