Monday 05 October 2015


Singapore's best street food ... just don't order frog porridge

Rowena Michaels takes a look at the hawker food scene in Singapore

Chefs from the Lion City restaurant in action during the World Street Food Jamboree in Singapore in June 2013. The city state has become famous for its vibrant street food culture with hawker centres offering affordable but delicious dishes throughout the city Photo: Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images

There are two topics that you don’t discuss in Singapore: the weather and politics, because both generally remain the same.

Food, on the other hand, is a subject that unifies the people of this small island like nothing else can.

Eating out here can range from horrifically expensive - S$300 for a steak if you go to a celebrity chef restaurant - to terrific value, such as S$3 for a bowl of delicious noodles, eaten out of a plastic bowl while sitting under strip lighting.

Yet it is the traditional and inexpensive food sold at hawker centres that sparks an appetite for debate in most Singaporeans.

I’ve been to dinner parties that only really came alive when I asked the person next to me where I should go to eat a really good bowl of prawn noodles. The entire table erupted in a heated exchange of views, with people insisting their place was the very best. I now use it as my default line when I sit next to someone I can’t think of anything to say to.

There are two things that are wonderful about this type of food. Street food is generally delicious wherever you are in Asia, be it Thailand, Vietnam or Malaysia, but there are not many places where you would happily feed it to your child. In Singapore, it is hygiene graded.

Secondly, hawker food is inexpensive yet made with freshly sourced ingredients cooked on the spot to your liking. It is for this reason that it is a great leveller and is eaten and enjoyed by everyone from across the social spectrum from factory workers to CEOs.

Some people choose to da pau (take away) rather than to eat at the plastic tables under a hot tin roof, but the best thing to do is join the longest queue – the rationale being that the longer the queue, the better the food. Then get chatting to the person next to you, and you never know who you might meet.

If you have just moved to Singapore you may have noticed that the current climate is distinctly chilly towards foreigners, as locals feel that they are taking their jobs and being paid more. By eating local you are not only partaking in something held dear to Singaporeans but affirming a way of life.

A personal recommendation is usually the best place to start, as the choice can be staggering - there's meat on sticks, rice-based dishes, noodles, tofu, steamed chicken and curries as well as Indian breads. If in doubt, order the same as the person in front of you.

Otherwise be organised: a quick glance at the hugely popular website I eat, I shoot, I post, ( written by a discerning doctor with a passion for hawker food, will steer you in the right direction.

The same writer has an app called ieat hawker - which can be downloaded from iTunes - that allows you to search for specific dishes by name as well as by location. It also provides a helpful explanation of what each dish is.

Beware of a few hawker "delicacies" that may affront a Western palate: organ soup (I failed after two spoonfuls), chicken’s feet and frog porridge.

The popular cuisine in Singapore is not haute cuisine. It is street food to which everyone can have access and an opinion.

Rowena Michaels is a British expat who has lived in Singapore for four years. Follow her on Twitter @ChangmohGirl

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