FindYourWayInSG

- FindYourWayInSG would like to tell you more about food in Singapore -

One situation you might never find yourself in is staying hungry in Singapore. There are countless places to eat, ranging from fine-dining restaurants to bistros, cafes and food courts (kopitiam, hawker, nasi-kandar etc). Going out for a meal will become an essential part of your stay on the island and you will enjoy the many choices, both local

and international tasteful delights.

Singapore is a place where migration and resettlement is happening at a rapid speed and the food culture reflects this. Here, people come together to eat and to experience notions of home or cultural otherness at the same time. Most Singaporeans are “foodies” and they can give you recommendations of restaurants and food centres that are worth paying a visit to.

The best place to explore the Singaporean variety of food is a hawker centre. It is a big open-air place and found nearby public housing and transport. The centres often consist of more than 100 food stalls offering meals and snacks with Chinese, Malay, North or South Indian and even Western influences. The different colours, aromas and delicious tastes make it hard to take a choice.

Relax, grab a glass of sugarcane juice and order as many snacks and mains as you can. The food is inexpensive – often less than SGD$5 – and freshly cooked. Long queues of hungry people in front of the stall, pinned awards or newspaper articles on the walls are signs for a “shiok” tasty fare. The hawkers highly compete against each other and there are even websites and blogs where you can vote for your favourite food stalls. One example is myhawkers. It is also an interactive web portal that offers useful information on hawker centres and food stalls.

Hawker centres are typically found near public housing estates (HDB), typically known as the heartlands, or transport hubs (such as bus interchanges or train stations). Some of the most famous hawker centres are Changi Village Food Centre, East Coast Seafood Centre, Geylang Serai Market & Food Centre, Ghim Moh Market & Food Centre, Jurong West Hawker Centre, Maxwell

Food Centre, Newton Food Centre, Old Airport Cooked Food Centre, Seah Im Food Centre, and Tiong Bahru Food Centre.

Don’t get confused if you see a pack of tissues or umbrellas lying around on empty tables. It is the Singaporean way to reserve – to “chope” – a place. Hawker centres are often crowded and it is advisable to look for a table first and to tell the hawker the designated number on it, so you do not need to wait in front of the stall. And you can search for more dishes and drinks to fill up your empty stomach.

Do not miss to taste the favourite dishes of the locals:

• Chicken Rice,
• Bak Chor Mee (minced meat noodles with meat or fish balls),
• Laksa (spicy noodle soup),
• Beef Noodle,
• Fried Carrot Cake,
• Hokkien Noodles (noodles served with pork, seafood and Chinese vegetables),
• Indian Curry,
• Roti Prata (Indian pancake),
• Satay (Malay BBQ meat on stick),
• Mee Siam (Nonya delicacy “Siamese noodle”),
• Mee Rebus (Singaporean style “boiled noodles”),
• Nasi Lemak (Malay coconut rice dish with a variety of side orders),
• Char Kway Teow (literally “stir-fried rice-cake strips”, is a popular noodle dish),
• and of course the famous Chili Crab!

Enjoy your meal!

Jennifer Menninger