This July, food lovers can look forward to the Singapore Favourite Food Village held in conjunction with Singapore Food Festival 20th anniversary celebration. To give you a quick idea on what’s cooking on Singapore Favourite Food 2013, WhereToEat Singapore and various food bloggers went on a food trail. We scoured 4 of 60 shortlisted hawkers and eateries that will be featured at the Singapore Favourite Food Village for popular local dishes, such as rojak, orh luak (oyster omelette), sambal sting ray and traditional desserts.
1. Ri Ye Xiang
For their Rojak
Ri Ye Xiang is one of Singapore’s oldest surviving rojak stall, with over 40 years of history. It is famous for its traditional taste and array of fresh ingredients, such as mango wedges, white fungus, jambu, turnips, green apple, cucumber, pineapple, tau geh (bean sprouts), tau pok (fried beancurd), you char kway (fried fritters), and a choice of century egg or cuttlefish, tossed in superior quality prawn paste and self roasted peanut bits. However, we thought the you char kway to be slightly tough, but this maybe due to the way it is normally prepared; barbequed then coated with hae gou (prawn paste).
Ri Ye Xiang
450 Clementi Avenue 3
The Kopitiam
Singapore 120450
2. Leng Kee BBQ
For their Orh Luak (Oyster Omelette), BBQ Chicken Wing & Satay
In the past, customers would shout out their omelette orders to the Orh Luak Ahpek (Hokkien for Oyster Omelette Uncle). But of course, we would not do the same. The orh luak that was served to us was fresh, slightly saltish, and when dipped in chili, sent notes of tang and spice. You can also try the BBQ Chicken Wing and Satay for variation. We thought the satay’s peanut sauce could have been a little thicker so that it coats the meat fully, but otherwise they were tasty.
Leng Kee BBQ
116 Upper Bukit Timah Road
#02-127 Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre
Singapore 588172
3. Star Yong Kwang BBQ Seafood
For their BBQ Stingray, Prawn Paste Chicken, Salted Egg Pork Ribs, Baby Kai Lan & Cereal Prawn
Moving on, we had some main dishes. The BBQ Stingray was fresh and juicy, unlike the common dried out ones. Drenched in fiery sambal, we thought the flavours and textures blended well. Try it with their chin-chalok sauce for a brighter finish. Alternatively, if you don’t eat seafood, you can try the Prawn Paste Chicken that was crisp and delicious, or the Salted Egg Pork Ribs that was tender and very juicy, The amount of salt present was just enough to highlight the natural taste of the pork.
The chef also prepared his specialties for us to try, that include Baby Kai Lan and Cereal Prawn. The dishes were decent, with the cereal prawn being completely coated with generous amount of cereal crumbs. Furthermore, they were springy fresh and very crisp at the shell, we highly recommend you to try them.
Star Yong Kwang BBQ Seafood
120 Bukit Merah Lane 1
#01-07/08 Alexandra Village Food Centre
Singapore 150120
4. Jin Jin Desssert
For their Liu Mang Bing (Gangster Ice®), Power Chendol, Red Ruby & Mount Fuji
We finally hit the desserts with a Pow! – Power Chendol that was absolutely top notch. It is very value for money because they do not use gula melaka syrup for their chendol, but use pure natural gula melaka, melted then drizzled on your ingredients and icing, for a sticky texture and heavenly taste.
The Liu Mang Bing (Gangster Ice®) is also a hit. The name itself is unique to begin with – Liu is the first Chinese character of liu lian (榴莲/Durian), and Mang is the first Chinese character of mang guo (芒果/Mango), that when put together as Liu Mang sounds like the word ‘Gangster’ in Chinese. That aside, the dessert stayed through to its intensity. We were pleased to find that durian although resembled ice cream was actually pure durian flesh, and mango was in large chunky cubes. The two fruit combination blended so well and has such rich flavours, you must try it to believe it.
The Red Ruby bowled big and well separated rubies, very unlike those small and sticky ones we get elsewhere. We were able to bite on the crunchy chestnut inside the rubies, and thought the dessert was refreshing. Try also the Mount Fuji, a popular Japanese green tea and red bean dessert.
Jin Jin Dessert
6 Jalan Bukit Merah
#01-20 ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre
Singapore 150006
If you know of other good rojak, omelette, sambal dish, durian dessert, laksa, chili crab, prata or tau huay out there (the list can go on), leave us a shout out on Facebook. You can also vote for your favourite local vendor to be featured at the food village from now till 2 June 2013.
Singapore Favourite Food Village will take place from 12 to 21 July 2013 at Bayfront Avenue, Marina Bay. The food village will feature twenty favourite local vendors voted from an online poll and twenty popular hawkers and eateries – that’s forty different local favourite dishes congregated in one place. See you there!
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