26 March 2011

  • Food in Singapore

    The evening I was in Singapore a few weeks back, I met up with a group of friends to go to a Zhap Chai Peng place.  "Zhap Chai Peng" means "mixed dishes with rice", referring to pre-made dishes.  It is colloquially known as "economy rice" because of its affordability.  The one we went to is in the Tiong Bahru neighborhood.

    P1100655

    The clean, well-lighted shop is open-air, with the attention focused on the row of more than two dozen prepared dishes.

    P1100651

    The selection runs the gamut from curries to stir-fries, to stews.  Meat dishes sit shoulder to shoulder with vegetarian ones.  And the influences of Singapore's many different cultures can be seen.

    P1100654

    Bonus points if you can guess what this is.  Answer at the end of the post.

    P1100666

    Boiled peanuts with Chinese five spice

    P1100669

    Goose braised with soy sauce

    P1100664

    Stir-friend squash - very beautiful color

    P1100668

    Otak - a steamed fish mousse with spices.  The Thai counterpart to this is called hor mok and the mousse is steamed in little cups made of banana leaf and it is topped with some coconut cream. 

    P1100661

    Bitter gourd with garlic

    P1100659

    Salted cabbage with pork belly

    P1100667

    Scrambled eggs with tomatoes

    As for the mystery dish?  That's fried SPAM.  All in all, a tasty and inexpensive meal.  Very similar to khao gaeng shops in Bangkok, about which I'll be writing soon.

     

Comments (12)

  • It's a cool idea for a restaurant, I like it. I kinda wish I could find one out on this side of the pond.

  • nice.

  • Wow, these dishes are all delicious home cooked cuisine! How did you manage to blog while flying to Hawaii?

  • simple but lovely meal....... loving it

  • Ah, I thought it was Canadian bacon, fried taro, or SPAM :P

    Does everyone in Singapore speak English?

  • @Senlin - In theory yes, in reality no. The English they speak here is called "Singlish" and it's got a very different tonality and sometimes interesting grammatical constructions. *sigh*

  • Oh I think I've passed by that place in Tiong Bahru when I was there but I ate just once in one of the stalls. I should try eating more hawker center food when I come back.

  • OK I need to know - the peanuts - Are those in the shell? And if so what do they taste like (texture???) The rest well no thanks to the eggs and tomatoes. My mother always put catsup on scrambled eggs (gross). In the first photo is that red curry with the spoon in it? It looks yummy anyway.

  • Luncheon meat!  mostly we served with noodles.  yummy :)

  • this looks amazing. I envy you.... I miss authentic azn food overseas. sniff

  • aha! i thought that was spam (although the curved shape threw me for a bit). spam's practically a staple in hawaii; i love it! =)

    i also love boiled peanuts. haven't had that in such a long time... my grandparents used to make it.

  • there you go making me hungary again :)

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment