One of the best things about travelling is getting to taste the local cuisine and Lewis the Lion had a great introduction to Asia by visiting one of the many Hawker Centres in Singapore. This is a type of food court where you can try lots of different street food and luckily for Lewis the Lion, he had a local friend, XY to tell him what everything was.
Lewis has lunch in a traditional Singapore Hawker Centre
This had to be the most different type of food that he had ever seen or tasted in his life.
Curry fish head is a local delicacy
Firstly, XY told him about some of the local Singaporean delicacies:
Chilli crab: hard shelled crab cooked in a thick, tomato chilli gravy
Chilli crab is also a Singaporean delicacy along with other seafood
Satay: meat kebabs served with rice cake, cucumber and peanut gravy
Laksa: rice noodles cooked in coconut, curry gravy with shrimps, eggs, chicken and cockles as garnishing
Bak kut teh: pork ribs cooked with five spice, garlic and pepper in a spicy soup
Fish head curry: a huge fish head and vegetables cooked in curry and served with rice
Fried carrot cake: this is not the sweet cake version that we know in the Western world but rather a savoury mild-spicy potato tortilla or omelette
Lewis discovers that Singapore carrot cake is different!
Popiah: a thin rice tortilla stuffed with vegetable goodness and a sweet tasting sauce
This stall sells ‘popiah’ – sweet tasting vegetable goodness
Otah: a steamed vine-leaf encasing a fishy-tasting surprise
‘What on earth is an Otah?’ questions Lewis the Lion
She explained how Singaporean food was very unique because of the infusion of different culinary styles and ingredients from around the world. There was also a heavy fish influence with the city-state being located on the coast.
The friends then ventured from stall to stall to see what they were offering and what they fancied. Here are some of the photos of what they saw:
Lewis the Lion and Helen are overwhelmed by the choice of foods on offer
Hawker Centres also cater for vegetarians
Malaysian cuisine is also popular in neighbouring Singapore
Lewis the Lion watches XY ordering some otahs
XY told Lewis the Lion and Helen that soups, rice, chicken and livers were also popular here. She ordered a great variety of food for the trio: as you can see it looked like a feast for a king! However, here, unlike in a restaurant, the food was much cheaper. All of this food only came to about SGD $20!
Lewis and XY prepare to tuck in to carrot cake, otahs and more!
A Singapore feast fit for a king…but much cheaper!
A fishy delight inside the vine-leaved otah
As for drinks, Lewis the Lion noticed that Soya Bean Milk was popular in Singapore,
Soya Bean Milk is popular in Singapore
as well as fruit juices of every description imaginable: lime, lychee, soursop, mango, coconut, etc. he thought that this made sense seeing as it was found in the Tropics and fruit was found in abundance.
Typical Singaporean soft drinks
The accompanying drink that XY bought for Lewis the Lion to try was sugarcane. He could see bamboo shoots outside some of the stalls and discovered that cane was pulped and the juice extracted. It tasted very sugary indeed, furring up his little teeth. He would have to make sure that he brushed his teeth after this meal!
One fruit Lewis the Lion was sure he wouldn’t be trying whilst he was here in Singapore was the smelliest fruit on the planet: the durian.
Lewis meets the king of smelly fruits for the first time – the durian
Lewis holds his breath whilst he investigates what a durian looks like inside
It was so smelly that he could smell it before he could see it on a market stall and here in Singapore it was banned from the fridge in his hostel as well as on the transport system.
The smelly durian fruit is banned on the MRT, the Singapore metro
What is your favourite fruit? Like Lewis the Lion with the smelly durian fruit, are there any fruits or vegetables that you don’t like? Why?
