Even though we were primarily in Singapore for the Nuffnang Awards, we braved the heat and humidity and ate our way throughout Singapore as if we hadn’t eaten in two weeks. It’s a tough life, I know. We spent most our time at hawker centres, some of the best food can be found there. The food is very cheap at the current exchange rate, with most single serve bowls/dishes ranging from $2 to $5 Singapore dollars (xrate at the time was $1 aud = $1.25 sng).

Tiong Bahru Market

I was told by a friend that the Tiong Bahru Market has some of the best hawker food in Singapore. Luckily, our hotel was just across the road and as a result, this was the hawker centre which we visited the most. Out of the three which we visited, this would probably be my pick due to the extra variety of food available. Not only did it have the usual Singapore hawker fare, there was a lot of teo chew food as well.

The line for this store was huge, every day people would line up. We figured you can’t go wrong with a crowd so we also lined up. It cost us a measly 70cents a cup the size of a medium Macca’s coke. Served ice-cold, it’s the perfect wash down in the humidity of Singapore.On a side note, a local told me not to judge a store by its queues. Often people just line up because it is cheap.

Check out that pork belly, so bad but so good.

Steamed rice flour cakes topped with preserved radish, $1 for 8 if my memory serves me correctly. It’s a little hard to describe, but the texture is a bit like sauerkraut but without the sourness.

The queue for this store was also huge, so I hopped in. The pork ribs are very tender, fall off the bone material. I think the strength of this dish is the sweet soy sauce it is mixed with, as the dish is served dry and not with a soup. The other little condiments such as crunchy fried onions and garlic make this $3 bowl unbelievably good.

Everything in this store was baked on the premises, these egg tarts were freshly baked and I picked one up for a cool 30 cents.

Breakfast somewhere …

Sadly, I didn’t take note of the name of this restaurant. We went for a quick breakfast during our Mint Museum of Toys tour. The food options were interesting to say the least.

This was very average, despite the butter it was very dry. They were quite tight with the kaya but for $1 for 2 slices, what more can you ask for.

The name of this dish escapes me, but the idea of soft-boiled eggs is something that I couldn’t knock back. The idea is to crack open the eggs, pour the yolk and whites into the bowl and top with sweet soy sauce and salt and pepper.

This was new to me, but a bloody great dish. It would have been great with some toasted white bread as well.

Maxwell Food Centre

If you look on google, Maxwell is sure to pop up if you’re searching for hawker food in Singapore. It’s in Chinatown and is quite easy to find. While the food there is good, it’s probably ranked third out of the three I visited.

This is different to the normal version as it is not crunchy because it does not contain any potato starch.

Fresh wonton and crunchy fatty roast pork, this cost a measly $2.40 AUD and despite its simplicity was one of my favourite dishes.

I’ve no idea what is in all these desserts, but they are live saver in the Singapre heat. Most consist of shaved ice, coconut cream and syrup.

Sin Hoi Sai Eating House

It was nearing 10pm and we were getting hungry. The thing with Singapore is that the heat spoils my appetite, and I tend to eat later in the evening. Luckily, Sin Hoi Fai was just across the road from our hotel and is open until 5am every day. We actually got a tip-off from Leslie , he suggested we go there for the salted egg crab. None of the food blew me away, but the flavours were good. At nearly $40 SNG/KG, it was a bit expensive but on par with Sydney mud crab market prices. All the seafood is kept in tanks and you get to choose what you want.

Stayed tuned for Part 2 of our Singapore street eats, there are way too many photos to go through!

 

Tagged with: hawker, nuffnang