Everyone raves about hawker centres, but let’s face it, they can be a little daunting if you’ve never ventured in before. Here’s our guide to exploring, understanding the etiquette and knowing what to order.
Hawker Centres (or, food centres)
So you finally gotten yourself into the gramatically-incorrectly-named place called a Hawker Centre to find empty tables with tissue paper packs at every seat. Never be tempted sit down and help yourself to free tissues, or prepare for a verbal assault in a tirade of Singlish coming from a stiletto-ed young thing in trendy office garb.
Rude or unfair as it may seem, using low-value items like tissue packs and notebooks to reserve (or ‘chope’ in Singlish) seats has become the norm. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em in style by customising tissue packs especially for this purpose. Hawker centres are fast becoming self-service places due to the difficulty of finding wait staff and rising costs.
Sadly, clearing tables after meals has yet to become part of hawker centre etiquette. Though doing so would earn you brownie points with the auntie or uncle dragging pails of dirty cutlery along the greasy floors. When clearing your own tray, do take care to return halal and non-halal trays accordingly.
Die die, must try!
It certainly is strange to hear this Singlish phrase when there is nary a dead body in sight. Rather than physical death, this phrase, in fried rice paradise-Singapore, refers to a certain delicacy that you certainly cannot miss.
Some of the best things in life are free, or at least, very cheap. Hawker food is a case in point. Hawker centres evolved from street hawkers gathered under one roof in the early days to address hygiene concerns. Naturally, culinary skills have endured till this day though they are fast dying out as the younger generation is cut out to stay out of the kitchen as they cannot stand the heat.
Try these before they die out (literally!). Note: non-exhaustive list!
Chinese - Chicken Rice (actually, chicken with rice) and duck rice - Bak Chor Mee (mincemeat noodles with a heady blend of vinegar and savoury sauce) - Bak Kut Teh (pork ribs in a fiery peppery broth) - Char Kway Teow (Singapore's sinful chow-mien fried in lard) - Wonton Mee (dumpling noodles)
Malay - Nasi Padang (Malay rice with delectable dishes) - Mee Rebus, Mee Siam (noodles in sticky sweetish gravy or sweet spicy gravy) - Mee Soto (Noodles in comforting chicken broth with a little zing) - Satay (BBQ skewered meat with spicy peanut gravy)
Indian - Roti Prata (Indian flatbread spun in the air till paper thin and usually served with a curry alongside) - Mee Goreng (er, fiery-red chow mien - stir-fried noodles - by the Indians) - Indian rojak (like a non-healthy customizable salad of fried components with sweet sauce).
Still unsure what to go for? Join the biggest queue, its got to be good to wait that long for it! Enjoy! Shiok!
Counting the cost
Hawker food may be easy on the wallet, but not the waist! The convenience of easily available eats may tempt you to hang up your pans for good. Well, not so fast, though!
If you are a dim sum dolly, opt for steamed goodies like siew mai (pork dumplings) and har gow (shrimp dumplings). Not only are they delicious, they have half the calorie count of fried cousins like spring rolls (70 cals per roll).
Marco Polos loving oodles of noodles should opt for soup varieties like ban mian and sliced fish noodles instead of fried delights like char kway teow (Singapore's chow mien) with 744 calories per serving!
The trouble with local cuisine is that it conceals copious amounts of fat while teasing the tongue. So that answers why you're putting on weight without eating all that much. Something as innocuous-looking as chicken rice packs a hefty 618 calories per serving! Consider yourself forewarned.
If you are watching your diet, Singhealth is here to help with nutritional information classified by the cuisine's ethnic origin.
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