Shi Mei Roasted: Good Charsiu up North
As you may know I have been looking for the perfect charsiu rice for a while now. For a “perfect” charsiu rice, the trio of charsiu, chicken rice and charsiu sauce must all come together in sublime symphony! So far, I haven’t found a stall that excels in all three. Most charsiu rice places don’t […]
Siglap Kueh Chap: The Typical Teochew Man
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 […]
Singapore’s Top Ten Zi Char Dishes: The Ultimate Zi Char Trail
Previously I took you on a Food Trail for ten iconic hawker dishes, this time we are going to visit 10 zi char stalls for 10 signature dishes! These are some of the most memorable dishes that I have eaten over the last 12 years while writing this blog. If you wanted a whirlwind tour of the Singapore zi char scene, you could hop on a cab and just visit each stall for the one dish and it could all be done in a day!
Waku Ghin Singapore – The Executive Lunch
I have been to Waku Ghin several times in the past and the experience has always been quite extraordinary. This should be expected of any two Michelin star restaurant, especially when you have to fork out almost $1k for a dinner for two. This is the kind of restaurant that one goes to to celebrate special life events or when you really have impress a significant other.
Chey Sua Carrot Cake: White only no Black!
Of late, I have started re-visiting some of the hawker stalls which I have written about years ago. When I first wrote about Chey Sua back in 2009, it wasn’t that easy to interview hawkers. In those days, social media was a relatively new and so an inquisitive blogger was greeted which much suspicion. Nowadays […]
[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 […]
How to make your own Chin Chow recipe!
Why go through all the trouble of making chin chow when it is so commonly available and inexpensive? Well, as with many foods, the only way to really know what goes inside your dish is to make it yourself! When you make something from scratch you learn a lot about the ingredients along the way. […]
Famous Treasure: Modern Nanyang Chinese Cuisine
Picture this scenario: You have some important guests in town and you want to bring them somewhere to taste some local Chinese cuisine. Your first choice is your favourite zi char place, but you want somewhere a little more clean and comfortable. You could bring them to one of the many Chinese restaurants around, but […]
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.
Dingtele: Shanghai Sheng Jian Bao and other dim sum!
There are a couple of dumplings which are very good at Dingtele. I Their shen jian bao were very good, though I would have liked the skin to be just a tad sweeter. Lewis tells me that they use fresh Indonesian pork and it's flavourful and soupy without any off-putting porky stench. You have to be careful when eating the bao because they literally burst when you bite into them. I had soup all over my hands and my pants!
Leslie’s Traditional Hainanese Kaya Recipe: Grandpa and Grandma would be proud!
I am very excited to share with you my traditional Hainanese kaya recipe! This is something which I have been researching for the past four months and I finally manged to re-create a kaya which I have heard about from folks from the pioneer generation!
Big Prawn Noodles: Shiokness in the Boondocks!
Our featured hawker today is Dickson Fong, an ex- Tunglok chef who decided to sell prawn mee after spending a few years doing business in China. His modern approach to prawn mee has won him many fans since he opened his stall months ago.