Part 1 Food in Singapore /  Part 2 Places to eat

As Singapore is a cultural mix or racial mix, or in short, a country with a mixture of quite a number of cultures, races, religions and nationalities, you can find a large variety of food here in Singapore, each with their own distinct identity.

If you are a food lover, or a sucker for good food, then Singapore is the place for you. I (the author) love food as well, and I am not about to share with you expensive places, but will tell you where to find good food at affordable and local prices.

Many of my friends from overseas tell me Singapore is a haven for food, but that is because I brought them around! As tourists, you may be lost as to where to get your food (please, do not just stick to the coffee-house or restaurant at/near your hotel, you have not tried the best!). I will try to elaborate as much places as possible, so that you can enjoy yourself MORE when you are in town.

Singaporeans generally "down" tons of noodles or rice yearly. Of course there is a huge variety of how these noodles or rice is prepared. I cannot stop once I start talking on food, so please bear with me.

Oh yes, you can probably get any type of food you like to eat here. The famous dim sum (made popular by Hong Kongers), Chow Dou Foo (smelly beancurd), Beijing Roast Duck, Nasi Lemak, Loti Prata (from our Indian friends), Curry Fish-head etc. etc are all available here. Of course there are fast food (or junk food to many), Italian food, Vietnamese food, Japanese food etc. available almost everywhere, but these are usually more costly and not what the average Singaporeans eat daily. The list (of types of food available) goes on and on, and you do not need to pay a bomb to enjoy all these good food.

A typical good meal for a local does not costs more than S$5 (including soft drinks) for one person, and even if you wish to pamper yourself, you should not spend more than S$20 per person per meal, yes, that is how affordable it can be! And that will also mean that you would not be able to walk properly after the meal, because it would mean you have consumed a lot of good food!!

Most such meals are available at "hawker centres" or "coffee shops" (or 'kopi-tiam' as local would call it) where you can enjoy good food at good prices. Ask around (locals) where the nearest "hawker centres" or "coffee shops" are, and go there. Look around at the food stalls displaying their food, and choose what you want. Most display their food names and prices quite clearly, so you should never be in doubt.

Oh yes, I generally pick the place I order my food from by judging by the faces of the people who are eating them. If I see them enjoying their food, I will usually order the same food to try out. This is just my personal habit, so please do not hold me by it!

My preference is not to go to those hawker centres which are geared towards tourists (for example, Newton Hawker Centre etc.), those are expensive even for the locals, and some hawkers take the opportunity to charge higher for tourists (which is extremely unfair!). Spend a little bit more time and go to housing estates (there are also such places in town, just ask, you will find them) where local stays, and you will find great places for food.

There are literally hundreds if not thousands of variety of local food here, I will try to feature as many as possible, and give you a rough indication of the prices as well.

Before I dived into food, a typical soft drink (cold) costs about S$1.00 - S$1.50 per can/pack/bottle. A typical glass of fruit juice (water melon, honey dew, sugar cane etc.) is about S$1.50 - S$3.00 per glass. A typical glass of hot drink (coffee, tea etc.) costs about S$0.60 - S$1.20 per glass. Prices varies depending on where you go.

So here I go talking about food, oh yes, not in any order of preference (they are all my favorites!):

Chinese Food

·  Chicken Rice - This is one meal swore by a large number of Singapore Chinese. It is fragrant rice (frangrance made by pandan leaves and the soup used to cook the chicken) served with chicken meat (either boiled or roasted, some offer other varieties as well, but not common) and some cucumber slices. It is usually served together with a small bowl of soup (which is the soup-based used to cook the chicken) as well. Such servings generally costs S$2.50 to S$3.00 (you should not be paying anything more than S$5.00) per plate. Additional rice generally costs S$0.30 to S$0.50 per bowl.

This dish is usually prepared by and made famous by Hainanese, that is why it is sometimes called or known as "Hainanese Chicken Rice".

There is also a variety offered by our Malay friends. The Malay version generally deep-fry their chicken, instead of steam boil by our Chinese friends. The Malay version is usually called "Nasi Ayam Goreng" which means "Rice Chicken Fried" if you translate word by word. :-) [see below for more details]

·  Fish-ball Noodles (Dry/Soup) - It is noodles served with fish-ball (made from fish paste, into shapes of a ball, that is why it is called fish-ball!) and some minced pork.

It is served either "dry" (mixed with chilli paste) and soup (in soup form, soup usually made of ikan bilis (small fish) stock). Dry versions are usually served with a separate bowl (small) of soup.

Tongue twister again - the dry version is called "Ta Mee" (Hokkien for Dry Nooddle), the soup version is called "Tng Mee" (Hokkien for Soup Noodle). Nope, correct spelling, just try pronouncing it and have fun).

You will find the fish-ball chewy and tasty, not to mention the mixture of the noodles with minced pork and the chilli paste makes a wonderful lunch. Each bowl/serving should costs about S$2.00 - S$3.50 (depending on where you are eating at).

·  Prawn Noodles (Dry/Soup) - Similar to the fish-ball version, the prawn noodles are a mixture of noodles and prawns, and usually with some cut learn pork as well. It is also served with soup (prawn stock). Dry version includes the chilli paste as well. The difference between the prawn noodles and the fish ball noodles (aside from the ingredients) would be the chilli paste.

Chilli paste for the prawn noodles are contains a little sweet taste, whereas the fish ball noodles version does not contain any sweet taste.

Each bowl/serving should costs about S$2.00 - S$3.50 (depending on where you are eating at).

·  Ba Kut Teh (loosely translated to Pork's Bones Tea) - It is pork ribs/limbs stewed in soup (brownish or clear, depending on which dialect group's soup you are eating), served with rice.

The ingredients used in making the stock is heavenly and you will experience pespiration while having this meal, as a lot of pepper (white) are added to the soup.

Try both versions, both contain herbs and are considered good for the body system!

A serving of Ba Kut Teh should costs about S$3.50 - S$5.00. You will have an option of the internal organs of the pig, if you do not like them, just tell the stall that you do not wish to have "spare parts". "Spare Parts" usually refers to the pig's liver, intestines etc. parts.

Malay Food

·  Nasi Lemak - This is fragrant rice (made by smell of pandan leaves and ginger) boiled and served with other ingredients. A typical serving usually includes small fish (ikan bilis and ikan kuning), fried egg, cucumber, and peanuts. Together with a small serving of chilli paste (which is hot and sweet), it makes a wonderful meal.

There are also a variety of optional dishes to add on, and I strongly recommend you try the sambal prawns (chilli prawns), ikan kuning goreng (fried fish - small variety) etc. Just take your pick from the variety usually displayed in the front of the stall.

One serving usually costs about S$3.00 - S$5.00, depending on how many of the optional dishes you added.

·  Nasi Ayam Goreng (translated Fried Chicken with Rice) - This is just like the Chinese version of Chicken Rice, but for this case, the chicken meat is deep fried. It is one of my personal favorite for the way the chicken is fried.

If you like (or have tasted) Kentucky Fried Chicken or Texas Fried Chicken, have a good at our Malay Fried Chicken! I believe the chicken is marinated with spices and ginger (which explains its color), salt and little flour is coated and then deep fried.

So if you like fried food, you will love Nasi Ayam Goreng. It has a different taste to the Chinese version of Chicken Rice, another not to be missed! However, Nasi Ayam Goreng it is not easily found in Singapore. You can find it around the Geylang Serai area though.

A typical serving costs about S$3.00 to S$4.00.

Indian Food

·  Mee Goreng - Fried noodles with chilli paste and with a sprinkling of mutton (small pieces) and egg. You will probably never understand how fried noodles can taste so good!

It is usually served with cucumbers (with tomato paste on top) as well. This cucumber is good for those who cannot take too spicy food (it actually acts as a coolant for your tongue, according to a Indian friend).

A serving of Mee Goreng usually costs about S$2.00 - S$3.00.

·  Loti Prata - A pancake shaped fried dough. It is served either with mutton curry or sugar.

Many will be amaze with the way the cook handles the dough (he will flip, flip and practically 'fly' the dough before folding it into a square shaped dough and fry it on his hot pans).

If you have never seen such cooking in action, take a seat near the stall you ordered from, and see the cook (or chef for some) in action!

The prata (as what local calls it) taste a bit saltish and taste GREAT when dipped into curry gravy provided. For those who cannot take spicy food, ask for sugar instead! If you are adventurous, try both ways of eating the prata and you will notice the difference in flavour (both taste extremely GREAT!).

The plain prata costs about S$0.50 to S$0.80 while the prata with egg costs about S$0.80 to S$1.50 depending on locations. You should get the accompanied curry gravy for free.

Mix
There are many food which are made by the different races, so sometimes it is hard to classify which one is the best. Taste buds are different so you may prefer varieties made by the Indians, for example, for Curry Fish-head, but it is also made by Chinese as well.

Below I will try to list the varieties available to each type, try for yourself which is better and let us know!

·  Curry Fish Head (Indian / Chinese) - served with rice, it is fish head (fish head of larger fish, about twice the size of a grown-up man's palm) cooked in curry gravy, with a mixture of vegetables in the gravy. The Indian version is generally more spicy than the Chinese version.

You will find a lot of fish meat on the fish head as well, so even if you are an inexperienced "eater" of this dish, you will still be able to find the meat. The catch to this dish is actually the gravy, the fish eye (for those experienced eater) and the bones of the fish head (you will notice a lot of locals "sucking" the bones, they are doing it to suck out what's inside the bones, and I shall not comment on what they are sucking for, I will want you to try it out as well!).

There are some differences on how it is eaten, Chinese generally "scoop & drink" the curry gravy (on top of mixing it with their rice), and Indians generally mix the gravy with their rice. So the choice is yours. Tip is if you find the gravy too spicy, mix it with your rice and you will feel a whole lot better when taking to this dish.

Locals generally do not find this dish spicy, but I have friends from other countries who swears by this dish but find it extremely spicy! So if you are not the spicy type, but still want to try this dish, just ask the stall not to add too much chilly.

A serving for about 3 - 4 persons costs about S$20 - S$30 (depending on where you eat, including rice), so if there is only 2 of you, remember to tell the stall so, or else you will end up wasting the food!

My personal favorite curry fish head stall is located at Jalan Berseh Hawker Center, along Jalan Besar. It is at the basement of the hawker center and the first stall (facing the main road) after you take the flight of stairs to the basement (if you are facing the road, it is on the left entrance to the hawker center). All my friends whom I have brought to the stall swears by it and ALL have said it is good, even for my local friends. It operates from about 5pm till about 9pm. Go early as the stock runs out quite quickly daily. If you are feeling generous, invite me there as well since my office is just next door away!

·  Satay (Malay / Chinese) - meat skewelled on wooden sticks, and grilled over charcoal fire. Served with gravy (for dipping) made from chilly and peanut.

Generally, the Malay and Chinese varieties are almost the same except the the Chinese variety has the pork version, while the Malay does not. The different type of meats include chicken, mutton and beef (plus pork for the Chinese version).

For those not familiar, think "barbeque food". The meat is first seasoned in a mixture of sugar, salt, ginger (for some) and other ingredients, giving it a sweet, saltish and spicy taste.

Also served with satay are cut onion rings (fresh), cut cucumber and rice dumplings (steam rices made into a squarish form)

Costs per stick of Satay is ranges from S$0.30 to S$0.80 (depending on locations).

Part 1 Food in Singapore /Part 2 Places to eat