Chinatown Hawker Center
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I was out dining with friends on Friday at Chinatown Hawker Center. For those who are not in the know, hawker centers are places or locations where there are many food stalls selling cheap and good local food. (Well, there are also some which are cheap and not good, as well as expensive but good, and expensive yet not good.)
Nowadays, the new breed of hawkers go for exotic foreign food. So, you will also find Thai food, Japanese food, Korean food, Western food... at these centers as well.
I wrote about hawker centers a few months back. Have a read to understand more about hawker centers, by clicking Here
The hawker center is a good place to go to when you want something cheap and fast. Some of the stalls open for breakfast and some stalls open until the wee hours in the morning. So, the locals can eat at any time of the day, as long as they know which hawker center is still open.
The Chinatown Hawker Center is quite a big place, and if you were there for the first time, you could get lost easily while checking out the numerous stalls selling all kinds of food. You will find that you are spoilt for choice, and you may have a difficult time deciding what you want for dinner – unless you have already decided what you want to eat.
My friends and I knew what we want to have for dinner. The next thing was to decide which of the stalls to patronize, for there are many stalls doing the same kind of dishes. We decided on a ‘zhi char’ stall that we haven’t tried before. ‘Zhi Char’ is a local term loosely translated into ‘cook by stir fry’. As the name implied, most of the dishes would be stir fried.
Anyway, the reason we picked this particular stall was, they were always very busy – an indication that the food must be good. Then there were newspaper clippings about the stall on their signboard – indicating that some foodie or bloggers must have patronized it and given their approval.
Here’s what we ordered.
Steamed Fish Head with bean paste.
Seafood Roll.
Fried Kangkong with Cutter Fish, stir fried with dried prawn.
Bitter Gourd with Spare Ribs in black bean paste.
Were they any good then? Here is an indication.
You will noticed there were some left overs. That is because, we couldn’t squeeze in any more food. I, for one don’t believe in wasting food, but if I eat the left overs, my tummy will explode.
The Seafood Roll was very good. We all enjoyed that. The Kangkong with Cutter Fish was good. A generous amount of dried prawn and not too salty. The same goes for the bitter gourd with Spare Ribs. The fish head was comparable to the other stores. Overall, they are slightly a cut above the rest. Would I go back to the stall? Sure, if they are not too busy. I am not one who would queue for a table.
Here are some shots of part of the hawker center.
The rush period is over and they are slowly packing up for the day. This is one side of a section we were in. Now if you multiply that by twenty times, that will roughly be the size of the Chinatown Hawker Center.
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Ah I used to go there occasionally for lunch because my previous workplace was nearby. Nice food at affordable prices. Just a little hot and stuffy when it's too crowded. Haha..
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True. On a hot day, and when it is busy, it can get a bit unbearable. They had a renovation recently, but they don't seem to have done anything about the ventilation. Maybe it is just too big a place and too many stalls cooking.
I think I ate at the same place before. I used to get lost too but when I was working near there a couple of years ago, I went there quite frequently and figure out the colours of the tables and the place.
We usually go to the corner of the hawker center that is overlooking the food street. I know the way there quite well. But the stall in the center where we had our dinner, I still have trouble finding it. haha...😃
You need to go there more.
Actually, that is the place I patronized most. I hardly go out unless friends jio. And that is where we usually go, because it is more central for us. 😃
I think I might have gone for a burger ;-)
Yes, Westerners who are here for the first time have difficulty understanding this hawker center culture. They usually ended up at the MacDonald's round the corner, or the restaurants. 😊
I understand the hawker center, and would call it a food court. It's the fish head I'm not too crazy about. Then again, you really never know what you're getting in that ground "beef" that goes into a hamburger.
What about the other exotic foods like pig stomach, pig intestines, pig trotters, turtle soup, chicken feet, frog legs... Yum Yum.. 😃
No thanks ;-D although I have likely eaten many of those items in chorizo, hot dogs, sausage...
Very interesting sir Vincent! I don't know if I could handle the fish head, are you supposed to eat the whole head? What is Kangkong? I bet that strip of shops really smells good.
We ate every part of the fish head except the bones. It's a matter of getting used to it. 😊
Kangkong's Scientific name: Ipomoea aquatica - English name water spinach.
Oh, Kangkong is a plant! that's a relief. The name reminded me of King Kong so I thought it was some strange sea creature! The fish head would take some getting used to though!
This looks like a lovely restaurant- all the food is mouthwatering the seafood roll and cutter fish with prawn look especially tasty. I know what you mean about getting over full- sometimes there is so much you just can’t eat it all!
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I am not one to waste food, but I was really stuffed. 😊
Eating is one of Singaporeans favourite pastime. We have all sorts of cuisines here, and we eat at any time of the day. 😊