Dear readers,
I’ve been craving food from The Motherland for a couple weeks.
Last week, the cravings hit new highs (just like ethereum did before it crashed). Maybe it is due in part to the disruption that brought a number of police officers into my life towards the end of last week.
In light of that, I am launching a new series called SHIOK SHIOK. Shiok is a word we borrowed from Malay and use in our everyday Singapore English.
It has been incorporated in the Oxford English Dictionary!
WHAT WILL THE SHIOK SHIOK SERIES BE ABOUT?
It’s going to be about FOOD of course ;) But not just any old food. Food from my homeland Singapore.
I’m quite sure little food particles flow in our veins or the government has brainwashed us with some subliminal advertising ;) We are that crazy about good foooood.
Okay, on a more serious note, I guess it is in part because we are such a tiny, tiny country (literally only one dot on the world map). After living your life here, you find that there’s really not so much to do around here, so everybody just meets up with friends at all hours of the day (yes even at 3am in the morning!) to chill out over breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner, after-dinner dessert, or supper.
Alright, there’s actually quite a lot of things to do in Singapore.
To name a few, there are sports complexes in almost every district, shopping malls at nearly every train station, 26 public libraries, scores of cinemas, beautiful albeit rather man-made green spaces everywhere, tourist attractions, in-door skiing, in-door ice skating, farms for fishing and prawning, etc. etc. The whole island-country is also connected with park connectors, making it a paradise for bikers, inline-skaters, and marathoners. It’s just that we can’t get our mind’s off food, and every meet-up culminates in “soo what are we going to eat?”
Enough digressing. Singapore is really tiny, and not many Steemians really know what kind of food we eat, so that’s a gap that I hope to fill up.
In this series, I’m going to share more about:
Singapore’s Hawker Food
Hawker centres or cooked food centres are open-air complexes boasting a spread of inexpensive food cooked up by 20 or so standalone food stalls sharing dedicated seating at tables provided for customers. They can be found near public housing estates, transportation hubs, and in the city centre, and are a one-stop location of high quality, sanitary food at a very affordable price. A good meal can be had for as little as €3. The range of stalls at a typical Hawker Centre is very, very wide, with several stalls serving up similar dishes in direct competition with one another.
Almost every one contains at least one Economical Rice Stall, Chicken Rice Stall, Porridge Stall, Curry Rice Stall, Fried Kway Teow Stall, Pig Organs Soup Stall, Dim Sum Stall, ’Kueh Kueh’ Stall, Hot & Cold Desserts Stall, Vegetarian Food Stall, Noodles Stall, Malay Food Stall, Indian Food Stall, Western Food Stall, Laksa Stall, Satay Stall, Rojak Stall, Drinks Stall, Fruit Juice Stall, BBQ Chicken Wings Stall, ’Zhi Char’ Stall, etc.!
Hawker centres were once set up to be a ‘sanitary option’ to street-side outdoor dining by hawker carts. After totally eliminating street cart hawkers in Singapore, these hawker centres are now facing competition from indoor air-conditioned food courts which serve a similar offering, but in a more modern environment with a higher comfort level.
As a true blue Singaporean, I still feel that the food found in hawker centres are the original taste of Singapore.
Singapore's 'Zhi Char' Food
Zhi Char is a communal dining concept that celebrates Chinese culture. It refers to comforting Chinese home-style dishes that are cooked upon order. Zhi Char is typically enjoyed at coffee shops or humble local eateries in Singapore.
Some of the most famous Zhi Char dishes are Cereal Prawns, Prawn Paste Chicken, Yam Ring, Hotplate Spring Onion Deer Meat, Sweet & Sour Pork, Sambal Kang Kong, Sambal Sting Ray, Hor Fun, Ngo Hiang, and Chilli Crab or Black Pepper Crab.
Singapore’s Cafe Culture
In recent years, there has been an increased obsession with cafe culture in young adults and teenagers in Singapore. A likely result of Singapore’s rapid transition from a fishing village into a full-fledged metropolis in no more than 50 years, the cafes take the standard of food and coffee and the surroundings in which they are enjoyed to the next level, with an endless chase after quality ingredients and retro design. A typical meal at a cafe would set you back around €15.
Some have called this Cafe Culture a fad, but even as it becomes increasingly commercialised, I believe it is here to stay. Food is such an integral part of our Singaporean society, and the influence of social media amplifies the success of unique cafe experiences.
I first noticed the hype when about 75% of my university buddies were cafe hopping on a weekly basis. They would check out a wide assortment of trendy, retro, hipster, and even themed cafes that bloggers had written about. Then we would head to the cafe where they would commence their photography session.
The unspoken rule was that photos had to be taken before the food and drinks could be enjoyed. So I always sat patiently like a good friend till they were done. Photo-taking sessions included antics such as standing up from the chair, placing the food on the chair, and then proceeding to take a series of shots at different angles.
Clearly I do not have skills of that level yet, but I do miss being able to spend an afternoon chilling in a cafe with friends, as it’s not so easy to find that many good cafes or willing cafe buddies here :)
Singapore's 24-hour Coffee Shop Culture
If not for my uni buddies, this would prolly be my choice hangout place every time. My more thrifty, down-to-earth friends and I are the type to call each other out when we can’t sleep at 2 or 3 am for a supper of roti prata, nasi lemak, or even dim sum.
This coffee shop that I speak of is very different from those in Amsterdam or a Starbucks. It’s basically a scaled-down hawker centre that serves the housing estate blocks in the area. You can find more coffee shops than you can count on your hands in every neighbourhood, and quite a number of them are open 24/7.
Follow @Foodie.warrior along on this journey.
I will be featuring true blue Singaporean dishes and sharing recipes.