Zev’s Top 10: Singapore

This summer… the first installment in the Zev’s Top 10 series in more than four years… critics are churning out rave reviews of his time in the Lion City…

For the last six weeks or so in Singapore, almost every day I observed how much I would miss the city-state when I returned to my assigned home of the United States. And guess what? After being back stateside for roughly two months, I miss Singapore like crazy. When I sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic, I reminisce on Singapore’s hyper-efficient MRT system where you can set your watch to the gleaming subway. When I pay $6 for a scoop of ice cream, I remember how that amount of money (about S$8) was more than enough for a meal. And when I eat an ordinary ham and cheese sandwich, I daydream about the meals I had back East. So let me bring you with me back to Singapore as we review my ten favorite things I ate there.

Longtime readers know that not only are these entries in no particular order, but are chosen entirely arbitrarily.

Curry Noodles

I enjoyed this on my last night in Singapore in the calendar year 2023. I journeyed to this spot in the Ghim Moh Gardens Housing Development Block. An order of their signature curry noodles ($S7 or $5.21) yielded a laksa broth (spicy coconut curry) with thick rice noodles buried under healthy toppings deep-fried tofu and the Holy Trinity: roast duck, roast pork, and char siew (barbecue pork). This was a proper send-off to my first semester abroad.

Mutton Biryani

It might not look like much, but this mutton biryani I enjoyed at the Adam Road Food Centre was heavenly. Aromatic rice with tender chunks of braised meat, with a side of dal and pickles. Mutton may be a bit of an acquired taste for my American readers, but I’m a big fan of the humble sheep. Paired with a teh tarik (ginger tea), it’s a superb combination. That is, if you don’t immediately spill it on your shirt, as I did in this picture when Will, Petar, Jerry, and I chowed down after visiting the botanic gardens.

Clementi Xiao Long Bao

I couldn’t even tell you how many times I had these soup dumplings. A conservative estimate would be 10 times. It seemed like every week second semester. Just down the road from Yale-NUS at the Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre, these robust soup dumplings ran you just S$5 ($3.72 USD) for 6 of them. Paired with a sugarcane juice or light beer on ice, this might be the perfect meal. I forgot what my record was for most dumplings eaten in a single sitting, but it was more than a dozen. This stall was a damn soup dumpling factory, with an entire family of four assembling plump bundles of joy at a pace that even Henry Ford would approve of.

Kunafa

Switching gears from the Chinese and Indian fare, this is a dessert I had on Singapore’s Arab Street that might have changed my life. It’s a flaky pastry soaked in syrup and topped with all manners of decadent dairy products. It tasted like a gourmet version of the dregs of a bowl of Frosted Shredded Mini-Wheats. I thought I couldn’t find a dessert more decadent than baklava until I found baklava’s cousin.

Bak Kuh Teh

This is a classic Singaporean dish, a Chinese pork rib soup whose name literally translates to “meat bone tea.” A rather simple broth is spiked with pepper, star anise, and other spices. This would be such a warm and comforting dish if it wasn’t 90 degrees outside with 100% humidity. Song Fa, the Michelin Bib Gourmand-winning spot here provides unlimited broth – as you eat, waiters with teapots full of broth supply refills. They also brew their own beer infused with tea. Both delicious. I also sampled the bah kuh teh at another one of my haunts, the West Coast Food Centre (bottom right). This version had the same minimalist broth, along with some thin noodles and cilantro.

Dosa

I will never get sick of this South Indian breakfast. It’s just a thin crepe filled with usually a masala potato mixture, served with a few different dals for dipping. For whatever reason, this is very difficult to find in the States (in my experience). I think the vast majority of Indian restaurants in America serve North Indian cuisine, which means us Yankees are missing out on countless South Indian delights. The only place on this continent that I have found a dosa was in Toronto. Dosas in Singapore were also incredibly cheap, given that they are made out of practically nothing. The average dosa ran me S$2-S$4 ($1.49-$2.97).

Wonton Noodle (Dry)

Another really simple dish, but this is just so greasy and satisfying. This stall, at the Holland Village Hawker Centre, was another one of my favorites. Some crispy fried wontons, a few slices of Red 40 pork, and a generous sprinkling of pickled chilis rounded out this fabulous meal at just S$5.

Oyster Omelet

For the uninitiated, the combination of eggs with oysters might not seem appealing. But true intellectuals know that the salty briny oyster is a perfect accompaniment to the mild omelet. With some chili sauce and scallions, this is the perfect appetizer. These pictures are from two separate occasions at the aforementioned West Coast Food Centre.

Right next to this oyster omelet stall, I was introduced to a wonderful beverage called a shandy. Popular in the British Commonwealth, it’s half lemonade and half beer. Also called a raddler in Germany, it is breathtakingly refreshing. I feel like these could get popular in the US really easily: a couple of TikToks and all of a sudden the New York Times is labeling the ‘drink of the summer.’ But thanks to me, you knew what a shandy was before it was cool.

Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng

Nasi lemak is the national dish of Malaysia, and is basically just rice (nasi) with random stuff. Usually a protein source, an egg, some sambal, some veggies, and something for crunch and umami. While this was a good nasi lemak at a mall food court, the chicken in particular was some of the best I’ve ever had. The crust practically shattered when you bit into it. And it goes well with the fragrant coconut rice, the heat of the sambal, and the crunch of the peanuts and dried sardines. And in case you didn’t know, “ayam” is chicken while “goreng” is fried.

Sugarcane Juice

Sugarcane juice is everywhere in Southeast Asia, but a younger Zev did not particularly enjoy it. As I grew up and tried it more, I realized the key is the presence of citrus. A squeeze of lime or calamansi (a orange-like citrus dominant in Filipino cuisine) transforms the juice into something truly refreshing. This was an absolute bucket that helped quench my thirst in the raging heat and humidity.

Honorable mention: Banh Mi

While Singapore has endless numbers of Chinese, Malaysian, and Indian spots, other cuisines can be harder to come by. This includes, surprisingly, Vietnamese food. Those who know me are aware that banh mi is maybe my favorite food, period. My honorable mention is this random banh mi place in the Jurong East hawker center (a very local spot on the ground floor of an HDB block). These pork meatballs were grilled fresh to order, the bread was textbook, and the meat-to-veg ratio was spot on. They were also messy, so once I picked it up, the sandwich never returned to the table. It was also here that I enjoyed the cheapest beer I had in Singapore – S$3 for a Kingfisher tall boy.

There are so many other dishes that could have made the list. The Japanese curry rice with chicken katsu from Flavours @ UTown. Char siu rice. The Thai spot in Holland Village. Singapore is a nation that truly reveres food, and these simple dishes were the highlight of my stay there.

Casual community-oriented eateries are important third places (in sociology, a third place refers to a social space that is not either home or work – think of a cafe, library, park, etc). In Singapore, hawker centres function as an essential third space. They are often located on the ground floors of housing blocks, adjacent to playgrounds, outdoor exercise equipment, and other community center-like amenities. In a country where more than 80% of the population lives in these small apartments, spaces to congregate outside of the home are critical. And with a smorgasbord of affordable food options, these spaces are accessible to all. Hawker centres are populated by students in search of cheap meals, office workers looking for a quick lunch, and the elderly who simply need somewhere to hang out. And if you are sick of paying exorbitant prices at bars, hawker centre beers can be a more fiscally responsible night on the town. While some might lament the lack of ambiance or air-conditioning, you can sip light beer with ice and experience some spectacular people-watching as life goes on around you.

But I digress. Hawker centre culture is not unlike Europe’s cafe culture. This is something we lack in the States. Chalk it up to the price of food, our car-centric cities, or just the general cultural malaise. But we sure are worse for its absence. I will definitely visit Singapore again, I just need to save up first!