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Comment by jessaustin | Hacker News Reader

The cybermart description matches exactly my memory of Sim Lim Square from when I lived in Singapore, except that place is immense and you could get the best naan you've ever had in the basement.

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The best naan is to be had in Japan, where every single Indian restaurant seems to have what looks like a stone wood fired pizza oven (and there are many that run all you can eat naan lunch specials).

Living in Beijing, I'm so bored of cybermarts. Also, if you want to find the makers here, try wangjing and CAFA (central academy of fine arts) rather than Zhongguancun (where all the e-markets and grand tech universities are). It should not be surprising that the designers and artists would be more passionate about this than the engineer/entrepreneurs/traders trying to make some bucks.

Also, never leave your computer with the solder guy; always insist on watching the repair. They have swapped out good components for broken ones before.

I brought a galaxy phone for my mum from one of those cybermarts in Guangzhou. The original 8G ram was replaced with a 4G one. When my mum complains that the phone run slow, I was like "you installed too much crap-apps". Then one day I finally found out the phone was modified.

That doesn't make sense. It was probably the flash that was replaced.

NEVER trust those people at the cybermarts...buy from the Apple store, a certified Taobao store, or at a real storefront (though you still have to be careful). They will cheat you if they have any opportunity to do so.

I found Japanese Indian food to be an acquired taste; I eventually did acquire it, but it's kind of its own thing. I doubt the place I'm thinking of is still in the basement of SLS, since that was more than a decade ago, but they advertised "Pakistani-Afghanistan" food and the big burly guy who punched the naan then threw it directly into the tandoor. In addition to Singapore and Japan, I've also had naan in India and many other places... Eventually I'll have my own tandoor.

Even if I'd missed the naan in Japan, my experience with Japanese Mexican food alone would have left me somewhat skeptical of your claim. b^)

Frankly, I've never had good naan in Singapore or even India (Bangalore, Delhi), but I haven't explored those places as much as Japan. I guess it depends on what you are looking for, but Japanese naan is huge and fluffy. There are tons of Indian people in Japan, even in small cities like Gifu, and all the restaurants tend to be family style affairs (as opposed to China, where the cook is probably Chinese...grrr....).

I'm not really a big fan of central Asian naan (too hard, not fluffy), but we have a local variation of that here from Xinjiang.

> The best naan is to be had in Japan

O_o

Sim Lim tower is actually better for maker stuff than Sim Lim square. The two are just across the street from each other.

(I hope I'm not mixing them up.)

You're correct. Sim Lim Tower is where the electronic/electrical stuff is, Sim Lim Square has the computer parts and electronics (cameras etc).

But in Singapore, the mother lode is probably Koba Electronics[1] in Chinatown..

[1] http://dangerousprototypes.com/2012/08/06/global-geek-tour-s...

Thanks. I'll check out Koba when I'm there over Chinese New Year.

Around the Sim Lims (and across the island) you also have lots of small hardware shops.

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