The changing normal

I nearly died from my lunch today.

I occasionally forget that starter portions here are fairly big, while mains can be downright enormous. So, I order what I think is a fair amount until the food comes and I end up bursting at the seams – without even finishing everything on my plate.

Granted, we had a late breakfast of pancakes at about 11am, but it was nearly 4pm when we ordered lunch and I couldn’t resist starters that cost just £2 – part of the Carlito’s meal deal where a main is £5.95 and two courses are only £7.95.

We got some chicken tempura – two pieces of tender chicken breast coated in crisp fish ‘n’ chips batter, served with Thai sweet chilli sauce – and gorgeous deep fried brie served with berry compote.

We were happy and satisfied by the very delicious food, until the mains came and we were horrified -they were giant portions! Here’s my Fussilli ala Carlito’s – pasta in white wine cream sauce with chicken, mushrooms and peppers:


I looked at it, wondered how I was going to finish everything, but plunged on anyway. The pasta was even better than it looks, and somehow the combination of cream, mushroom and chicken made for an extremely tasty sauce. I wanted so very badly to consume every last bit of it, tried my very best, but failed anyway – it’s been 3 hours since lunch but I’m still feeling the effects of overeating :S

I was very surprised that the food turned out to be so good, as Carlito’s is in the middle of Botanic Avenue – a very studenty place which is full of cheap eats. I thought it was gonna be pub grub – which is pretty good here anyway – but the interior looked nicer than I’d imagined and the food far surpassed my expectations.

But the above review of Carlito’s is a long introduction to thoughts that have repeatedly occurred to me since I came – that what was normal back home is far from what’s normal here. And I don’t mean the quirks of the country, but what things like ‘fast’ and ‘average’ means.

For example, I’m considered a big eater back home. Everyone I know can attest to the fact that I eat a lot for a girl, and my appetite is often joked about among my former colleagues. I used to be hungry all the time and out-ate everyone on my team – but it seems like I can’t eat much more than a main course here. And it’s not like the women here don’t eat much. Head out and you’ll see them order starters and mains and finish everything on their plate – and it’s not because they’re bigger than I am, as I’ve had the opportunity to see a girl smaller than me eat a lot more.

Also, I’m considered to be a fast walker (also frequently joked about), a fast eater, and the owner of a loud voice. Unfortunately, when I came over I realised that my walking speed is very slow in comparison, that I don’t eat particularly quickly but am actually on the slow side, and I struggle to be heard over club music when other girls don’t seem to face a similar problem. Again, I don’t think it’s to do with me being smaller in built than most others – there’re many people my size here as well.

I suppose it’s welcome to the ‘real’ world, as someone joked, but it’ll be interesting to see where other Singaporeans - whose appetite, walking speed, eating speed and voice volume are ‘normal’ or ‘below average’ - stand when they come over :)