This was published 9 years ago
Singapore hawker food: New upmarket street food revitalises dining scene
A new generation of upmarket hawker food is transforming Singapore's dining landscape.
By Paul Chai
Hawker stall at Lau Pa Sat Festival Market.Credit: Alamy
The hawker food experience is one of the best things about Singapore. Choping (reserving with extreme prejudice) yourself a table at peak hours, joining the queue at the best stall and grabbing the widest array of dipping sauces from jars that look like they are a hundred years old. But, just as you don't always want a plate of chicken rice for lunch, the plastic chairs, grimy tables and strip lighting bright enough to keep your food warm can get a bit boring. Enter a new generation of upmarket hawker food.
Clifford Pier Restaurant
The new showcase restaurant in The Fullerton Bay Hotel started life as a busy jetty where hawkers tried to sell their wares from sampans in the 1930s. That era is reflected in the opulent colonial feel of the Clifford Pier restaurant that opened earlier this year with bespoke furniture and period details, but especially in its hawker food menu.
Here you can sample hawker staples like carrot cake, char kway teow (fried noodles) and the Clifford Pier Laksa but there is not a wok-tossing uncle or aunty in sight. "We looked into enhancing and elevating the hawker dishes to create a premium dining experience and at the same time, reflect the culinary landscape that was once present at the pier," says Giovanni Viterale, General Manager of The Fullerton Bay Hotel.
For The Clifford Pier, the decision for the menu to be centred on familiar hawker staples was steered by the site's intrinsic history. The restaurant seeks to present a kind of nouveau hawker cuisine, Singaporean food that is familiar and close to the hearts of local diners, but with premium touches in terms of ingredients, ambience and service.
The carrot cake has tender pieces of turnip in a sweet and spicy soy sauce, more delicate than you would find streetside, while the kong bak bao elevates the hawker pork buns with tender soy-braised Iberico pork belly sandwiched between fluffy steamed buns.
Nighthawks at the diner: Open air barbecue grills serve up tempting delicacies at Lau Pa Sat, an upmarket food court.Credit: Alamy
Then there are the rickshaw noodles which are served "two ways".
"The traditional soup version is exactly the same as what our Chef de Cuisine's [Ken Zheng] grandfather used to peddle when he was a hawker at the Clifford Pier back in the "70s and '80s," Viterale says. "While the dry version is an all-new creation that our chef has put together for today's diners. By serving both versions together, diners will be able to savour the new and the old and learn about such traditional dishes in Singapore."
The winner? For me, the old-school soupy ones.
Gluttons Bay food centre, Marina Bay, Singapore.Credit: Alamy
"With The Clifford Pier, we have built a platform that celebrates Singapore's prevalent hawker culture, while continuing to make it relevant to a new generation of diners who may seek a different lifestyle experience," he says.
Lau Pa Sat
After a nine-month, S$4 million renovation the 120-year-old Lau Pa Sat, or Festival Market, reopened for business earlier this year as an upmarket option to regular food courts. The "grand dame" of hawker markets, Lau Pa Sat seats 2500 who can choose from 60 stalls, but unlike the old market some of these stalls are now encased in glass and air-conditioned, and one is even United States fast food chain Wendy's! But this unique Singaporean hawker has maintained its charm by keeping the sweeping heritage roof and ornamental columns that were designed by Brit George Coleman in the 19th century.
Rickshaw noodles, Clifford Pier Restaurant.Credit: The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore
Grab a streetside satay for the best view back onto the heritage architecture (just follow your nose and the billowing smoke) or sit inside amongst the pillars and eat prawn paste chicken wings or delicate siu mai.
Makansutra Gluttons Bay
Founded by food blogger and street food expert KF Seetoh, this collection of hawkers at Marina Bay has the hands-down poshest view, facing as it does the famous Marina Bay Sands.
Soupy noodles hawker-style.Credit: iStock
Each stall here has been handpicked by Seetoh for being the best at what they do and it is the place to indulge in a "greatest hits" of Singaporean street food. Get chicken rice from Wee Nam, Hokkien prawn mee (noodles) at Soon Lee or the city-state's famous chilli crab from Redhill Rong Guang BBQ Seafood (though the sambal stingray is just as good) – and go for dinner to see the nightly MBS light show.
The Good Beer Company
This corner stall in the veteran Chinatown Food Complex on Smith Street provides boutique beers to accompany your hawker fare.
Colonial roots: The Fullerton Bay Hotel started life as a busy jetty where hawkers tried to sell their wares from sampans in the 1930s.Credit: The Fullerton Bay Hotel Singapore
Old uncles play chequers and sip their kopi-o (traditional black sweet coffee) nearby while this hawker stall has been repurposed to switch from selling chicken rice to doling out boutique beers and ciders. They have a great range of regionals brews as well as European and United States beers you will never have heard of (though stock changes regularly). The perfect mix of old-new hawker culture.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
GETTING THERE
Singapore Airlines (singaporeair.com), Qantas (qantas.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and British Airways (britishairways.com) all fly regularly to Singapore from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. For Low-cost carrier Scoot (flyscoot.com) flies from Sydney and Jetstar (jetstar.com) from Melbourne.
EATING THERE
Hawker classics at Clifford Pier (80 Collyer Quay, Singapore; fullertonbayhotel.com) range from S$15-18. Dishes at Lau Pa Sat (18 Raffles Quay; laupasat.biz) start from $4.50, a small premium on most other hawker stalls but worth it for the heritage surrounds. Try a Singapore Sampler set from Makansutra Gluttons Bay for just S$29 which has all you need from chicken rice balls to BBQ stingray; makansutra.com. Beers at the Good Beer Company (#02-58, Chinatown Complex, 335 Smith Street, 9430 2750, open from 5pm) start from S$8.
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