Singapore Chicken Rice

I love Chicken Rice. Originally a Hainanese streetfood, it has became perhaps the best known Chinese hawker food.

The above typically served if ordered a set meal.

The chicken meat are chopped and laid on a serving of sliced cucumbers/tomatoes and soaked in sesame/soy oil.

The set comes with a soup and Chinese green vegetables.

rating 8/10.

Sino-Nasi Lemak

Speaking of Nasi Goreng as originally a Chinese dish, Chinese people also adopt local dishes as their own, more like their take on it.

Nasi Lemak is perhaps the unofficial national dishes of Malaysia and Singapore.

People of all races eat nasi lemak.

A Chinese hawker stall selling nasi lemak. this dish that I ordered, comes with fried tofu strips, stir-fried long-beans, curry cabbage (咖喱菜) and sambal.

 This version is a bit sino-fied. It differs from the Malay version with less emphasis on Sambal and ikan bilis/peanuts.

rating 7.5/10

The ultimate streetfood - the humble fried rice

Fried rice or nasi goreng is the most popular streetfood dish in South East Asia.

Originally, a Chinese streetfood. Before the advent of refrigeration, leftover rice are fried in order to improve the taste for comsumption.

However, owing to trade and immigration, all south east asian countries have fried rice.

The Chinese are well known for the Yang Zhou fried rice (扬州炒饭).

Thai Crab meat fried rice (ข้าวผัดปู). One of the best I tried, has that wonderful umami taste coming from the crab meat. Crab meat fried rice so far is found in Thai cuisine but absent in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Indonesian fried rice or nasi goreng. I love the petai nasi goreng, it's awesome. Sedap dan keren. Below is a typical nasi goreng found in Indonesia kaki lima or street vendor. It is usually served with kerupuk or crackers.

Best Street food in Singapore?

I am interested to find out...

Nasi Lemak at Adam Road Market, Singapore

Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak. Located at Adam road market, it's walking distance from Botanic Gardens MRT station (circle line).

The nasi lemak is famous for using basmati rice. Infused with coconut milk or Santan, the rice is extremely fragrant, good enough to eat on its own.

The fried chicken wing, fried egg and peanut/anchovies are pretty standard and so is the sambal.

However, their begedil or potato patty is outstanding.

Total rating 9.25/10 win on rice and begedil.

Be prepared for a long queue though.

Dim Sum at Ho Kee Pau (和记包) in Geylang

 Having a feast of dim sum for dinner. The shop opens until late at night. I tried the basic siu mai (燒賣) and the famous chives dumpling (鲜虾韭菜饺). Also eaten by me was the delicious egg tart (蛋撻) and the glutinous rice  (糯米雞) or lo mai kai.

Siu mai rating: 9.5/10
Lo mai kai: 8.5/10
Chives dumpling: 10/10 perfect 10 for generous portion and tastiness
Egg Tart: 9.5/10

The Chives dumpling are my favourite.
 Fried prawn dumpling: 9/10

Awesome dim sum at a convenient location. It's walking distance from Aljuneid MRT station.

Power Nasi Lemak-Singapore

The famous Nasi Lemak stall in Boon Lay market, aka Power Nasi Lemak.

Cost SGD3.50. I ordered the chicken set. Rating 9/10. Great sambal and fried chicken.

old town white coffee - street food

The popular Old Town White Coffee franchise in Malaysia serve streetfood.

 The food most synonymous with Malaysia, Nasi Lemak. Rating: 8.5/10

The menu of the white coffee

A cup of White Coffee. Rating 8.5/10 

Menu of dessert, ice kacang.

Ice Kacang with Rose Syrup. Rating 9/10

Chendul with Gula Melaka. Rating 7/10

Penang most iconic streetfood

Hmm, hard to nail down...

The oyster ommellete perhaps is the best. At this restaurant though, a seafood restaurant, the cook pretty much nailed it. Rating: 9.8/10. 

Generous topping of large osysters, shallots, spring onions and eggs.

At Teluk Kumbar Seafood restaurant.

Or is it the Char Koay Teow or Hokkien Prawn mee. At Golden City Coffeeshop in Reservoir Garden Penang. 

Char Koay Teow 9.5/10. 

Hokkien mee 9/10

A Indian Muslim Mee Rebus at Balik Pulau is perhaps one of the best Mee Rebus I tasted. They use squid gravy as the sauce, with Indian fitters, hard boiled egg, bean sprouts and tofu. 

9.5/10 (just because of the unique squid broth)

Another famous dish of Penang is the Assam Laksa. Voted top 20 street food by CNN and featured by Anthony Bourdain's show. Influenced by Thai and Malay dishes, this Penang Chinese version doesn't use curry but soup is made from fish. Somehow the fishy smell of the soup contrasts very well with herbs/vegetables like pineapple, onions, Vietnamese mint, cucumbers and torch ginger flower. 

At this particular laksa from the famous Ayer Itam market, rating 9.5/10

Satay wars

Satay, a traditional Malay dish has developed into war of words...

Indonesia vs Malaysia. A sensitive war over food.

Indonesian Satay or Sate in Bahasa Indonesia, is similar to the Malaysian version but differences is it is served already dip in peanut sauce.

Malaysian version is served not dipped in peanut sauce but served separately.

Both are tasty street food and vary in how it is served and condiments that comes with it.

Indonesian version is eaten as a meal with generous serving of ketupat or rice dumpling. Malaysian version usually served with cucumbers, shallots/onions and occasionally ketupat. 

Bangkok Street food

Oh you cannot go to Bangkok without eating good food. Though not that many Michelin star restaurants compared to Tokyo, Bangkok Streetfood is cheap and tasty. The more popular stalls are very good.

 The famous sticky rice mango.

 One of the famous stall previously located in Thong Lor

 Phad Thai (ผัดไทย). The unofficial national dish in Thailand.

A simple but  an insanely delicious meal, omelette with minced pork (ไข่เจียวหมูสับ).

Coconut ice cream. There's also a few stalls at Chatuchak market selling this delicious dessert.

Bandung Street Food, Indonesia

Ah, I am documenting my travel and also what I ate there.

 Batagor, a famous Bandung dish for breakfast with a cup of Indo Cafe pre-mix coffee. Bandungites are majority Sundanese people. Batagor is sort of like Bandung's best known dish. It's basically fishcakes, tofu and other ingredients soaked in peanut sauce and kecap manis.
The humble pre-mix 3 in 1 coffee taste surprisingly good and strong.

 A bowl of porridge, commonly eaten for breakfast by Bandungites.

 A Soto restaurant along the highway from Bandung to Jakarta.

 The menu.

 The Soto served with rice, cucumbers and lime. It's pretty ok, but perhaps I didn't chose a more crowded restaurant.

 .Pempek, a fish cake dish with chilli sauce and kecap manis. Yum!

Bihun Bakso. Rice vermicelli with Bakso.

 Best known streetfood in Indonesia, the Bakso.

 Sampling the dried noodle bakso

Dry version. Udon noodle with Bakso known as Bakso Kutil.

A more fancy dish called Karedok in restaurant.

I enjoyed eating Indonesia Streetfood.
There seems to be a lot of Chinese influence as observed by Mark Wiens in his blog too.
The name siomay, bihun and tauhu are hokkien words which was adopted by Indonesians.
But definitely some similarity with Malaysian dishes too which creates controversy between Malaysia and Indonesia. Indonesians always have a bone to pick with Malaysians regarding claims of national food.
But it's unique to Indonesia is the extra servings of kerupuk, peanut sauce and kecap manis which is absent in Malaysian food.

Johor Laksa

Each state has it's own version of laksa. Most famous is the Penang Assam Laksa and Sarawak Laksa...

Johor also has a laksa. But is it Johor Laksa, unique to Johor or just happen to be laksa cooked in Johor?

I found that it strange, the Johor laksa is like a cross between Penang Curry mee and Singapore's Laksa. With fishballs, tau pok and thick curry soup, it resembles Singapore's laksa. But with egg noodles and hard boiled egg, hmm maybe it's a Johor style.

Perhaps due to the cultural sway of Singapore over JB, Johor laksa resembles Singapore's.

The shop is located near the Sultan Ibrahim Building, iconic landmark of JB city.

Kuching Street food

I was planning to take bus to Semmengoh Wildlife park, I decided to go to the hawker centre near the bus stop.

Having Kolo Mee at Sin Kwang Heng's hawker centre in Open Air Market.

 Below a plate of the unique Sarawak Laksa at Sin Kwang Heng. It's very different from those in peninsular Malaysia.

 Having a bowl of Chendul in Sarawak. I wonder if it's called Sarawak Chendul? or just Chendul made in Sarawak. A bit different from the Penang version. Instead of using gula melaka, the Sarawak version uses sweet condensed milk.

Besides hawker food, I decide to try a more expensive food at the James Brooke Bistro and cafe.

 As you can see from the menu the Sarawak laksa cost 2-3 times the price of the streetfood version.

 The ambience is pretty nice, situated next to the river and having an English tea house feel.

I tried the Sir Charles Fish curry. Verdict pretty good, but not as spicy as I would like.

I didn't sample all the great food in Kuching, but from my 1st time there, I really love the Sarawak laksa, the more well known Kolo mee not so much.

Air Itam Market, Penang Malaysia

Situated near to the iconic Kek Lok Si temple, lies the Air Itam market. It's basically a roadside market where vendors sell their wares, food and other items along the Air Itam road.

There's a famous documentary about the famous laksa covered by Anthony Bourdain.

There's also a famous curry mee stall near the Air Itam Chinese Methodist Church.

Having the curry mee with almond milk drink.

Although this photo below is not from Air Itam market, there's famous stall selling hokkien mee (or prawn mee). Hokkien mee is one of the beloved dishes in Penang.

Kek Seng Cafe Penang Road, Penang, Malaysia

I was having lunch at this coffee shop, Kek Seng situated along Penang Road.

Tripadvisor link here.

The coffee shop is famous in Penang for their ice cream ice kacang. Their signature is the jelly which looked like kek lapis.

Ice kacang rating: 9/10. Unique but lacks the crunch peanuts and attap fruit (or Nipa Palm fruit).

 Also you can't go to Penang without eating Char Koay Teow. This stall's Char Koay Teow is definitely one of the best in Penang. Rating: 9.5/10

 A delicious plate of Penang Poh piah or spring rolls. Very nice break from the fried stuff, has soft texture from the boiled bengkuang or Jicama roots.
Rating 9/10