Despite its fame, Hawker Chan lost its Michelin star in 2021 without any given explanation. Photo Supplied
From Michelin stars to street vendors, Singapore offers a mixed bag of culinary flavours. Here are six must-try foodie experiences in the city, writes Steve Madgwick.
Few stories encompass the complexity of modern Singaporean cuisine like the one about the market stall-holder who gained (and later lost) a Michelin star for a dish that at the time cost little more than three Singapore dollars.
It was Michelin Guide’s first foray into the zestful Asian crossroads, in 2016, when Liao Fan Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle was awarded a single star for its soya chicken rice dish. The unassuming little stall subsequently changed its name – to Hawker Chan – and franchised into places like Australia, The Philippines and Kazakhstan.
Fast forward to 2021, and the single star suddenly fell from Hawker Chan’s sky, with no explanation from Michelin, as is the way of this arcane culinary mafia. Such decisions have demoralised many a chef, once reducing French luminary Guy Savoy to tears. However, Chan Hon Meng went about his business as usual, “continuing to serve delicious and affordable meals”.
In 2023, the hordes still queue around the corner for lunch at Hawker Chan at the Chinatown Complex Food Centre in Central Singapore, one of around 250 food stalls in the country’s largest “hawker centre” (so-called because of the street-food-peddler heritage).
These melting pots full of melting pots are the epicentres of Singapore’s uber-cosmopolitan, intensely multicultural food scene, steaming and sizzling with hybrid flavours and aromas with roots in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, India, Britain and beyond. They are giant ecosystems of tropical hustle and bustle, cooled by oscillating fans and stalls selling flavoured sugarcane juice and “Milo dinosaurs”.
Stall-holders live and die by their single specialties. Close to Chinatown Complex Food Centre, the eponymous dish of Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice left Anthony Bourdain in awe. At Bedok Interchange Hawker Centre, in the country’s east, a SG$2.40 steamed rice cake (preserved radish on top, chilli on the side) earned Bedok Chwee Kueh a Michelin Bib Gourmand award.
Yet hawker centres are just one element of a food culture that radiates along every alley and flows into every neighbourhood of this 50-kilometre-wide island.
The path from street stall to restaurant was eventually a lucrative one for now local institution Keng Eng Kee Seafood (KEK). The communal-dining “zi char” restaurant (”cook and fry” in Hokkien) in the semi-industrial central-west neighbourhood of Alexandra Village, began as a hawker stall five decades ago selling Hainanese chicken rice. Today around 150 different dishes emerge from its wok hei – “breath of the wok/fire”.
Helmed by third-generation restauranters, brothers Paul and Wayne Liew, KEK’s curious signature dishes – like coffee pork ribs, salted egg squid and Marmite chicken – are bold-flavoured conversation-starters.
Even on a week night, the restaurant hums with locals who hive on to the fluorescently lit old-school plastic yellow chairs and tables that heave under the weight of share plates. KEK is not the place for a quiet night, especially with the likes of the “Tiger Aunties” (designated beer servers) aggressively refilling your unprotected cup.
Ruqxana Vasanwala says the Peranakan/Nyonya laksa is undoubtedly “Singapore’s favourite”. She teaches travellers a from-scratch version of the pan-Asian staple at her home-based Cookery Magic business.
An “old baba [gentleman]” taught Ruqxana the prawn-rich recipe, which has Chinese, Malay and Indian elements, but she’s added a few things to it over the years. Chillis are essential for texture and colour (simply leave out the seeds if you don’t “do” hot). As are laksa leaves (Vietnamese coriander) and freshly squeezed coconut milk. Garlic is a no-no, “because it overpowers everything”.
All ingredients, from galangal (blue ginger) to turmeric, are either picked from Ruqxana’s garden or picked up on a morning run to Geylang Serai Market. The hands-on process starts with mortar-and-pestle and is “hard to mess up” says Ruqxana, “as long as you only fry the paste until you cough/sneeze/cry [when the oil separates], don’t over-salt it, and add the coconut one ladle at a time.”
Singapore gained independence almost 60 years ago, but British-colonial influence still hovers in pockets of architecture and tradition. Immaculate Raffles hotel is the most recognisable face of those times, famously home to the gin-based Singapore Sling cocktail.
The most staunchly held tradition is high tea, which dovetails with modern Singaporeans’ penchant to “see and be seen”. Every high-end hotel operates one including Raffles, naturally, and the “Expressions Afternoon Tea” at Fullerton Bay Hotel.
The fun new kid at the high-tea table is Atlas Bar, on the ground floor of Parkview Square in Bugis, one of Singapore’s hippest and most historic neighbourhoods. Atlas’ elegant-beyond-its-years ‘Jazz Age’ aesthetic is a lesson in modern Art Deco makeovers. The mesmerisingly detailed high-ceilinged space is book-ended by stately balconies and all eyes land on the dark-wooded centrepiece: a three-storey tall gin cabinet.
Afternoon tea is served on a two-tier rose-gold stand, featuring explosively flavoursome truffled eggs on brioche and moreish mini banana-cream pies, alongside Atlas Art Deco Blend black tea and a fine stable of G&T and martini options on call. Atlas is sophisticated without being pompous and has earned both its “Gotham City” nickname and place on the “The World’s 50 Best Bars” list (2020).
The popiah is perhaps the perfect iteration of street and comfort food – essentially a fresh spring roll made with a crispy, wafer-thin crepe. And you won’t find any more well-credentialled popiah experts than Kway Guan Huat, secreted away near the pastel-rich neighbourhood of Koon Seng Rd, East Singapore.
The “shophouse” restaurant began life as a food cart in the 1930s, operated by the grandfather of third-generation owner Michael Ker, who says it was “the Uber Eats of its day”. His dad, Cheng Lye Ker, is still a master at making the seemingly simple but deceptively finicky four-ingredient skins* on the hotplate, even if he leaves most of the work to youngsters these days. (*Wheat flour, salt, oil and water)
Filling a (SG$4) popiah is “a bit like making a pizza”, says Michael. Smooth side down, rough side up. A smear of chilli; gula melaka (sticky palm sugar) to balance. Top with ingredients like finely julienned turnip, carrot, bean curd, roasted peanuts and the all-important seafood sauce. Then gently tuck in the crispy skin on two sides, flatten, and roll confidently and snugly.
Singapore currently has 56 Michelin-star restaurants, covering myriad cuisines and styles, but few are more eccentrically and authentically Singaporean than single-star Labyrinth in Esplanade Mall on the cusp of Marina Bay.
The dark, spotlit ambience feels almost predictably Michelin refined, but each morsel of Chef LG Han’s is anything but predictable. A recent degustation, Memories of Newton Food Centre, was an unabashed, unconventional tribute to hawker-centre food and culture.
Each of the “New Singaporean” dishes was a stop on a metaphorical wander around the markets of the chef’s youth. Think chilli crab ice cream, topped with egg-white ribbon, pink pomelo and kaffir lime. Waffles infused with pandan and coconut milk flavours. One dish was even served on a replica mini-hawker-centre table, with complimentary tissues.
The most profound curve ball was the “Hainanese chicken pie” – a tribute to LG Han’s favourite pie and a cheeky nod to another (it was served in a custom McDonald’s apple pie-style box, adorned with a cartoon dancing frog in a chicken costume). What was inside the crispy cushion-shaped creation? Frog legs, abalone and a Chinese-style bechamel sauce. On top? Shaved black truffle, naturally.
GETTING THERE
Fly non-stop from Auckland to Singapore Changi Airport with Singapore Airlines in 10.5 hours.
DETAILS
visitsingapore.com/en
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