Singapore is definitely famous for its food. Just like the people in Singapore are composed of an ethnic mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and pretty much little pieces of every other Asian ethnic group, its cuisine similarly reflects its people. Probably some of the more famous dishes you think of when you come to Singapore are of course the "chili crab", and the local staple "chicken rice". Pretty much any seafood dish you get is going to be good, as it offers freshly caught, fresh tasting, seafood from any deep sea fish to giant crustacean, to odd bottom dwelling shellfish you can think of. But probably one of the most famous things of Singapore is the street food.
Singapore street food! Once simply hundreds of stalls an carts spread across the city, it eventually became organized into these Hawker Centers. The Hawker centers are pretty much these huge markets that are made of a conglomerate of stalls of various cuisine. If you have seen the Anthony Bourdain episode of Layover where he goes to Singapore, you'll know what I mean. Every stall has its own ethnic cuisine, and often a specialty dish. From Chinese to Vietnamese, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Noodle soupe, chicken rice, fish soup, organ soup, curry puffs, the list goes on.... The day I landed from my 23 hour journey it was about 11am. Just in time to shower and head out to lunch. So my cousin took us to our first Hawker stop, the Lao Pausat Hawker market. A huge semi-open space with all sorts of options. We zoned in on the stall serving sambal thunder tea rice. Basically this rice cooked in tea, making it real deep and flavorful, topped with spicy fried prawns and these tiny dried fishies and a spicy sauce. Almost like an Indonesian style dish. To complement were these peanut-sauced chinese noodles, and these delicious steamed rice cakes that were soft and fluffy and drizzled with a little scallion garlic soy sauce. All from various stalls. Yummy indeed! Now had to walk off the lunch until our dinner later at Jumbo for some legit seafood..
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