How Crazy Rich Asians Inspired Us To Try Amazing Singaporean Street Food
One week, 8 hawker centers, 50+ dishes, and 1000s of calories later, there are too many contenders to choose one best dish.
The scene in Crazy Rich Asians where the main characters eat dinner at a hawker center inspired my family to consider the long flight to Singapore. We knew nothing of Singapore, or what Singaporean food was, until that movie sparked our curiosity. I’ve always loved the opportunity to try lots of different dishes in one meal, like tapas, or dim sum. So the idea of browsing multiple food stalls where each chef specializes in one dish, was too tempting to resist!
During our six-day trip in early February 2020 trip, we managed to squeeze in visits to eight hawker centers (returning to one a second time on an evening visit, for their special outdoor “Satay Street” vendors). We only went to one sit-down restaurant, Candlenut (which was amazing), because we really wanted to try as many of the hawker centers as we could.
It was difficult to limit our orders, because every stall would have a different tempting specialty (and at very budget-friendly prices!). We ordered at least 5 different dishes at each hawker center, but sometimes went a little crazy and ended up with twice the food we could eat in one meal. We almost always brought leftovers back to our 2 bedroom apartment at the Treetops Executive Residences.
Ironically, we didn’t even visit Newton Center, the hawker center featured in the Crazy Rich Asians movie, that captured our attention. There are over 100 hawker centers in Singapore, so there was no way we could visit even a fraction of them. Thus, I selected our choices after extensive online research and Newton just didn’t make the cut. Of the 50+ dishes we ordered at those hawker centers, I couldn’t narrow it down to my favorite dish, but I do have a Top 5 list that I share at the end of this essay.
In chronological order, we visited these 8 hawker centers. Note that most of these hawker centers were incredibly crowded, humming with the chatter of workers on their lunch break, or older seniors having a leisurely meal with friends. When we saw an empty table, we’d have one kid sit down or we’d toss a few tissue packs down to save the table until we returned with our food. A few centers have hawkers who will bring the food to you if you give them a table number, but most places expect you to hover nearby to pick up your food.
Almost all the hawker centers have very utilitarian set-ups: a bland open-air building, with a roof, and very few walls. Restrooms and sinks to wash your hands are often located in a back corner. The larger centers can make you feel like a mouse in a maze as you wander from stall to stall, looking for the long lines that signal a popular hawker.
Lau Pa Sat: This center is open 24 hours per day, so it seemed like a great choice for our first meal off the plane. Unfortunately, only 1/3 of the stalls were open and serving food on a Saturday morning (around 10 am). We ordered Hainanese chicken rice (poached chicken and seasoned rice, served with an incredible ginger sauce) with greens, Chicken biryani, Chapati and curry, Char Kway Teow (stir-fried flat rice noodles), laksa (spicy noodle soup), fresh-pressed sugar cane juice for the girls and me, and Tiger beer for my husband. The greens might have been the best dish, but a close second place was the Hainanese chicken rice. I might not prioritize a return visit to this hawker center for its food, but it’s worth a visit for the ambiance. This center was the most striking of all of the ones we visited, because it is in a beautiful historic building. It feels airy with its high ceilings and intricate scrollwork.
Maxwell Food Center: We headed here for Saturday dinner and ordered extras so we could bring some home in case jet lag had us up late at night. This included roasted meat over noodles (I can’t find more detailed notes on what kind of meat we got — maybe pork?), chilli crab (a Singaporean dish with thick sweet and spicy tomato and chili sauce), char kway teow, oyster and egg, sliced fish soup, 2 orders of the Hainanese chicken rice (from the famous Tian Tian stall that has been designated a Michelin Bib Gourmand), and black carrot cake (which is actually a savory pan-fried radish dish). The chilli crab was messy but awesome. My youngest daughter devoured an entire order of Hainanese chicken rice by herself. The roasted meat was good, but none of us was sure it was worth a 30 min wait.
Tiong Bahru Market: We came here for lunch the next day and let the long lines guide us. We ordered Hainanese chicken rice from Tiong Bahru Boneless Chicken Rice (they had the best chicken, but the rice was not as flavorful as Tian Tian), pork and duck over rice, pork ribs over noodles, lor-mee (noodles in a thick gravy), and curry rice. The lor-mee noodles were a surprising highlight as they tasted better than they looked.
Tekka Center: On Monday, we had lunch here after shopping in Little India. We have great Indian food in California, but it was wonderful to try it in Singapore. We ordered mango lassi drinks, mutton biryani (from 2 different stalls!), fish biryani, chicken curry, Hainanese chicken rice (2 orders!), and roti prata (one with onions and one with onions and egg from the famous stall featured in the Washington Post). Everything was delicious, but I most enjoyed the roti prata. Every roti I have since ordered back home in California pales in comparison. I also had a nice conversation with the very friendly chef-owner, Mr. Zul, as he cooked it for me. We brought leftovers home for dinner.
Hong Lim Hawker Center: We had lunch here on Tuesday and ordered curry puffs, curry noodles, fried fish lor mee (from Ma Bo Lor Mee), and 2 orders of Hainanese chicken rice. I liked the lor mee but the rest of the family was not as into it. My husband was the only one who could eat the spicy curry noodles as it was far too spicy for the rest of us. The girls both got chicken rice, but it wasn’t as good as the previous stalls we already tried. The highlight of this meal was the curry puffs.
Chomp Chomp Hawker Center: We had so much leftover food on Wednesday that we didn’t go out until dinner. We arrived around 5:15 pm to find only half the stalls open and barely ready to serve food. We ordered 12 satay (8 chicken and 4 pork) with peanut/pineapple dipping sauce from Chomp Chomp Satay (which were delicious and disappeared quickly), 10 chicken wings from Chong Pang Huat (incredible crispiness on the skin and smokiness from the charcoal-fed fire), Hokkien mee (Singaporean noodle dish with prawns) from Ah Hock Fried Hokkien Mee, a medium-size dispenser of fresh-pressed sugar cane juice for 3 of us from the vendor near table 13, and a large Tiger Beer for my husband. We snacked on these items while waiting for Hai Wei Yuan BBQ (located at Stall 1) to open, which was the reason we headed to Chomp Chomp. Only after waiting another 30 minutes and seeing Stall 1 was still not open, did we ask around and learn from the sugar cane vendor that Stall 1 is only open 3 days/week. So my husband went to another BBQ seafood stall and ordered sambal stingray, la la clams, calamari, kang kong vegetables, and crayfish to go (we were too full to eat any of those while there as we had already finished the other food before this food was ready!). When we ate them the next day, the food was obviously less fresh but it was still boldly flavored.
Chinatown Smith Center: This was one of my favorite hawker center meals overall as everything was delicious. For lunch on Thursday, we ordered hand-wrapped Chinese dumplings, spicy won ton, Hainanese chicken rice (again), fried curry roll, popiah (fresh spring rolls), and a fantastic clay pot of fish fillets with ginger and scallions. I still dream of that clay pot dish, as the fish were so perfectly prepared (falling apart in moist chunks) and delicately flavored.
Old Airport Road Hawker Center: We headed here for lunch on Friday. We had an order of the chicken clay pot rice with Chinese sausage (very tasty!), 2 orders of awesome Shanghainese style Xiao Long Bao (XLB) that were hand-made right in front of me, chilli crab (this was disappointing), steamed fish (this was REALLY disappointing as it was over-cooked, dry, and bland), Peking spare ribs (meh), Roast Paradise Char siew hakka noodles (great!), roast pork rice (also great), more sugar cane juice, and curry puffs.
Lau Pa Sat (again): This time, we headed to the evening “Satay Street” stalls set up outside on the street around 7 pm. “Satay Street” was a bit of a tourist trap. The chicken and mutton skewers were tasty, but there were a lot of pushy vendors that took away from the experience. Afterward, we went inside the hawker center for garlic naan, spicy chickpeas, Japanese curry rice, and one last order of chicken rice. This was our last meal out before leaving for the airport early the next morning. We had a breakfast of leftovers the next morning.
I can’t pick just one favorite bite. My Top 5 tastes from hawker centers would be:
- Hainanese chicken rice (and I think Tian Tian at the Maxwell Center was our overall favorite)
- Mr. Zul’s roti prata at the Tekka Center
- Claypot fish from the Chinatown Smith Street center
- BBQ Chicken wings from Chomp Chomp
- Fresh-pressed sugar cane juice at any vendor (I wish we could get this in California!)
While it’s not street food, we did have a wonderful dinner at Candlenut on Monday evening. This is a one-Michelin-starred restaurant that specializes in Peranakan food. Wikipedia explains that Peranakans are “descendants of early Chinese migrants who settled in Penang, Malacca, Singapore and Indonesia, inter-marrying with local Malays.” So the cuisine is influenced by multiple cultures.
We ordered a la carte as the “ah-ma-kase” seemed like an overwhelming amount of food and there were dishes that my younger daughter couldn’t eat due to her food allergies (fish, peanuts, and sesame). We ordered Ngoh Hiang (pork, prawns, water chestnuts, shiitake, in bean curd skin), Pork neck satay, chicken curry, Blue crab curry, Beef Rib Rendang, Udang sambal (tiger prawn, bitter beans, tamarind, sambal ikan bilis), Ikan Chuan Chuan (cod with soy bean and ginger), and Buak Keluak ice cream dessert. It was all tasty and boldly flavored.
I enjoyed it all and would happily return for another meal. I also appreciated the decor, ambiance, and excellent table service (three factors missing from every hawker meal).
We also had one dinner composed of items from the Isetan Department Store (a Japanese chain we remembered from our trip to Tokyo). We brought back sushi bento boxes, yakitori skewers, yakiniku don, and pastries from a French bakery to eat at the apartment.
In between all the eating, we had fun doing the same activities locals might do, like shopping at the huge malls on Orchard Rd. (including Uniqlo and Tokyu Hands, 2 Japanese chains), playing in the arcade, trying the virtual reality games at Sandbox VR, doing an “escape room” at the Escape Hunt, swimming at the pool, and lounging in our apartment to read books or watch movies.
While several tourist attractions, like the Singapore Flyer, were closed due to COVID, we did do two touristy things one evening. We visited sites featured in the Crazy Rich Asians movie: the Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay (where Araminta and Colin’s wedding reception took place) and Marina Bay Sands’ rooftop bar, CÉ LA VI Skybar and Sky Lounge (where Rachel and Nick’s engagement party was held).
The Supertrees are really cool and the trees light up in a coordinated music show once darkness fell. The Marina Bay Sands experience was more of a “young person” thing, as there was dancing and a loud DJ inside. We had a drink while seated next to the glass wall of the outdoor lounge and enjoyed the view, but left shortly thereafter. Note that there was a $23/person charge just to go up the elevator to the rooftop bar (but we were able to apply that fee towards a drink). There’s a stunning view of the city at night from the bar and you can see the impressive infinity pool. Sadly, only hotel guests can swim there and you can’t purchase a day pass to use the pool (at least not as of Feb. 2020).
Yes, we traveled to Singapore and spent most of our time eating or lounging. We did our own “Food-Crazy Asians” tour of the city-state and enjoyed it immensely!
