I must admit that lor mee has always been on my B list of things to eat. It wasn’t a dish which my parents were particularly fond of, so I never got to eat much of it growing up. But lately I have been experiencing a lor mee renaissance. I re-discovered how delicious lor mee […]
White House Teochew Porridge: Ultimate Comfort food!
Teochew porridge is my ultimate comfort food and I am sure it is for many Singaporeans too! Just imagine sitting down a few salty, spicy, sweet dishes washed down with a bowl of piping hot porridge! It's the ultimate remedy for a rainy day!
Biryani is found all over India you can't have a serious conversation about the dish without the mentioning Hyderabadi dhum biryani. Biryani is synonymous with Hyderabad just like Malaysian bak kut teh and Port Klang.
Singapore’s Satay Culture: Satay by the Sea! #OurHawkerCulture
Satay holds a very special place in Singapore food culture. It is the only hawker dish where you can find many stalls at the same place, selling the same dish. You don’t find chicken rice clubs or bak chor mee clubs or roti prata clubs, but you can find Satay Clubs which are a throwback […]
I have driven past Yu Cun Fish Head Curry countless of times on the way home but it has never occurred to me that I should have a meal there. The shop's fascade is inescapable. If you travel along Upper Paya Lebar road, often enough, there is no way you will miss it.
Zazz Pizza: No bells, no whistles, just great pizza
The last time I had a great pizza was at 4P’s pizza in Hanoi. It was so good that I had to make a return visit the following day to get my pizza fix before returning home! Since then, I haven’t really come across a pizza worth writing about until my friend Hiran Fernandes invited […]
Do you all remember the ice cream man who would go around the neighbourhood ringing his bell? “Cling cling, cling cling ……” Everyone will know the ice cream man was around and us kids will start clamouring for ice cream. But what is a housewife to do when you live in a flat with three […]
Tiong Bahru Lien Fa Shui Jing Pau (Teochew Crystal Dumplings) :Last of the Artisans
This unassuming little hawker stall at Alexandra village food centre is probably the last of its kind in Singapore that is still selling Teochew crystal dumplings or what is we Teochews call chwee jia bao. What characterises these dumplings is the chewy, see through skin which is made from tapioca flour. The skin is rather […]
Have you ever eaten at someone’s house and found the food so delicious that you wished they would just open a restaurant so that you don’t always have to find an excuse to invite yourself over for dinner? Well, that is roughly how Empress Porridge came to be. Actually they started by making their porridge […]
The adage “Teochew lang haolian” (Teochews love to boast) never fails to validate itself whenever I meet with a (good) Teochew hawker. This time it’s Mr Tay Ah Liat, 73 who has been selling kway chap for almost 50 years! He started his craft as a young 20 something year old at the now defunct […]
[email protected]: Modern Hainanese Coffee House with Ramen, Mee Sua and McMuffins!
Remember the old school Hainanese Coffee House? It’s a place where you can get western food, Hainanese pork chops, hor fun and a good cup of sock brewed coffee! They were operated by Hainanese chefs who wanted to give Singaporeans a cheaper alternative to European restaurants in the old days. In Hong Kong, they have […]
Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodle Bar: Forerunners of Hawker Cuisine!
Our hawker cuisine has been undergoing a period of maturity in the last decade or so. In the 70’s and 80’s we witnessed the progression of hawkers from pushcarts to hawker centres. Then in the 90’s and 2000s, some of the famous ones moved into the food courts and franchising began. In the last decade or so, we have seen how certain dishes like wanton mee have gone on to open their own specialty restaurants.
