Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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November 2, 2014 By cheryl

Eleven Finger (Eu Kee) Scissors Curry Rice (Singapore): A Cut Above

photo (30)A few years ago, after I mentioned my big love for Singapore‘s Hainanese curry rice to an old friend who knows her food, she immediately asked, “Have you been to that ‘Nine Fingers’ place?”

Now, if you’ve ever had curry rice, you’ll understand why that name might be disturbing. It basically comprises a bunch of different dishes of your choosing (breaded fried pork chops, crispy fried eggs, curried squid, braised tofu or chicken wings, etc.) snipped up into bite-sized pieces with a gigantic pair of scissors, dumped on a plate of rice and then doused with mellow Hainanese curry.

“Nine fingers?” I asked, wondering whose plate that lost digit might have ended up in.

“I forget how many fingers,” my friend Jill said. “But it’s good.”

Since then, I’ve been intrigued by this curry rice — finally, this week, I decided to make the journey. It turns out that it’s eleven fingers, not nine. Not that that makes the name any less bewildering …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Comfort Food, Hainanese, Hawkers, Rice, Singapore, Singaporean, Southeast Asian Tagged With: 3838 Eating Place, Bugis, Eleven Fingers Curry Rice, Eukee, Hainanese, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, Singapore

November 1, 2014 By cheryl

Sin Heng Claypot Bak Koot Teh (Singapore): Peppery Pork Rib Perfection

Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut TehThere are very few people I trust whole-heartedly when it comes to making food decisions. Especially if I’m in a city for a limited time, I find few things worse than a bad or even mediocre meal — that’s just one valuable eating slot needlessly squandered.

In Singapore, I’m fortunate to have several food gurus — among them, I have absolute blind faith in my dear friend Willin, who has never steered me wrong. He’s a chef, after all — check out his newly revamped Wild Rocket if you haven’t — so he is particularly discerning.

When I recently mentioned to Willin that it’d been ages since I’d had bak kut teh (which means “pork bone tea”), a peppery pork rib soup that’s a favorite dish of the Teochew Chinese of Singapore (i.e. my people), he immediately had a suggestion.

“Go to Joo Chiat,” he said, referring to a small neighborhood on Singapore’s East Coast that has recently become a hotbed for eats (and Vietnamese prostitutes). “That place on Joo Chiat Road is one of the best.”

Since this was Willin, I didn’t need to think twice. As soon as we found ourselves hungry again, my mother and I headed over …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Restaurants, Singapore, Singaporean, Soup, Tales From the Road, Teochew Tagged With: Bak Kut Teh, Hokkien, Joo Chiat, Pork Rib Soup, Sesame Chicken, Sin Heng Claypot Bak Kut Teh, Singapore, Soup, Teochew, Wild Rocket, Willin Low

October 31, 2014 By cheryl

Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian (Singapore): The Taste of Home

photo 2My mother and I have a ritual each time I land in Singapore.

The moment I’ve cleared customs, we hug, rev up the car and head over to a little hawker center in nearby Bedok. At 1 in the morning — my usual landing time, coming from New York — the streets are quiet and dark. As we near Fengshan Food Centre, the beacons of fluorescent light from the rows of still bustling hawker stalls beckon.

The Teochew-style oyster omelettes (orh luak) here are terrific, as are the barbecue chicken wings. But on these nights, only one thing calls to me, a dish I’ve usually spent the entire plane ride back (and often weeks before that) thinking about: bak chor mee (minced meat noodles) at a little stall called Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian …

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Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Hawkers, Noodles, Singapore, Singaporean, Soup, Southeast Asian, Tales From the Road Tagged With: Bak chor mee, Bedok, Fengshan Food Centre, Minced meat, Noodles, Singapore, Soup, Teochew, Xing Ji Rou Cuo Mian

October 28, 2014 By cheryl

Xin Lu Teochew Fishball Noodles (Singapore): Sampling An Old Favorite

Fishball noodlesSunday afternoon at Meiling Market in Singapore and the hawker center is bustling. Amid the hubbub and the action-packed food stalls, there is an alluring energy: The place is simply brimming with possibilities for the brunch ahead of us.

There’s the shredded chicken noodle shop round the corner, or perhaps a spot of hearty duck rice. I’m sometimes at a loss when I come here — it’s not a market I know well (yet) and my first response is often bewilderment. I can’t decide because I simply want to eat everything.

Well, the sampling of every dish here could possibly be accomplished, but that’s got to start somewhere. Today, my father has a few wise words: Go to the fishball noodle stall with the long queue, he says. It’s very good.

And so, I do …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Hawkers, Noodles, Singapore, Tales From the Road, Teochew Tagged With: Fishball, Margaret Drive, Noodles, Singapore

October 22, 2014 By cheryl

Chen Ji Wanton Noodles (Singapore): Getting In Line

Wanton MeeA truth about many Singaporeans: If they see a long line anywhere, they’ll get in it. The idea is that if there are that many people in a queue, there must be something good at the front of it.

As much as I think this is silly (and enjoy mocking it), this urge does strike me — but only when it comes to food lines. So when I spotted a long line snaking out from a Singapore hawker stall this morning, that was it. I stopped walking, turned around — and immediately joined the queue.

Peering around the bodies ahead of me, I figured out the breakfast that lay ahead of me: Wanton noodles, one of my favorite Singaporean dishes …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Hawkers, Noodles, Singaporean, Southeast Asian, Tales From the Road Tagged With: Bedok, Char siew, Dumplings, Hawker, Noodles, Singapore, Singaporean, Wanton mee

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