Singapore Bagel Review

I’ve now been in Singapore for about six weeks, and the only “Western” food I’ve had was some very solid pizza. Aside from that, it’s been a steady diet of a variety of Asian food. And while I’m certainly not complaining, there has been some food that I’ve been missing from home. I think in the States we take our incredible diversity for granted, and we don’t realize how lucky we are to have food from all around the world. Here’s an unofficial and incomplete list of food I’ve been missing from home:

• Sandwiches (very broad, but I’ve had a hankering for pastrami, Reuben, that sort of thing – shoutout to Wagshal’s)
• Shawarma (arguably a sandwich?)
• Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food
• Mexican food
• and finally, bagels, which brings me to today’s post…

In D.C., I would visit Bethesda Bagels maybe every six weeks or so. Call Your Mother is pretty good too. In Portland, it’s a little harder to find a good bagel, but Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels provided some solid ones over the summer. And I’ve been really wanting one lately, so I decided to make it happen. After some research, I saw positive reviews for Two Men Bagel House, which had multiple locations around the island including one in the nearby Holland Village (which makes sense as there are a lot of expats).

Here’s the menu. As you can see, there are a lot of elaborate sandwiches. But I decided to opt for the classic lox, both because I wanted it and because I thought it would be a good barometer for this place. At $S18.50 ($13.56), it was a little expensive, but I figured it was probably a little tricky to get lox in Singapore. But when my name was called, I realized why it was so expensive.

Sandwiched between my sesame bagel was maybe an entire salmon’s worth of lox, in addition to the required red onion, tomato, and caper, but also pickled beets and cucumbers. I really liked the addition of pickled beets, which I’m a huge fan of (especially with goat cheese) but it never occurred to me to put them in a bagel.

My friend Sumin, who’s spent roughly the last decade living in Singapore and had been here before, got some sort of beef and cheese sandwich with caramelized onions that was almost like a patty melt on a bagel. She, however, didn’t even know that bagels were Jewish in origin, so I had to lecture her on the subject.

As you can see, the bagel itself was a little thin. The ideal bagel is crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and this one was more like a bagel thin. However, the entire affair exceeded my expectations for bagels in Singapore. I will be back.

Also, you may have not noticed, but I forked over the cash for zeveatsit.com. That should save you a lot of time typing-wise. You’re welcome!

I leave for Ho Chi Minh City Friday night, and I might eat a banh mi every single day, so expect some content out of that.