Hey guys. I'm looking for a sit-down lunch place in SOMA with easy parking. My companions always go to Paragon, and honestly I can't stand the place. Corporate blech. I need better food than that. Ideas?

Thanks so much. We will definitely be cooking Christmas Day. Good LORD. The prices. We will definitely give Singapore a try on another night. What's your favorite Indian? Board says you're the man to ask.

We will be spending a couple of weeks in London at Christmastime, living in a house-swap in Hampstead. We're looking for a good Christmas dinner -- a trick since most restaurants are closed. Any thoughts? Also, any local restaurant favorites would be appreciated. We eat all up and down the food scale, from cheap stalls to fine meals any and all ethnicities. We have 4 kids, but they are fairly intrepid diners. Thanks!

A quickie highlight list to all you wonderful people who did such a great job directing me. First of all, because of YOU, Chef Willin Low told me that I was the most well-prepared food tourist he's ever met. And the man has given hawker stall tours to the likes of David Chang and Martha Stewart. Give yourselves a round of applause. We've eaten at so many stalls I can't honestly name them all, but I do want to give a shout out to Maxwell Fuzhou oyster cake, which was incredible, and to Roxy Laksa at East Coast Lagoon. We went out to Adam Road food centre to eat at Selera Rasa but he was closed! The adorable (If he's not married, someone should snatch him up quick) hawker was there though, and felt so bad about being closed that he promised us a free plate tomorrow if we can make it back there. It's a haul, but we'll try. I can't possibly go home without a good plate of Nasi Lemak. But I think the highlight of the trip so far was an actual restaurant meal. Willin Low of Wild Rocket made us a lunch that was so good I honestly don't know if I will eat again today. He's a genius with fusion. And I don't even LIKE fusion. But every mouthful was a delight.

Chef Willin Low of Wild Rocket takes Asian Fusion out of the realm of kitsch into the FABULOUS. Seriously, what this man does to a noodle will blow your mind. And his panna cotta? MY GOD. So so so good.

Just a quick update (we're in the middle of our trip). Wilin Low, the incredible chef of Wild Rocket, took us on a hawker crawl today,with the incomparable Cheryl Tan. It was incredible. I'll post details when I'm not exhausted, but honestly, as crazy as this sounds, so far my favorite bite was the ondeh ondeh from Maxwell Food Centre! Everything else has been amazing, but that was perfection in a mouthful.

Updated my list accordingly. Thanks!!

Chowhounders, you people are fabulous, amazing, I adore you. OK, here's the list so far. Let me know if I've missed anything critical. (I've been frantically adding things, but surely missed many). At this point we will likely return home at least 10 pounds heavier.

Maxwell Market
--Tian Tian Chicken Rice, Maxwell Market**
--Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake,
--goreng pisang
--onde-onde

East Coast Langoon
--Roxy Laksa & Prawn Noodle, 
--Leng Heng BBQ seafood for black pepper crabs
--Ming Kee Satay Bee Hoon (sauce rocks)

Chomp Chomp Food Centre at Serangoon Gardens
--B-B-Q chicken wings, 
--Satay Bee Hoon,
--BBQ Stingray, Char(fried)
--Kway teow (flat rice noodles),
--Oyster Omelete,
--Hokkien Mee (hokkien style fried prawn noodles)

Old Airport Road Food Centre
--Nam Sing Fried Hokkien Mee **
--Hua Kee Hougang famous wan ton mee, 
--Chuan Kee Satay (closed Mon&Thurs)
--Toa Payoh Rojak

Hong Lim Food Centre
--Ah Heng Curry Mee, 
-- Old Stall Hokkien Street Famous Prawn Mee, 
-- Tuck Kee (Ipoh) Sar Hor Fun, 
--outram fried kway teow

Chinatown Smith Street Food Centre (Blk 335 Smith ST.)
--China La Mian Steamed buns for Xiao Long Bao*
--Teochew Street Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle*
--Hai Seng Ah Balling (mochi dessert!)*

Beach RoadHawker Centre - fried banana fritters & Hai Nan Hokkien Mee
Singapore Flyer Food Centre - satay bee hoon, chicken rice, oyster omelet

Seangoon Gardens Way
--Blanco Court Kway Chiap,

Tiong Bahru Market/Food Centre
--Jian Bo Shui Kueh*, 
--Tiong Bahru Bao & Dianxin, 

People's Park Cooked Food Centre
--Newton Fried Prawn Mee, 
--Yong Xiang Xing Yong Tau Fu, 

Geyland Lor 29 Fried Hokkien Mee*** 396 East Coast Road (closed Monday)

Tekka Market
-- Alauddin Biryani Rice,

Adam Road Food Centre 
--Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak* 

Zion Road Riverside Food Centre
-- No. 18 Zion Road Fried Kway Teow,

 Newton Hawker centre
--Kwee Heng duck noodles & rice,

Whampoa Food centre
--Balestier Road Hoover Rojak,
Lavender Food Sq
-- Koo Kee wanton mee, 

Amoy Street Food centre
--Yuan Chun Lor mee, 
--Fish head noodle soup: Ko Soh

Chinatown Complex Food Centre
--Yuan Fa Claypot Chicken Rice, 

Breakfast Outram Ya Hua for Bak Kut The
Zam Zam for Murtabak, Across Road Nasi Warong Pariaman for Nasi Padang
Hill St. Char Kway Teow in Bedok for Char Kway Teow
Tai Hwa at Crawford Lane for Bak Chor Mee

786 (Azmi) stall inside Thye Chong Restaurant junction Serangood Rd and Norris Road
--Mooon Keema and Chapati

Westlake Blk 4 Queens Road #02-139 for black pepper crab, Guo Tie, Long Bao Ji Ding, Kong Bak Pau. Also hot and sour soup.

-----
Hong Lim Food Centre
531A Upper Cross St, Singapore 051531, SG

Westlake Restaurant
Blk 4 Queen's Rd #02-139, Singapore, Singapore 260004, SG

Oh we'll be sharing for sure!!! We always share, even in the most Western of restaurants.

This is wonderful! Keep 'em coming!!!

The problem is that I DO understand, but that we only have 5 days!! We will be staying at raffles. But we also are happy to travel far and wide to eat.

All stalls! Every kind of food!

I have spent the last weeks pouring over this site, pouring over Leslie Kay's site, reading reading reading and I officially have a hellish case of information overload. We are going to be in Singapore for 5 days, which by my count means at LEAST 15 separate stalls. We plan to eat out every single meal (unless our hosts insist on feeding us). Can some delightful person give me a top 15 stall/dish list? Your absolute must not miss meals? Otherwise I fear I will end up paralyzed in the street, my chin smeared with sauce, weeping over lost possibilities.

Thanks for the recs, guys. BTW, just had the burger OF MY LIFE at the 4505 booth at the Eat Real Festival.

We just got back from a summer away and are, as usual, looking forward to being back where the food is so good. What new restaurants, trucks, etc. have opened in the East Bay while we were gone? We heard about Slow. Others?

We need a great dinner recommendation for this coming Sunday evening. We do not drink, so the beer halls aren't necessarily the best idea for us. Also, we will be at the end of a particularly brutal day of Holocaust research, so comfort, warmth, etc. will be in order. All this is complicated by the fact that it's Easter Sunday. Help!

Hey folks. We're a little tired of our usual Berkeley/Oakland restaurants. We're looking for new ideas. We eat all the time at Pizzaiolo (awesome), chez P, Dopo, Great China, to name just a few. Our standards are high high high, but only in terms of food. Ambiance can be dreadful, service can be hostile (Great China!), as long as the food is good, all sins are forgiven. Give me your favorites.

Souphie, do you have a link for this resto? I want to make a reservation for lunch when we're at Versailles...but I can't find it.

Hello you remarkably useful people, you. We've followed your advice, had some terrific meals. And now we're on our last week. I've got 2 evenings to book. Sunday and Wednesday. Who's got some ideas? We're a family of 6, but our kids are troupers. They devoured the monstrous portion of foie gras at Josephine Chez Dumonet (not to mention the 4 desserts, each of which could easily have served the entire table) and our 6 year-old told the chef at L'Epi Dupin that his beef cheeks were "tres excellente." They're up for anything (even, it turns out, offal. At least kidney).

So, what do you say? Who's got some brilliant, can't miss, suggestions? And don't say Chez L'Ami Jean unless you can figure out how to get us a reservation this Wednesday night!

Ayelet

Any recommendations? Ideally in the 6th or 7th, but we'll travel.

I think I'll book this for Christmas Day...thanks!

Often true. Perhaps most often true. We will save any truly stupendous experience for just ourselves. I also wouldn't want to inflict my family on others spending their week's paycheck to indulge in a 3 star experience. On the other hand, once one has them, one is stuck with them, and one must feed them.

Great. Looking forward to your Sunday round up. Problem alas w/ the divine Chow is that one has to search through millions of posts, divine relative reliability, etc. I was hoping to hear from someone just exactly like you.

OK, hounds. We need help. We will be in Paris over Christmas for 2 weeks. We need restaurants, a combination of what will be good for our 4 kids ( very good eaters, very well-behaved, who will try almost anything) and what we'd rather do alone in order not to break the bank. We need both Christmas Eve and Christmas lunch recs. We love French food, but also Lebanese, Moroccan, Algerian, Vietnamese, etc. We want a mix of seriously good bistro, classic French, interesting reinterpretations, etc.

Basically, we don't want to waste a single meal, but our dream is to find some stupendous cheap eats, some magical, cripplingly expensive eats, and a bunch in between.

We'll be staying in the 6th, but will travel far and wide for food.

What do you say?

We go out to eat every Monday night with our kids, and are sick of most of our usual haunts. We're regulars at Pizzaiolo (never could get sick of them), and the kids love Great China, Cactus, Amanda's. We eat at Soi Four, at Oliveto's. We need somewhere new, fun and not too expensive. Our standards are pretty high...some of us would rather eat snakes than at Pasta Pomodoro. Any new places to suggest? We've got 3 hours until dinner time.