A HISTORY

OF
SINGAPORE
IN
10 DISHES



 FEB 19
Author & Photographer:
Wee Ling Soh

FOOD

EDIBLE HISTORY

ASIA

The history of a food-obsessed city-state through its multifaceted cuisine.

One of my earliest memories is of sitting around a makeshift communal table
with my mother and sister, past our bedtime, in front of the car park at the
public housing estate we lived in in Singapore. It was sometime in the mid-
1980s, long after hygiene regulations had confined vendors to dedicated hawker
centers. This pushcart stall, likely illegal, was probably one of the last of
Singapore’s itinerant hawkers. We sat on low stools, tucking into our piping-hot
fishball soup and noodles served dry.

Singaporeans are obsessed with food. We can expound ceaselessly on where to

find the best bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) and will queue for hours for a
good yong tau foo (surimi-stuffed tofu and vegetables). Perhaps because most of
us are descendants of immigrants thrust into an artificial construct of a nation, or
maybe because we live in a country that is constantly renewing and rebuilding,
one of the few tangible things that connects us to the past and our cultural
identity is food.

There are many facets of Singaporean cuisine: Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian
(a fusion of European and Asian dishes and ingredients) Peranakan (combining
Chinese and Malay food traditions), and catch-all Western, which usually means
old-school Hainanese-style British food—a local version of Western food
adapted by chefs from the southern Chinese province of Hainan, who worked in
British restaurants or households. 

FENG
Singapore was a trading city going as early as the 14th century. Some early
settlers were the Orang Laut (sea nomads) and Chinese merchants, and various
Indonesian empires lay claim to the territory before it became part of the Malay
Malacca Sultanate in the 15th century.

In 1511, Portugal captured Malacca, then the world’s largest spice market, in a

bid to take control of the lucrative maritime Southeast Asia trade route. The
Sultan of Malacca fled south and his son founded the Johor Sultanate, which
encompassed Singapore. In 1613, the Portuguese came to Singapore on a
punitive expedition and burned Singapore to the ground. It was abandoned until
the 19th century, when Sir Stamford Raffles, representing the British East India
Company, arrived.
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Unlike other Europeans who later sailed into the region to try and divide up
territories, the Portuguese intermarried with locals. Some of their descendants,
also known as the Kristang, eventually migrated to Singapore when Malacca
was seized by the Dutch in 1641.

Feng is a spicy, tangy Portuguese-Eurasian stew of diced pig offal. Damian

D’Silva, executive chef at Eurasian-Peranakan restaurant Folklore, says a
good feng requires “a good spice mix, fresh innards that are properly cleaned,
and patience”—cleaning and preparing the offal, which includes letting it
simmer for hours and sit overnight, can take days. Despite its longstanding roots
in Singapore, Eurasian cuisine is notoriously hard to find at restaurants, but
some chefs like D’Silva are working to change that.

EPOK-EPOK
Singapore became a British trading colony in 1819. The British, whose rule
lasted until 1963, left a legacy of left-hand traffic, English as the lingua franca,
and the common-law system. Some say epok-epok, a popular snack, is an
Indian samosa adapted to the British palate, while others say it was inspired by
the Cornish pasty. (Still others say it comes from the Portuguese empada, which
would imply that epok-epok predates the British.)

While some purists insist that the similar curry puff—a popular snack in
Malaysia and Singapore—and epok-epok are not the same thing, Madam
Halimah, who runs Yang’s Epok-epok with her sister, says epok-epok is simply
the Malay version of the curry puff, with a thinner crust and finger-pinched
edges. Their epok-epok, available in two flavors (sardine or curried potato), are
probably among the cheapest in Singapore, priced at just S$0.50 ($0.37) each
and make a perfect tea-time snack or a quick meal on the go.

BAK KUT TEH

By the late 19th century, Singapore had emerged as an important regional

entrepôt, given its strategic location and deep-water harbor. Laborers from
southeastern China toiled along the Singapore River, unloading goods from flat-
bottomed wooden boats. The origins of bak kut teh, or pork rib soup, are
unclear. It may have been invented locally for these laborers as a much-needed
morning energy boost, perhaps by Teochew hawkers—Chinese immigrants
from the Chaoshan region in China’s Guangdong province. Others claim the
recipe was brought over from China’s Fujian province.

Whether you prefer the peppery and light Teochew bak kut teh, or the more
robust and herbal Hokkien variant, the soup is typically eaten with a side of
steamed rice, chopped red chili in dark soy sauce and, to a lesser extent, strong
oolong tea to cut through the grease. As a child, I used to pay early morning
visits to the bak kut teh stall with my grandfather; we would sip hot tea together
while we waited for our order.

Head to Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh’s main outlet on Rangoon Road for an old-
school experience, complete with oolong tea from Singapore’s oldest tea
merchant, Pek Sin Choon.

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LAKSA
By the 20th century, with Singapore flying the free-port flag high, trade had
burgeoned and attracted shiploads of immigrants. Singapore’s population
jumped from about 1,000 in 1819 to over 200,000 at the turn of the century,
according to a 1901 census. Chinese immigrants made up the lion’s share (72
percent) of the population, followed by Malays, Indians, Europeans, and
Eurasians of mixed Asian and European descent.

Laksa, a dish of thick rice vermicelli with prawns, fishcake, tau pok (tofu puff),
and see hum (blood cockles) in a rich, spicy coconut-based broth, garnished
with roughly-chopped daun kesum (laksa leaves), is said to have originated
from intermarriages between local Malay women and the Chinese traders and
sailors who arrived in the British- and Dutch-controlled port cities along the
spice route.

At Sungei Road Laksa, the broth simmers over a charcoal fire and the soup is
dished out with production-line efficiency. Second-generation owner Wong Ai
Tin says her father, who opened his pushcart stall in 1956, popularized eating
laksa with a spoon instead of chopsticks paired with a spoon. This was perhaps
out of necessity, as customers then huddled around the pushcart and ate laksa
standing by the roadside.

KAYA TOAST
Chinese immigrants from Hainan province are said to have created kaya toast—
toast served with a custardy coconut jam and butter—in the 1930s. According to
legend, Hainan cooks aboard British ships were attempting to replicate fruit
jam, but made do with limited ingredients, including coconut, eggs,
and pandan leaves.

The economic slowdown brought on by the Great Depression offered new

opportunities for these Hainanese immigrants, who took over low-rent, vacant
buildings and opened kopi tiams (coffee shops).

Heap Seng Leong is a blink-and-you-miss-it relic in a nondescript public

housing estate in central Singapore. Shi Pong Hsu, the 82-year-old proprietor
and coffee master, has been running the show since 1974. His 55-year-old son,
Shi Ting Chow, says little has changed since then: They’ve only just raised the
price of kaya toast, by S$0.20 ($0.15) to S$1.20 ($0.87).  

They are Hokchew, meaning their ancestors came from the Fuzhou region of
Fujian province; the Hokchews were also known for opening kopi tiams. The
elder Shi toasted the bread on a charcoal grill and served it alongside kopi gu
you (coffee with melted butter), a Hainanese specialty from the 1930s. Some
might say the kaya toast here is nothing to write home about—I’d say I didn’t
come all the way here just for the toast.

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KUEH UBI KAYU

British forces in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in February 1942, in

what Sir Winston Churchill described as “the worst disaster and largest
capitulation in British history.” It was renamed Syonan-to (Light of the South
Island). The Japanese occupation of Singapore lasted from 1942 to 1945, and
was marked by hardship and scarcity.

Kueh ubi kayu, or steamed tapioca cake, is a bite-sized dessert, consisting of

steamed tapioca, a starch made from cassava root, which is then coated with
grated coconut. It is widely believed to have its origins in the occupation, when
many locals were forced to survive on cassava, which grows easily and can be
harvested every three months.

Ang Tiong Guan has been making kueh ubi kayu for the last 30 years at Heng
Heng Ondeh-ondeh and Tapioca Cake, the stall he took over from his mother
after her death. It’s a laborious process: He and his wife, Ng Gek Hoe, typically
spend more than 12 hours each day making the chewy kueh and manning the
stall.

“We sell more tapioca cakes than my mother-in-law [did], even though the
recipe is the same. Maybe during those post-war days, the stigma of eating
tapioca cake was too strong,” Ng says. Their stall opens at 7 a.m. and they
usually sell out by midday.

FISH-HEAD CURRY
Fish-head curry was invented in Singapore in 1949, when Marian Jacob Gomez,
an Indian restaurateur from Kerala, wanted to create a South Indian-style dish to
cater to Chinese customers who considered fish head a delicacy.

Around this time, Singapore witnessed the first wave of

Indian goldsmiths arriving from Tamil Nadu, who followed in the footsteps of
earlier Indian immigrants, most of them ethnic Tamils from South India who
worked as laborers, money-lenders, and traders. There were even some convicts
who decided to settle down in Singapore after serving their sentences.
“Today, tourists from India come to our restaurant and some of them are
shocked to see that fish-head curry is on the menu, as the dish does not exist in
India,” says Nagajyothi Mahendran, the third-generation owner of Samy’s
Curry. Mahendran says her grandfather, M Veerasamy, started cooking the dish
in a shophouse—a mixed-use building—in the 1960s.

Samy’s Curry, now housed in a 5,000-square-feet colonial house, serves about

50 claypots of the dish each day. Opt for biryani rice and don’t forget to fold
your banana leaf in half, inward towards yourself, kept in place by your cutlery,
when you are done eating—basic banana-leaf etiquette.

SAMBAL STINGRAY
Singapore’s relationship with Malaysia is complicated, to say the least. The
postwar years were a time of social unrest, unemployment, and anti-colonial
sentiments in Singapore, which eventually culminated in the establishment of
the Federation of Malaysia in 1963—uniting Singapore, Malaya, Sarawak, and
North Borneo under one flag. The union was not to last—Singapore left a mere
23 months later.

As with many local dishes in Malaysia and Singapore, there is ongoing debate
regarding the origin of sambal stingray. Depending on who you ask, it could be
a Malaysian dish that gained popularity in Singapore, or a Singaporean Malay
creation that is commonly sold by Chinese hawkers. What we do agree on is
that this dish single-handedly changed the fate of stingray, once an unpopular
fish. Despite being classified as an overfished species by the World Wildlife
Fund (WWF), it is still a relatively inexpensive fish in Singapore today.

Typically slathered with spicy, aromatic sambal chili paste, wrapped in banana
leaf, and grilled, this dish is a hawker center mainstay—Chomp Chomp BBQ at
Fengshan Market & Food Centre does a pretty decent version, best enjoyed with
a squeeze of calamansi lime before serving. Chinchalok, a spicy and pungent
fermented shrimp sauce dip, is optional.

KACANG PUTEH
Before television sets became commonplace in Singapore, cinema was the main
source of entertainment for many Singaporeans, its appeal wide-ranging with
screenings of American, British, Chinese, Malay, Hindi, and Tamil films.

Kacang puteh, Malay for “white beans,” is a selection of nuts, crackers, and
grain legumes. The mix was traditionally packed in cones made from newspaper
and sold by pushcart vendors outside cinemas. These pushcarts usually
contained a range of snacks, including roasted cashew nuts, steamed chickpeas,
sugar-coated peanuts, and murukku, a crunchy and savory Indian snack.

The local cinema industry managed to survive the Japanese occupation during
World War II, but it took a hit in the 1980s with the emergence of video-cassette
recorders and rampant video piracy. Lower cinema attendances meant fewer
customers, with the arrival of cineplexes eventually sounding the death knell for
kacang puteh vendors. These modern cineplexes often come with adjoining food
and beverage stands and strict rules on the consumption of snacks bought
elsewhere.

Amirthaalangaram Moorthy is a third-generation kacang puteh vendor whose

stall is near a bus stop on Selegie Road right outside Peace Centre—a far cry
from the now-demolished Hoover Theatre in Balestier, where his father used to
set up his stall. He still painstakingly makes most of the snacks from scratch, but
in the face of inexpensive, shiny packs of factory-produced party snacks stocked
at convenience stores and supermarkets, he has stiff competition.
MALA XIANG GUO

In the 1990s, facing an aging population and declining fertility rates, Singapore
opened up to immigrants and foreign workers. Between 1990 and 2015,
Singapore’s population increased by 82 percent, among which citizens grew by
29 percent, permanent residents by 371 percent, and non-residents by 424
percent, according to government statistics, with most new immigrants hailing
from Malaysia, China, and India.

The influx of new immigrants has contributed to the continued evolution of the
Singaporean foodscape. Mala xiang guo, a fiery, mouth-numbing stir-fry of
vegetables from southwestern China, has become popular in Singapore in recent
years.

Stall owners Mao Congfang and Wu Zhansheng, who migrated from China’s
Henan province in 2005, opened Ri Ri Hong Mala Xiang Guo, and are widely
credited with popularizing the dish in Singapore.

“We’ve tweaked the dish to be less greasy and less salty to accommodate local
preferences,” Mao said, adding that in the beginning, most of their clientele
were recent immigrants from China. “Today, half our customers are locally born
Singaporeans.”

CULTURE, FOOD, MYANMAR, TRAVEL
The Best Of Myanmar Traditional Food:
Must-Try Dishes From The Burmese
Cuisine
Soumya September 19, 2018

Food is an integral part of Burmese way of life. The people of Myanmar love to indulge
in food and spend hours preparing and eating a meal. Lunch and dinner, here, are no
small affairs. You will always be treated to a wide variety of side dishes along with your
main course and trust me, the sides are sometimes enough to fill you up. Myanmar
traditional food is wholesome, nutritious, and filled with the right amount of carbs,
proteins, and vitamins. Earlier this year, we traveled to Myanmar and explored the
country for two whole weeks. I was a little worried about what we would eat because I
am not a big fan of spicy food (read health issues) and we had an excited 5-year old
with us. Myanmar pleasantly surprised me. In this article, I bring you a list of must-try
dishes from the Burmese cuisine.
 

So, let’s find out the gems of Myanmar

traditional food. And dig into them!
When I was reading about food in Myanmar, I found that Burmese cuisine had often
been underrated when compared to those of its more famous Southeast Asian
neighbors. It was not a surprise at all. Myanmar has only recently opened up to
international tourists, so there is a general lack of awareness. Also, people
find Burmese food lacking in fiery spices. I found this to be true although it was more
of a blessing to me than a drawback. Burmese food is easy on the stomach and fills you
up without causing discomfort.
I also found a lot of vegetarian and/or vegan items at restaurants and on streets in
Myanmar. You will find a number of them in the list below.
Furthermore, food in Myanmar is an eclectic mix of cuisines from different
communities that reside here namely Burmese, Mon, Indian and Chinese; not to mention
100 other smaller, ethnic groups. Locals are fiercely passionate about dishes from their
respective regions which makes the food scene in Myanmar exceedingly vibrant.
All of this  makes the food journey in Myanmar a memorable experience. So let’s
get started.

Samosa Thoke
Thoke literally translates to salad in English. And Burmese salads are worth trying out. In
fact, my favorite food in Myanmar was a salad called Samosa Thoke. The samosa thoke
resembles the Indian samosa chaat but not entirely. Burmese samosas are called
samusas and are smaller than their Indian cousins. They are filled in with potatoes and
chickpea powder. The deep-fried pastries are then dunked in a plain Burmese curry and
garnished with mint leaves, sliced onions, tomatoes, cabbage, and brown chickpeas. The
base dish is not spicy at all. You can choose to add more chili if you want.
Where Can I Find It?
Samosa Thoke is a favorite among locals and a popular street food in Myanmar. We
would highly recommend having it on the streets of Yangon especially from
the vendors near the Thakin Mya Park on Aung Yadana Street.

Getting ready for some Samosa Thoke

Samosa Thoke on the Streets of Yangon

Deep-fried Burmese Tofu

Deep-fried Burmese Tofu is yet another popular traditional food item in Myanmar. It
is made out of chickpea flour which makes it all the more unique. Unfortunately, I
never had the chance to try it when I was traveling in Burma but made sure I clicked
some pictures. A friend helped me identify this amazing dish in the picture below. This
is deep-fried tofu stuffed with fried garlic and garnished with cabbage, cilantro,
lemon juice, and fish sauce.
Where Can I Find It?
Again in Yangon. This picture is from a vendor at a station on the Yangon Circular
Train route.
Deep-fried Burmese Tofu in Yangon

Laphet Thoke
Laphet Thoke is another popular Burmese salad. Among various Myanmar traditional
food items, laphet thoke was probably one that I had not heard of before traveling to
Myanmar. Laphet means pickled tea leaves in Burmese and laphet thoke  is actually a
salad made out of pickled/fermented tea leaves. The fermented tea leaves may not
look great to discerning eyes but they taste wonderful once they are converted into an
amazing salad. Vendors add to the tea leaves a number of things: peanuts, garlic, chili,
tomatoes, and some shrimps/fish if you wish to concoct a delicious mix right in front
of your eyes. I always got so engrossed in eating it that I never remembered to click
a picture. But it is definitely one of the dishes that I highly recommend.  Read more on
why laphet thoke is the country’s favorite snack.
Where Can I Find It?
It is available widely across the country and we had it in Yangon, Ngapali, Mrauk-U, and
Bagan. You can find it in restaurants as well as streetside stalls.

Mohinga
Mohinga is often synonymous with Myanmar traditional food and is considered to be
the Burmese National Dish by many. It is a rice noodle and fish soup that can have
many other ingredients like garlic, onion, ginger, fish paste, eggs, fritters, or cilantro. It is
usually eaten for breakfast but is now creeping in as a filling snack that can be relished
at any time of the day.
Where Can I Find It?
You can smell and find Mohinga anywhere and everywhere in Myanmar. Downtown
Yangon is especially famous with a number of stalls specializing in Mohinga variants.

Mohinga | Source: Pixabay Creative Commons | Picture Credits – Lucy Ken

Fried Shrimps
Fried shrimps are another tasty streetside snack. We found them quite abundantly on
the streets and in front of temples in Bagan. As you can see in the picture below,
there were these huge plates on which fried shrimps, fried shrimps-in-batter, and fried
fish were stacked high, one beside the other. The fried shrimps-in-batter appealed to us
a good bit. We had our first bite in front of Bupaya Pagoda in Bagan. There were a
number of vendors there, mostly women, selling this delicious snack. And we could not
just restrict ourselves to one. It can be a little oily as most street food generally is.
Where Can I Find It?
Plentily available on the streets of Bagan. We did not find them anywhere else. So dig
into them when you are here.

Deep Fried Shrimps in Bagan

Bean Salad
Burmese love their salads or thokes.  Apparently, the Burmese can turn anything into a
salad by adding in fried garlic, onions, nuts, and baby shrimps. Following our love for
the Burmese thoke, we discovered the bean salad in Ngapali. It was made out of long
beans sauteed in oil and garnished with fried onions and garlic, and a generous amount
of peanuts. My 5-year old loved it and so did we.
Where Can I Find It?
At all restaurants in Ngapali. However, we liked the bean salad at the beach shacks the
best. So, get your dose of bean thoke  at an evening beach shack at Ngapali amidst the
thunderous roar of the India ocean and a couple of sticks of yummy grilled fish. I am
sure you will not regret it.

Bean Salad in Ngapali

Burmese Indian Food

Ethnic Indians form about 2% of the Burmese population and are mostly
concentrated in and around Yangon and Mandalay. We were lucky enough to taste
Indian food in both these places. The food is Indian but it has a got a refreshing
Burmese whiff to it. The curries, vegetable sautees, and even the parathas tasted a little
different from the usual Indian fare. And since there are so many Indian restaurants, it is
never very difficult to get a wholesome vegetarian meal in Myanmar. You can easily get
an Indian thali,  dosas or “thosai”,  and parathas and curries.
Where Can I Find It?
There are a number of Indian restaurants in Mandalay and Yangon. We would strongly
recommend trying out the food at Kuang Thant Cafe/Nay Cafe on the 82nd 27th
Streets in Mandalay. It is a streetside restaurant and opens only by evening.
The rotis/parathas of Nay are a big hit. Hygiene may not be great but the food is
delicious.

Indian Platter in Mandalay

 Indian Vegetables in
Yangon

Fried and Stuffed Pancakes

Burmese love deep fried snacks. It is almost impossible to walk by a street and not spot
fried snacks at a number of vendors. Apart from the ubiquitous samusa, you can
spot fried pancakes (the round ones) and stuffed pancakes (the square ones) across
the country. These are generally vegetarian with the filling consisting of beans, potatoes,
onions, and cabbage. Eat them hot because that is when they taste the best.
Where Can I Find Them?
At streetside vendors across the country. We spotted quite a few joints on our way
from Sittwe to Mrauk-U. This picture was taken at a local market in Thandwe.

Fried Pancakes at A Local Market in Thandwe

Shrimp Curry
It is hard not to have a curry when you are in Southeast or South Asia. However,
Burmese curries are not quite the same as a Thai curry or an Indian one. I would say they
are sometimes closer to their Indian counterparts. High on flavors, medium on spices,
and low on broth, a Burmese curry can be the perfect lunch for the day.
Where Can I Find It?
Across restaurants in Myanmar. However, I would strongly recommend trying
the Rakhine shrimp curry in Mrauk-U. That was definitely our favorite.
Related Post:  A Travel Guide To Mrauk-U
Shrimp Curry in Ngapali

BBQ in Yangon
This is not necessarily a gem of Myanmar traditional cuisine but definitely a must-try
experience when in Yangon. The busy BBQ street in Yangon attracts a lot of tourists. It
has a number of restaurants, open BBQ and drinking places, and enjoyable crowds. The
food is cheap and decent for the taste buds. I loved the grilled chicken wrapped in
veggies. The place can be a bit of a disappointment if you are looking for the variety of
Thailand or Vietnam. But it is great for a country that is still finding its way in
international tourism.
Where Can I Find It?
The BBQ Street is on the 19th Street in Yangon but is not restricted to it. Connecting
streets also house lots of BBQ spots.
BBQ Street in Yangon

My experience of food in Myanmar was great. I found the food delicious, flavorful, and
not extremely spicy which actually worked for me. I would love to hear your experience
of Burmese food. What was your favorite dish in Myanmar? Did you taste any of these
jewels of Myanmar traditional food? Feel free to drop a comment below.