August 31, 2009
Hawker Centres
I love hawker centres, or here they’re just called food centres. Almost a month here in S’pore and I think over 90% of my meals have been from a hawker stall, whether it’s on the NUS campus, or somewhere around Clementi (where I live). In North America I guess you would call them ‘food courts’, but unlike NA where they’re overun by chained fast food places, hawker stalls here are mostly just ‘mom n pop’ shops (which makes them great).
Almost every HDB complex (where majority of Singaporeans live) has a hawker centre below one of its buildings. I think I already know seven hawker centres within 10min walking distance from my place. Hawker centres exemplifies the controlled and structured environment that is Singapore. At almost every hawker centre, you can expect at least these following stalls:
- Chicken Rice
- Western Food
- Indian Food
- Congee / Noodles
- Seafood
- Beverage / Drinks
Of course some centres will have more than others, that’s what makes it interesting to travel around and experiment. A lot of centres will have Claypot Rice, which is one of my favourite dishes. I also love what they call EconoRice here – basically the ones where you pick 2 or 3 items + rice. We have those at the Asian malls in Vancouver, but the word EconoRice is new to me – I love that word LOL.
Also notice that there is always a dedicated stall selling drinks, you have to buy your drink at this stall as none of the food stalls will sell drinks. I don’t think you can ever achieve this type of specialization and centralization in North America ;)
People will say that I only love hawker centres because I haven’t gotten bored of it, which is probably true in some ways. I see many young Singaporeans heading to Long John Silvers (fast food fish-n-chips – yuck) and Subway. Never say never, but I don’t think I’ll be visiting those places for a long time.
Some good food sites that I have come across:
- ieatishootipost.sg: blogs Singapore best food
- 10 Favourite Singapore Hawker Food
Jr said,
September 1, 2009 at 1:15 AM
Hmmmmmmmmmm..i love claypot rice. and the sugarcane juice that is fresh out of the press! and the LATTE! (Lah teh) pulled tea!
arthurleung said,
September 2, 2009 at 5:53 AM
Yes! I tried sugarcane juice when I went to Lau Pa Sat, I had it with lemon juice and it was great! As for the lah teh or teh bing, I have that a lot with my meals, but I still think HK milk tea reigns supreme. The black tea that HK milk tea uses still provides the best taste…. yumm…..