Tastes in Chinatown Singapore

In Singapore’s Chinatown, there are a lot of buildings from its past preserved and there are streets that are colourful and vibrant, although many of the shops are quite touristy with mostly souvenir type items.

But I went for what I always go for, the food, and I wasn’t disappointed.

Yes, some of the food places are touristy in that there are certain spots that tourists flock to, especially if it has a good Trip Advisor rating. The restaurants will notify you of these ratings with large signs. I can’t blame them because it’s good for business and these places are packed with tourists.

There is the hawker stall that got a Michelin star. It has a restaurant too now and all you can see when you first hit the restaurant is this fact plastered all over because it’s good for business. It’s always packed and there are line-ups. They are proud. They should be because it’s quite the accomplishment for a food stall to get such a prestigious rating when it often goes only to high end restaurants.

However, I love eating most at the places that don’t get all this fan fare.

I go by what I’d love to eat, what looks good, and the vibe of the place. I often shy away from those places that tourists go to.

First of all, I hate line ups, but maybe it’s the rebel in me that doesn’t want to follow what others do, that wants to find my own path and this includes what I like to eat. I don’t want others to dictate this for me.

It’s harder to make our own opinions these days when everything is on the internet and can be googled in a few seconds. It’s like our security blanket to find out about experiences and food before we go.

It’s not a bad thing but sometimes we rely too much on it, including me, and we form our opinions of places, people and food before we’ve gone there ourselves and made on our opinion.

Whatever people have been critical or negative about, we are on the look out for. Whatever is great, we expect, and hard to live up to. It’s a no win situation.

I love meandering through the streets, going to the food places that capture my attention, where locals often flock to because it is good, reasonably priced, and they know the chef-owner. It may have the accolades from the critics, it may not, but the customers love it, and it’s their vote that counts for them and keeps them in business over the years.

I love that.

That’s why the favourite part of my touring in Chinatown was in the food court, full of stalls of different ethnicities, cheap and cheerful food. There is no street food permitted here as it is in Thailand. The best local food here in my opinion is served in food courts and food centres, either on their own or in shopping centres, and is reasonably priced.

My vote and heart will always go to these kind of places and I have not been disappointed.

For example, I decided on a stall where there was soup and fish balls, but it was more than a soup. It looked simple but there were many layers. It was a soup with a lovely light broth, fluffy fish balls, I chose the thick rice noodles, veg like fresh lettuce and bean sprouts. It was lovely and for under $5, which is cheap in a city where many things are very expensive.

As I ate, I observed the stall and a husband and wife team working in sync in a very tight space as the man (the cook) would hand the woman the finished dishes and she would prepare them for customers to eat there or take away and take their money. The couple would do this over and over again over large boiling pots of water, broths and sauces, and in the extreme heat and humidity of the Singapore weather, without sweating and continuing to be pleasant to customers. This is no easy feat!

There were no large signs promoting who they were, just a few clippings on them from newspapers and magazines on display. For the most part, they do their work quietly and without much attention.

They make good food day in and day out, they make their customers happy, and as a result these customers want to come back often. It’s a simple formula that works.

Food made with love for the love of customers.

Food is love.

Also published on Medium.