The Kampong Life at Bottle Tree Park, Singapore

We used to frequent this small, simple eatery in Bacoor, Cavite called Kainan sa Balsa.  Roughly translated to "eating on rafts", dining there is such a thrill where meals are served to you inside small huts, equipped with a table and chairs, situated on top of floating bamboo rafts over a small lake. 

You can fish for your meal or simply order from the menu.  During the weekends, this place is always so full of families having great bonding sessions over good, simple, home cooked food.

I sure do miss those days in the Philippines.  Good thing we were able to discover a place here in Singapore that almost comes close -- Bottle Tree Park.

Bottle Tree Park

What to Do?  What to Do?

Conceptualized by 5 friends, the park aims to bring the simple, kampong (Malaysian term for "village") life back to the modern, work-weary Singaporean. 

At Bottle Tree Park, one can go fishing or paddle boat riding on their lake, take a walk around the park, or attend an educational tour.  There's also a playground for the little ones and, even a paintball field and RC car race track for the not-so-tiny-ones.

What to do?

We also noticed this small pond, near the entrance, brimming with kids.

Long Kang fishing

Apparently, they were catching these tiny fishes using nets and placing them inside small clear plastic tanks.  They call this "Long Kang" or drain fishing (S$10 or Php330* per child.)  Not exactly sure if they're allowed to bring those little buggers home.   

Here fishy, fishy, fishy, fishy!

And here's another pond with tons of folks catching, of all things, prawns!

Prawn fishing

Costs from S$14.50 (Php480*) to S$43.50 (Php1,400*) for an hour to 4 of prawn fishing.  Bait, rods, and nets provided in the price.  Grills available for use at no extra charge (might take you a while to catch a significant number to fill you up, though.)

Bottle Tree Seafood Restaurant

If you're not so set on working that hard for your meal, you can just as easily choose to dine in any of the park's dining establishments -- the Bar & Bistro, the Botoru Ki Japanese Restaurant & Bar, and the Bottle Tree Seafood Restaurant.

We weren't in the mood for Japanese fare and since happy hour was still a few minutes away (besides we have the Little One to remind us to keep sober), we opted to try the Bottle Tree Seafood Restaurant, instead.

Bottle Tree Seafood Restaurant

We chose to dine al freco so as we'd have a wonderful view of their lake.

Dining al fresco

First up, complimentary pickled vegetables for our appetizer.  Really crunchy and tastes just like any old atchara.

Pickled veggies

One of our main courses was Roast Chicken with Garlic (S$20 or Php660*), one of the best fried chicken dishes I've ever tasted.

Roast Chicken with Garlic

It comes with this spicy, salty, and quite sour (a little like tamarind) powder that's supposed to be eaten with the chicken.  Didn't do it for me, though, so it was left mostly untouched, to the side.

Mysterious powder

Next was this really fresh and crunchy Sauteed Broccoli with Scallops dish (S$20 or Php660*.)

Broccoli with scallops

So good to the last bite.

Walking for our Health

The perfect way to cap off this meal?  Walking around the park grounds to burn off those calories.

We're definitely coming back to this place again.  J

Our happy little camper

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Bottle Tree Park
81 Lorong Chencharu (Yishun)
Singapore 769198
http://www.bottletree.com.sg

Planning to visit?  Drop by my "Getting Around Singapore" post (click here) for more details on how to get around the Lion City.