audiojunky wrote:Dude - I have to differ. Yes, shopping is awesome in NYC but everything that's available there is available here - except for 2 of my favorite stores Uniqlo and BO Concept. Takashimaya rocks though! But seriously, just about everything that's available in NYC is available here isn't it??
Restaurants - I think it depends on taste. I kinda think that the restaurants here are amazing and there are a LOT of them. Ok, maybe if you're looking for something like Tao, you won't find it here but I'm having a blast with all the variety of food available here.
in the end you are entitled for your own opinion...but no. the shopping here is pretty piss poor. i assume you're male (otherwise you would agree with me...hahaha). ask your wife if the tiffany's here in Sillypore has the same selection of stuff as the tiffany's on 57th and 5th. There are no independent up and coming designers. everything is brand name (established brands)...even the gucci store here has piss poor selection. and the lower end of the spectrum? again, just 1,000X more variety in NYC (century 21, filene's basement, daffy's, sym's, not to mention all the outlet shopping at woodbury commons). ever notice how now a days in sillypore every single person jumps on the same fashion trend? right now it appears for males to be that Polo rugby shirt with a massive logo on the front (so everyone will know you spent a lot of money for poor quality construction and low quality cotton), and there's a number on the sleeve. well the reason they all wear the same shirt is because of the poor selection (is that the only rugby polo shirt that Ralph Lauren designed??).
as far as food. Singapore is fantastic for asian food. that's about it. As SMS points out, there's no true NY deli. You can't walk into a store and ask for a "Muenster, salami, lettuce, tomato, onion, salt, pepper, and oil and vinegar." If you get a meat sandwich, it's pretty much one slice of meat, one slice of cheese and 8" of bread. There's no mexican taquerias where i can get some beef tongue tacos with some tres leches dessert for $5 and a glass of horchata (like el paso taqueria on 104th and lex), haven't seen seen an african restaurant...they even sell frankies in NYC (kati rolls...) but i haven't even found that in Singapore. French food? as far as classic french food, sure you can get a good french meal here and be satisfied, but are you going to get a memorable meal of a life time as you would at eric ripert's le bernardin? not even close. i'm not saying that the food here is bad. by all means i love the food here, it's tasty, and i really enjoy it...but it's not world class from what i've seen so far.
No singapore is not a melting pot, it's a melting pot for Asian cultures only. Thus the food is only asian. In NYC, i can get New York Chinese (almond chix or general tso's), i can get chinese chinese (dim sum, xiao long bao, that baby bok choy with oyster sauce, mao pao tofu, or even classic sichuan cooking), i can get indian chinese (chinese mirch), shit i can even get latin chinese (think chinese people in cuba who defected to the states), i can get taiwanese street food, vietnamese banh mi sandwiches to die for in the perfect crusty french roll, and i can get the whole spectrum of street hawker food in NYC at the greasy joints in chinatown or flushing, or if i want upscale dining i can go to fatty crab for chili crab / fish sambal. plus i love how in literally every street corner at all hours of the night i can get hot dogs, pretzels, gyros, jamacian beef pies, lamb with rice, chicken kebab, slice of pizza, etc.
oh not complaining, just making comparisons. quite like singapore actually. very relaxing. but i also will call a spade a spade.
