yoursingapore.com Top Ten Things to Eat in Singapore: The Hawker EditionI have been asked on many occasions by overseas visitors for suggestionson what to eat when they visit Singapore. After writing this blog forthe last eight years and having published two books, I feel that I amready to pen some thoughts on 10 things that any visitor coming toSingapore must eat.The final push was when I visited the US to deliver my lecture on theHistory of Singapore's Hawker Food. I waspartly there on a food trip and needed a resource that would enable meto capture the gastronomic heart of Boston, Chicago and Ann Arbour, butit was really hard to find what I want. So I am writing this articlewith us culinary discoverers in mind. I hope I have created a literary/Amuse Bouche/ to whet your appetite for Singapore's rich Hawker Heritage.Now writing such an article is not an easy task as I am bound to leaveout some foods which many Singaporeans would feel is important. Soplease forgive me if I left out your favourite Singapore dish. I willhave to leave it to the sequel "The next Top 10 Things to Eat inSingapore" to cover that.In selecting the Top Ten, my criteria is to include foods that are bothunique to, and have originated in Singapore. Dishes born out of thecrucible of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures,first being peddled along the streets and subsequently being sold at theHawker Centres. The love of these Hawker Foods gives definition to theSingaporean that goes beyond national and political boundaries. So whenyou eat these foods, you are ingesting a part of our history and forthat moment at least, you might get the gist of what it means to beSingaporean.In the selection of stalls, I will suggest a few stalls for each Hawkerdish. Some will be my personal favorite, while others are chosen so thatthey are easier to access and more convenient for the weary traveler.Each of these stalls will be linked to a blog post where you can obtainall the pertinent details as well as some background history of thehawkers and what makes their food special.So without further delay let's start with the first Uber Hawker Dish! Hokkien MeeI start with Hokkien Meenot just because it is the dish I miss the most when I am overseas, butalso because this is only found right here in Singapore. The reason Isay this is because Singapore and Malaysia have a shared heritage as wewere all part of British Malaya once. So, a lot of our hawker foods canalso be found across the causeway. There are variations of Chicken Riceand Laksa that can be found in Malaysia or even Thailand, but our styleof Fried Hokkien Mee can only be found in this tiny red dot on the WorldMap.There are many stories about the origins of the dish,but its association with the Rochor area is quite certain as the dishwas once referred to as Rochor Mee. If you go to Malaysia and simply askfor Hokkien Mee, you might either be served with a fried black versionor even a soup version. The reason is simple. Hokkien Mee actuallyrefers to the thick yellow noodles that originated from the Fujianprovince in China. So there are many different ways of preparing it. InSingapore, if you say Fried Hokkien Mee, it is quite clear as the sameNoodles served in soup is referred to as Prawn Mee.There are generally two variations of the dish. The wet and gooey type,which uses a combination of yellow noodles and thick bee hoon (ricevermicelli) and the dry type which uses the same noodles but with thinbee hoon. My pick for the best wet and gooey type is Geylang Lor 29Hokkien Meewhich is located in a newly refurbished coffeeshop along East CoastRoad. This place still uses a charcoal stove to fry their Hokkien Meewhich is quite rare nowadays. Many Wok Masters still regard the charcoalstove as the best way to heat a wok as the radiant heat ensures that thewhole wok is evenly hot. With a gas stove, the bottom of the woktypically gets hotter than the sides.If you are after the dry type, then Nam Sing Hokkien Meeat Old Airport Road Food Centre is one of the most popular in Singapore.Old Airport Road is a convenient place to go on a culinary odyssey tooas this massive food centre houses many famous hawker stalls inSingapore. To read about them please click on my Old Airport Road FoodCentre label.For more Hokkien Mee Stories, please click here. Char Kway TeowThe two major Chinese dialect groups in Singapore are the Hokkiensfollowed by the Teochews (of which I am one). So since we started with aHokkien dish, let's follow up with the Teochew dish of Char (fried) KwayTeow (Flat Rice Noodles). There is a local saying that goes TeochewKway Teow, Hokkien Mee, which essentially means that Kway Teow is thetraditional staple of the Teochews while Hokkien Noodles is staple ofthe Hokkiens.Variations of Char Kway Teow can be found around the South East Asianregion. Penang has its Penang Char Kway Teow and the Thaishave their Pad See Eu (Many Thais are Teochews btw). What makes theSingapore version distinct is that Char Kway Teow isn't just Char KwayTeow but actually Char Kway Teow Mee because it is only in Singaporethat both Teochew Kway Teow and Hokkien Noodles are used in the dish.This makes it a bit more complicated to fry since you have to contendwith a noodle made from rice and one that is made from wheat! Only atrue Wok Master will be able to fry the Hokkien Noodles thoroughlyenough that it loses its Kee (lye water) smell while at the same timenot over frying the Kway Teow such that it maintains a luscious,livelytexture.One of the most popular Char Kway Teow is Hillstreet Char Kway Teow.This Uncle's mastery of the wok has made him Singapore's Ambassador ofChar Kway Teow! I am not kidding! The Singapore government has sent himon overseas missions to bring the flavours of home to our Singaporeandiaspora! His stall is, however, a bit of a hike as you would have toget there by Taxi or by getting off at Bedok MRT and connecting on bus.Unfortunately, the uncle has since retired after suffering a fall butthe good news is that the wok ladle has since been passed onto his sonwho has taken over the stall!A great stall that is nearer to town would be Outram Park Char Kway Teow,located at Hong Lim Food Centre which is within walking distance ofChinatown MRT. Hong Lim Food Centre is yet another veritable treasuretrove of famous Hawker stalls and you can plan your trip there byreading my Hong Lim Food Centre posts.For more Char Kway Teow stories, please click here. Chicken RiceThis dish of Hainanese origin is probably the most famous and popularHawker Dish in Singapore. Although it can be found in Thailand andMalaysia as well, one cannot dispute that Singapore has the most ChickenRicestalls per capita in the world.Although it has Hainanese roots, our versionof Chicken Rice cannot be found on Hainan island in China. It was atraditional Hainanese dish before it was transformed and popularized bythe legendary Swee Kee chicken rice stall which used to be located alongMiddle Road. This area of Singapore was where the Hainanese congregatedand subsequently, quite a few Chicken Rice stalls in Singapore can befound here. If you wish to experience what the traditional HainaneseChicken Rice tastes like, then a visit to Yet Con alongPurvis St is essential. Most of the Chicken Rice in Singapore hasevolved by combining the Cantonese version of the dish. However, at YetCon, time has stood still since the 1940s and the old man you see behindthe counter has actually been a knee biter at the restaurant when it wasnew!Another variation of Chicken Rice that many a tourist may haveoverlooked are Chicken Rice balls. It is said that in the past, handfulsof Chicken Rice are molded into balls and carried as picnic food whenthe family head to the mountains to pay respects to their ancestralgraves. There aren't many stalls left that makes rice balls, but if youare really interested, you should visit Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls alongJalan Besar. This stall is just on the other side of Little India and isworth visiting if you are in the area.However, if you wish to try the modern Singapore version, then thecurrent favourite is Tian Tian Chicken Riceat Maxwell Road Food Centre. With the modern version of Chicken Rice,the chicken is first poached and then quickly dunked in ice cold waterso that there is a layer of jelly just beneath the skin of the chicken.This means that the slice of chicken you are about to eat is slippery,lively and lubricatingly luscious! If you have come from a culture wherechicken is usually roasted, poached chicken might take a little bit ofgetting used to but I am confident you will be won over. Maxwell RoadFood Centre is conveniently located downtown and houses many ofSingapore's famous hawker stalls, so do check my blog label Maxwell FC if you areplanning a trip there.Click here to read myother Chicken Rice posts. CrabsYou cannot leave Singapore without tasting our Crabs. I am not justtalking about Chilli Crabs,I am talking about Crabs from all round the world cooked in a myriad ofways! The favorite crab here is still the giant Sri Lankan Crab, but ifyou head to a seafood restaurant nowadays, you might come face to facewith the Giant Predator like Tasmanian King Crab, Dungeness Crab, BlueSwimmer or Alaskan King Crab. You can pick any of these and ask for themto be cooked in 10 different styles! The most famous style is the everpopular Chilli Crab which is the de facto National Dish of Singapore.But among Singaporeans, Black Pepper Crabs, Crab Bee Hoon and Salted EggCrabs are all the rage.You can of course head to the very popular (and touristy) East CoastSeafood Centre which houses brand names like Jumbo, No Signboard and RedHouse. They are all pretty good and you will get a good view of our busyshipping lanes. But since you have read this far, I know that you arethe type of traveler who is looking for that special hole-in-the-wallkind of discovery that you can quickly post on facebook to make yourfriends back home all go Hey where is that? rather than Yeah, beenthere, done that!, right?So for Chilli Crabs, why not go straight to the lady who first startedthe whole chilli crab craze back in the 50s? Roland Restaurant mightnot be situated next to the sea, but it is close enough such that thingsrust if they don't get cleaned regularly. Its location itself is athrowback to the 80s when the government were building palatial sizedrestaurants atop multi-storey car parks. Many of these restaurants havesince disappeared and Roland is one of the few remaining.This is the only place in Singapore that sells Chilli Crab in itsoriginal form. (Click to read about how Chilli Crabs came to be). What'sthe difference, you ask? Well, the modern style has the addition of eggsin the gravy and tends to be heavier and spicier. The original ChilliCrab is milder so that you can appreciate the natural sweetness of thecrabs. Roland sells both versions here and they are both excellent so Isuggest you order one of each so that you can conduct a unrandomised,unblinded, controlled trial.Should something happen to Chilli Crabs, Black Pepper Crabs will need tostep in to wear the crown. You can find this dish in almost everySeafood restaurant but my favourite is Eng Seng Restaurant.However, be forewarned, you will have to book at lunchtime to reserveyour crab, then come around 5pm to start lining up for a seat. The placecloses by about 9pm and they are a restaurant where no one ever tips forgood service! (Actually tipping is not necessary in Singapore, but youget what I mean) But the fact that hordes of Singaporeans gather thereto suffer abuse is testament to just how yummy their Black Pepper Crabsreally are!Crab Bee Hoon is also another Singapore favourite. Here the crab isfirst blanched in hot oil, then braised in a stock with rice vermicelliuntil it the vermicelli is infused with that wonderful crustaceanflavour. The originator of the dish is Chef Danny of Sin Huat SeafoodRestaurantin Geylang. This man is what psychiatrists would term Anal retentive. He does everythinghimself. He imports his own seafood, comes to take your orders and thengoes to the kitchen to personally prepare your dishes. Many Singaporeansbaulk at the fact that he charges restaurant prices (or sometimeshigher) for his food which is served in an old run down coffeeshop, butthere is no mistaking the quality of his dishes! He has the only tank oflive scallops I have ever seen in Singapore! (The scallops with peppersauce are also worth ordering!).If your doctor has given you the good news that your cholesterol levelsare wonderfully low, and you have an urge to Crab out, then head forChin Huat live Seafood over atSunset Way (20mins from town). They do Chilli Crabs, Black Pepper Crabs,Crab Bee Hoon and Salted Egg Crabs quite well and you get to choose froma cornucopia of clawed crustaceans!But the dish that I go for here is the Giant Sri Lankan Crab in Goldensauce. If you enjoy savoury dishes that are a little on the sweet andcreamy side, then you will find yourself mopping up all the sauce withyour piece of fried bread just like I do every time I visit!Read more about Crab dishes here . Bak Kut TehBak Kut Teh is a dish of contention between Singapore and Malaysia. Inmy research, I am convinced that the evidence so far pins the origin ofthe term Bak Kut Teh to the Clarke Quay area. Bak Kut Teh means PorkBone Tea and refers to a bowl of Pork Bone Consomme accompanied byChinese Tea. The Teochew and Hokkien stevedores often drank Bak Kut Tehin the mornings in order to have sufficient energy to haul goods off thesampans along Clarke Quay and after they finish their bowl of soup,Chinese Tea is poured into the same bowl and drunk to cleanse the palate.So since this is a dish born out of the docks, what better place to eatit then at the docks! My favourite place for Bak Kut Teh is at OutramPark Ya Hualocated at the Port of Singapore Authority, near Tanjong Pagar. This isnear the CBD area and is opened almost 24 hours a day. When you go, makesure you tell them you want to brew a pot of tea as well and order someYou Char Kway (fried doughsticks) to dunk in the soup. Either Oolong orPu Erh Tea is great with Bak Kut Teh. If you are unfamiliar with the TeaCeremony, simply ask the waiter to help you. If the owner, Mr FrankieGwee is there, he would be more than happy to help you with the TeaCeremony and also chat with you about Bak Kut Teh!Perhaps the most (in)famous Bak Kut Teh place is Ng Ah Sio alongRangoon Road. This place has just recently undergone refurbishment andis a very comfortable place to have your Bak Kut Teh. It gained infamy afew years ago for turning away Donald Tsang when he wanted a bowl of BakKut Teh after closing time! (Donald Tsang subsequently went to OutramPark Ya Hua where he was welcomed with open arms.) However, the placehas since been sold and though it is still in its original location, alot of the old charm and taste is lost. However, just a little furtherdown the street is Founder's Bak Kut Tehwhich is still a family run business. They use only fresh pork to cooktheir Bak Kut Teh and still retains a very authentic and artisanal feeland the air conditioned restaurant is a very comfortable place to siptea and drink your pork bone soup!Read about more Bak Kut Teh stalls and the history of Bak Kut Teh here. Fish Head CurryFish Head Currywas the brainchild of a man named Gomez who migrated to Singapore fromSouth India in the 50s and started an Indian Curry stall in the Selegiearea. When he noticed that the Chinese loved to eat fish heads, hestarted cooking fish heads in his Southern Indian Curry sauce andcreated yet another Singapore icon!There are generally two types of Fish Head Curry. The Indian type, whichis spicier and heavier, and the Chinese/Perankan type. A few years afterGomez started the Fish Head Curry craze, Mr Hoong Ah Kong, followedsuit and founded Soon Heng restaurantwhich for many years was a favourite place for Chinese style Fish HeadCurry. Unfortunately, Soon Heng closed its doors permanently veryrecently which ended a significant chapter of the Fish Head Curry story.My pick for the Indian style Fish Head Curry is a bit off the touristtrail and gives you a chance to visit a more remote part of Singapore.Karu's Banana Leaf Restaurant istestament that Singaporeans will travel anywhere for good food. Now, Imight make it sound as if this place is hours away, but that is notpossible in Singapore. The fact is that you can get almost anywhere inSingapore within an hour. when there is no traffic jam and you have acar.or can get a taxi immediately. I like the Fish Head here becausethey manage to retain the succulence of the tender meat in the fish headby not overcooking it. If you are adverse to looking at something in theeye while eating it, then Fish Head Curry might not be for you. But Iguarantee that if you ate this in the dark without knowing what it was,you would be in gastronomic heaven! Always remember that learning to eatFish Head is very important as it is a sure fire way to get a HEAD inlife! (Drum: badoom tsss!)For Chinese style Fish Head Curry, a popular pick would be Ocean FishHead currywhich has branches in Toa Payoh as well as Amoy Street in the CBD area.The fish heads here are very fresh and they use the wild caught Ang Goli(Red Snapper) to cook their curry which is a unique blend of Nonya,Chinese and Indian styles.Read more about Fish Head Curry here. LaksaLaksais, without a doubt, one of the tastiest things on earth and certainlyone of the tastiest dishes Singapore has to offer. In Singapore, Laksarefers to thick rice vermicelli served with a curry gravy made fromspices for fragrance, chilli for heat, coconut milk for that creamy richmouth feel and tiny dried prawns for that umami kick.The Curry Laksa was once only enjoyed by wealthy Peranakans (StraitsChinese) at home. When WWII struck, some of these Peranakan ladies Nonyas as they are called, came out to the streets to sell some of theirfood in order to make a living. It was popularized in the 50s along theJoo Chiatarea by a man called Janggut. He subsequently founded the dish we callKatong Laksa, which is classically eaten which just a soup spoon. Thehottest area for Katong Laksa is the junction of Ceylon and East CoastRoad where you find several stalls selling the same dish. Janggut usedto sell his famous Marine Parade Laksa herebefore their shop space was taken over by other Laksa hawker. The mostpopular of the few stalls here is 328 Laksa whichis pretty good. However, if you wish to experience Janggut's legacy, youshould head for few stalls which are still run by his direct family members!A few years after Janggut started selling his Laksa, another stallstarted up nearby in the now defunct Roxy Cinema. Roxy Laksa isnow located at East Coast Lagoon Food Centre and the 2nd generationowner (Mike) is still passionately serving traditional style KatongLaksa. When you are eating Laksa, rub your soup spoon against the bottomof the bowl. It should feel a little gritty, like grains of fine sand.That is the residue from the dried prawns and your guarantee to eachmouthful of gravy will put you on a umami high! East Coast Lagoon FoodVillage isone of my favourite Food Centres as it is by the sea and also houses alot of great eats!Traditionally, the Laksa gravy is slow cooked in an aluminum pot over acharcoal fire, but stalls still doing this are rarer than a sterilepanda. If you really want to experience Laksa cooked over charcoal, thenyou have to head to the Flea Market area of Sungei Road for Sungei RoadLaksa.(You can pick up some interesting antiques along the streets nearby atthe same time!) This place is quite near town and also has many rustichawker stalls in the area. If you planning to visit, then do alsoexplore some of the other nearby stalls by reading my Jalan Besar posts.Read about other stalls at East Coast Lagoon Village here.Read about other Laksa Stalls here. SatayEast Coast Lagoon Food Centre happens to house one of the few SatayClubs in Singapore! Basically a Satay Club is where you can find manystalls selling satay. These clubs often sell the Malay version of thedish. Satay is probably one of the most famous South East Asian dishesknown overseas. However, many might be more familiar with the Thaiversion rather than the Malay version which has a spicier, sweetermarinade. The peanut sauce is also much more robust and spicy. Haron 30Satay is the most popular stall there, but I suggest you just walk along theSatay stalls and allow yourself to be seduced by the most succulentskewers being grilled over the charcoal fire. It's more fun that way andyou will get to interact with the Satay sellers all trying to get you tobuy from their stalls. Most of them are pretty decent, so you will endup with a good meal.The Chinese also have a variation of Satay and this version is seldomseen overseas. Five spice powder is added to the marinade and the gravyoften has a dollop of pineapple puree added to it. My favourite stall isChuan Kee Satay over atOld Airport Road Food Centre, but just be warned that there might be a45 minute wait for your satay if you go during peak hours. Kwong Satay overat Geylang Lor 29 also does a pretty good Chinese style satay and youcan check to see if you can order their special large sized Belly Porksatay as well.Read about other Satay stalls here. Kopi and Kaya ToastFor a typical Singaporean breakfast, it doesn't get better than a cup ofKopi with Kaya Toastand two soft boiled eggs drizzled with dark soy sauce!The Kopi and Kaya Toast culture originated from the Hainanese cooks whoused to work for the British as cookboys. This was where they learnt tomake coffee and toast. When they left their service, some of them cameout to introduce this Western food to other locals. Since theycouldn't afford the more aromatic and expensive Arabica beans, they gothold of the full bodied Robusta and roasted it with butter, sugar andcorn. Thus was born our very own Kopi which is usually served withcondensed milk. Aromatic, strong and full bodied with little acidity anda tinge of peppery spice, the majority of Singaporeans still prefer acup of Kopi over cappuccino anytime!The Kopi Culture experienced a Renaissance in the 90s and nowadays youcan find many places in shopping centres selling traditional kopi.However, if you want something special then you have to visit what islisted by the Singapore book of records as the oldest coffeeshop inSingapore ,viz the original Killiney Kopitiamat Killiney Road. Somehow the Kopi here is still better than the otherbranches across the island. Their kaya is made fresh daily and theirtoast is still grilled over a charcoal fire.The other household name that you have to visit is Ya Kun Kaya Toast,but not just any branch, you have to visit their main shop at Far EastSquare. Here, the eggs are still done by family members the same waytheir late father used to do them and they come quite close a 62 degreeSous Vide egg. The toast here is also grilled over a charcoal fire, theneach slice is halved and filled with kaya and slices of cold butter. Thecontrast of brittle toast, cold butter and sweet kaya is one of the mostmemorable Singaporean culinary memories you can bring home. While at FarEast Square, do check out one of Singapore's oldest surviving hawkerstalls, Hock Lam Beef Noodlewhich turned 100 this year as well as a few other heritage stalls alongthe same row! Far East Square is centrally located in the CBD area andprovide heritage foods in modern and comfortable surroundings.Click here toread about the other stalls at Far East Square.Click here to read more aboutKopi and Kaya Toast. Nasi PadangSelecting this last recommendation is difficult. There are still so manygreat local dishes to cover! However, I felt that I must add Nasi Padangas it is an uber Malay dish and you will not fully appreciate ourculture without having gained some knowledge about the food of itsindigenous people. Indonesia and Malaysia are vast countries and henceto speak of one Malay/Indonesian cuisine does not really do it justice.When we speak of Nasi Padang in Singapore, it really is a very looseterm to describe a meal that has a variety of (mostly) spicy disheseaten with rice. And just as the Europeans love their cream sauces, alot of these dishes are given that irresistible kokumi(the proposed 6th taste) by the addition of coconut cream. Nasi Padang,strictly speaking, is the style of rice and curries that originated fromthe Padang region of Indonesia, but we have adapted it and made it intoa Singaporean favourite.The reason I pick Nasi Padang is so that I can introduce you to twostalls that are located in Geylang Serai Food Centre. This placehouses the most number of Malay hawker stalls in Singapore and shoulddefinitely be on your list of places to visit. In the market next door,you will be able to find a lots of local produce as well as the localherbs and spices that power the /rempah/ (spice mix) that form the baseof Malay style cooking.There are two stalls that have perpetual queues for their Nasi Padang.Hajjah Mona Nasi Padang andSinar Pagi Nasi Padang.Both have slightly different dishes reflecting the different regionalstyles. Remember to try the Nasi Rawon at Hajjah Mona, this dish uses aningredient called Buah Keluak which is a nut that must be buried involcanic ash in order to render it non-poisonous. Buah Keluak has anearthy, bitter, almost chocolatey flavour that will slowly grow on youand become quite addictive. This is especially so in Nasi Rawon where itis mashed up and cooked in Beef Fat!I can't help but to tell you that my favourite Geylang (Hamid's) NasiBriyani is found in in this Food Centre too! Nasi Briyani is a dish of Indianorigin and shouldn't even be mentioned under this heading, but it is sogood that you shouldn't miss it when you are there. And oh, please letme slip one more recommendation in. After your wonderful meal, hopacross the road to the Haig Road Food Centrefor someseriously good Putu Piring. ThePutu Piring is the Malay take on the Indian Putu Mayyam(String Hoppers) and it is basically steamed rice cakes with a fillingof hot, oozing Gula Melaka! Putu Piring, situated in acoffeeshop just across the road from the Food Centre, does the bestversion of it in Singapore!Read about more Nasi Padang stalls here.Read about other stalls at Geylang Serai Food Centre here. ConclusionI could go on and on about Singapore's Hawker cuisine, but I must stophere since I promised to tell you only the Top Ten Things to eat inSingapore. I hope that this short gastronmic tour will give you bird'seye view of Singapore's rich culinary heritage and help you in yourplanning of the ultimate Singaporean food trip! References1. Wartime Kitchen: Food and Eating in Singapore 1942-1950, Wong HongSuen, 2009, 1st Edn.2. The End of Char Kway Teow, Leslie Tay, Epigram Books, 2010. * * o o Aa Sans-serif Aa Serif ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Aa ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Light Dark Sepia * * *