The breakfast crowd at Adam Road Food Centre yesterday morning was surprised to see Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who made a quick stop there to pick up some lime juice.
He arrived at around 7.45am and headed straight to Adam Drinks Stall to order a cup of lime juice, before stopping several times to chat with different groups of people who were having breakfast.
Housewife Jenny Tan, 63, and her daughter Lim Zi Ai, 25, who works at the National University of Singapore, were sharing a plate of wanton mee when he sat down with them for a quick chat.
When asked for her opinion of the Canadian leader later, Ms Lim was quick to say: "Very good looking! And very nice, as Canadians are known to be."
Mr Trudeau, 46, who often wears colourful and creative sock designs, was dressed casually in a white shirt and beige trousers.
Stall owners and customers were excited to see him, with many whipping out their smartphones to take photos and shoot videos.
The Straits Times understands that Adam Road Food Centre was picked by Mr Trudeau's team as it is near the Four Seasons Hotel, where he was staying.
Air-conditioner salesman Ahmed Samin, 53, was sharing a curry puff with his daughter Nazerah Ahmed when Mr Trudeau came by their table to say hello and offered to take photos with them.
Ms Nazerah, 22, a student at Singapore Polytechnic, said: "We didn't know he was coming; we were very surprised. He seems like a nice person."
Even the young ones were charmed. The four young children, aged four to nine, of accountant Brenda Lim, 40, described Mr Trudeau as "funny" and "friendly" after their brief encounter.
He left at 8am after completing a round of the food centre.
Mr Trudeau, who was in town as a guest of the Asean chair for the Asean Summit that ended on Thursday, arrived in Singapore earlier this week for his first visit here in his current capacity.
On Thursday, he was at Fort Canning Park, which has a memorial plaque to his great-great-great-great-grandmother Esther Farquhar Bernard. He has another Singapore link - his great-great-great-great-grandfather John Henry Moor was the first headmaster of Raffles Institution.
Mr Trudeau left Singapore yesterday for Papua New Guinea to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings.
This was not the first time a visiting politician had gone to the food centre for some juice. On a visit to Singapore in 2013, then US Vice-President Joe Biden and his son-in-law Howard Krein stopped at Adam Road for a cup of fresh lime juice each from drinks stall Taj Mahal.
