Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

Author Website

  • Home
  • Bio
  • Books
  • Events
  • Work
  • Blog
  • Contact

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

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 …

[Read more…]

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 27, 2014 By cheryl

Cafe Angsana (Singapore): Malay Comfort Food

Mee SotoGoing to the hospital is never a pleasant thing — but if you do have to do this in Singapore, there is a big silver lining: The food there? Just brilliant.

I’ve had to make a fair number of visits to Singapore General Hospital in recent years — trips I’ve dreaded for various reasons. In the midst of the usual muddle of long waits and shuffling from ward to ward, however, I’ve found something to look forward to — jaunts to the various cafeterias sprinkled among the buildings.

On a recent visit to the National Cancer Centre, I found a new gem: Cafe Angsana, a delicious little outdoor eatery …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Asian, Malay, Noodles, Restaurants, Singapore, Singaporean, Soup, Southeast Asian, Tales From the Road Tagged With: Begedil, Cafe Angsana, Malay, Mee Rebus, Mee Soto, National Cancer Centre, Singapore, Singapore General Hospital, Singaporean

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

August 11, 2014 By cheryl

Kampong Ah Lee (Edinburgh): A Malaysian “Village” in Scotland

photo 2 (5)Dorset Boy is a little particular about food, which I realize could be a problem.

As you may have guessed from this blog (and Tiger), I am a total food trollop. I will eat anything at least once — I constantly crave variety, the different, the new.

Potato – potahto, though. Plus, there seems to be some degree of curiosity about my food quirks. So when I learn that there is a Malaysian restaurant in Edinburgh — one that actually comes well-endorsed by the one Malaysian-Scot I’ve met in the city — he knows we have to go.

So one night, the ever-patient man allows me to drag him to Kampong Ah Lee …

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Asian, Malaysian, Noodles, Scotland, Southeast Asian, Tales From the Road Tagged With: Asian, Edinburgh, Kampong Ah Lee, Malaysian, Mee goreng, Noodles, Rendang, Scotland, Southeast Asian Food

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 9
  • Next Page »

Copyright © 2025 CHERYL LU-LIEN TAN · Site design: Ilsa Brink