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 […]
Yu Cun Curry Fish Head: A head above the rest
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 […]
Hwa Xing Bak Kut Teh: #OurHawkerCulture Pork Bone Tea!
The word "culture" can be defined as "the ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society" If you are still wondering if our hawker culture is indeed so unique that it should be recognized by UNESCO, then come with me to Yuhua hawker centre and then to Pek Sin Choon tea merchants to explore the relationship between pork bone soup and gongfu tea.
Carrot Cubes: Gen Y Carrot Cake with Bacon!
What would you expect from a Gen Y carrot cake? Well, for Claire Huang, it means adding bacon bits to the carrot cake!
Hwa Seafood: Remote Industrial Park Zi Char
Our mid-week makan group continue to scour the island for good zi char places and we begin the new year with a very good meal at Hwa Seafood which is one of these zi char places that is located in an industrial estate. Our kakis are no strangers to Hwa Seafood. In fact, we had […]
Mei Ji Fishball Noodles: #OurHawkerCulture The Kampung Spirit!
The kampung spirit is still alive and well in our hawker centres! I met with Philip Tan recently who has been selling fishball noodles at Bukit Merah Food Centre since 1980 and he related some fascinating stories of how the hawkers, about half of whom have been there for almost four decades, behave almost like one big extended family.
No Name Prawn Mee: Old school prawn mee
There was a time when prawn mee, wanton mee and mee pok tar could all be regarded as the same class of hawker food. Those were the days before Beach Road Prawn Mee decided to turn it into a premium hawker dish by offering jumbo sized prawns! Because of that enterprising move, Singaporeans are now […]
Thailand Streetfood: Heartland Thai Food
We have not eaten much Thai food we returned a 2 year stint in Thailand years ago because we never found anything that suits our palate here. However, my wife and I finally found a restaurant we don’t mind going back to. The restaurant is located in a sleepy shopping centre in Yishun and from its name, you might imagine it to be some sort of Thai food court. But, it is actually a family run Thai restaurant opened by a Singaporean and his Thai wife.
Fatty’s Wanton Mee: Remember the tok tok mee man?
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 […]
Sushi Ayumu: Edomae Style Sushi
The space vacated by Hashida sushi now occupied by Sushi Ayumu. It is still under the same ownership but its direction has shifted from Hashida’s progrssive style back to its Edomae roots where the emphasis is on teasing out the natural flavour of the produce rather than on creativity of the chef.
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 […]