The carrot cake thing is because in mandarin, both radish and carrots use the same term "Luo Bo" 萝卜, but with the color prefix on them. And why it is a cake, because these are steam in a large container and when it is taken out of the steamer, it is like a large cake, I mean some place still sell them in their steamed form in slices with with some sweet bean sauce and chili over it. In this case, it is broken up into small bite size pieces and then added preserved radish and eggs to fry them with some fish sauce, the black one simply has the sweet soy sauce added to it giving it that caramel taste, and the main flour in the steamed cake used is rice flour with grated radish, so you are right in calling them sauteed rice cakes. And the white noodles choice for the laksa definitely is rice based, in fact if you go to the famous katong laksa, it is probably more common to see their laksa eaten with the thick rice noodle.
"we were craving something to eat, we happened to walk down the street, saw a lot of people eating grilled meat, it was meant to be" your a poet and you didn't even know it :D
Regular portion of chicken rice is between $3.50 to $4.50. Large portion would be around $5 to 6. $10 to $12 would get you a 2 person portion with 2 rice. And half a chicken is around $14 to $16. Tian Tian is too touristy and overpriced. I'm sure 9/10 in line are tourists.
Yes! I actually already posted one long form video from Singapore (the post before this) so if you want to see more Singapore content, make sure you watch that one too!
im Singaporean and i can say that you went to some of the best places for singaporean dishes. also its funny how this was posted on 10 august which is the day after sg national day
if you think lau pat sat and maxwell is best place for Singaporean dish then you probably ain't Singaporean at all HAHAAHAH they are still considered tourist trap, Old airport road, Bedok 85 etc hawker centre has more and cheaper
EXACTLY! I hate it that people say Singapore is expensive when they ONLY GO TO THE EXPENSIVE PARTS OF SINGAPORE, its a fucking tourist trap there! It will be even more expensive there compared to other SEA countries because the Singapore dollars is way stronger, heck its almost 3.5x stronger than our closest neighbour, Malaysia. But if you know where to look, which is rather easy honestly, there are LOTS of places to get cheap and good food, the places that the locals go to. Honestly, the food around me is so cheap and taste so good that I don't even cook at home.
Carrot cake is made from radish and rice flour. Radish in chinese is called white carrot.The regular orange carrot is called red carrot (again literal translation)...So the name is literally translated from the chinese name of the vegetable. Typically we will add more sambal chilli sauce into the laksa soup base and/or eat the sambal sauce with every spoonful of the noodles to get the extra spice and fragrance. If you have the food in other hawker centres than Lau Pat Sat and the restaurant branch of Hawker Chan, you would have more money left and more food to eat lol
The reason why you see those "don't fight in public" posters by the police at tekka center is not because people fight over food but more likely because of the Little India riot in 2013. There's even "liquor control zones" in Little India because of the 2013 riot
Nah, even before the riot, drunken rage fights between the foreign workers are pretty common especially during weekends and public holidays, which is why there are regular patrol done by APOs on ground to handle this incidences, but alas the time bomb finally blew and the little india riot happended.
Welcome to Singapore and glad to see visitors try out all types of hawker food, not every dish is suitable for everyone due to diversity of tastes and flavours. Anyway, most of the hawker centres such as Maxwell, Tekka or Lau Pa Sat are more "touristy" since they are always featured in vlogs and social media. They do have decent food, but generally more expensive and just average. The easy way to tell a "tourist" place vs a local place is by the visitors in that hawker centre. There are over 100 hawker centres in Singapore, just take a MRT to the heartlands and visit some places that are not already visited and recommended to death by the previous 100 youtubers.
The soup of the prawn noodile is made with boiled shrimp heads over a long time so that the flavour comes out. Probably with pork ribs bones thrown in. Obviously, coconut milk is different from cow's milk. Laksa soup is made of coconut milk. A typical dish/meal in Singapore hawker centre is between S$5 to 7 without a drink. So, it is about S$20 per day for 3 breakfast, lunch and dinner and a S$100 can stretch for 5 days in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
"Carrot cake" is named that way because in Mandarin Chinese, we don't make a distinction between "carrot" and "radish"; they're the same word. Hope that helps!
The first prawn noodles you tried are not stir-fried btw. You need to specifically look for Hokkien Fried Prawn Noodles for the stir-fried version, and it's made some what differently. The prata was probably $2.50 for two, and the chicken is $3.50. Laksa is traditionally eaten with the thick rice noodles, and those aren't scallops, they're cockles. The dish you called "roasted duck rice" is actually Braised Duck Rice from the looks of it. Roasted duck would have the nicely roasted skin on top. Really good video overall though, covering probably the best thing about Singapore. And yes, I am local. XD
In Singapore, ordering a bowl of noodles is a lot more complicated than in other Asian countries. You have to specify the type of noodle (five to seven to choose from), whether you want it dry or with soup, and if it's dry, how much chili you want. If you don't want chili, the hawker will ask if you want ketchup. Finally, you have to say whether you want to eat there or take it away.
Malay (an ethnicity) and Malaysian (a nationality) are different. Please stop saying we have “Malaysian food”. We have those, yes, but the local food is called Malay food!!
You haven't tried the hawker centres and coffee shops in the HDB residential areas yet, and shopping malls aircon foodcourts most are overpriced and below average quality food that locals eat near daily to save money, uncontrolled rental is the main culprit behind rising food prices
fyi tyler, carrot cake is called carrot cake here because in chinese, both carrots and radishes are called the same thing, so we just directly translated it into carrots haha 😅
The dry prawn noodles are not stir fried, they are dry tossed noodles and you would need to toss them to evenly coat them with the seasoning before eating. The white noodles in laksa are rice noodles. Thick rice noodles are the default type of noodles for laksa though some stalls may give you the option to change them to yellow noodles.
the reason why chicken rice is "room temperature" because of the cooking method. It's steamed and then immediately put in ice to create the skin texture
I really miss Lau Pa Sat😢 My dad used to sell bbq chicken wings and Malaysia food at Lau Pa Sat back in 2019. The Satay hawkers were really friendly and I even made friends with them while I was helping out at the stall.
Finally!!! Americans who accept the name PRAWN noodles!!! We Singaporeans consider no matter the size or types to be classified as Prawns. I hac arguments with my other American friend.
the spoonful of chilli in the laksa is not just for spicy. Most times it doesnt really increase the spice too much but adds alot of flavor to the laksa overall since there is seasoning in the paste.
That prawn noodles is not stir fried, it is just dry noodles with some hot sauce. The stir fried prawn noodles is totally different thing. 😊 The chicken curry cannot be just a dollar by the way, probably a misinterpretation of the prices somehow. 😅 Carrot cake is not a dessert, it is rather a dish for an individual meal or as a side fish for sharing. 😊 Erm, there is definitely no Sichuan peppercorn in the peanut sauce for the satay. 😅 The most popular satay stalls at Lau Pat Sat are 7 & 8.
Just want to add on tipping is not mandatory in hawker centres or anywhere really. For restaurants or more expensive places there is already gst (goods & service tax) added on your receipt. Tipping is just an option but I usually just do it.
Hey Chef Tyler, you should come to this coffeeshop next to the McDonald's opposite Bukit Gombak Station. The Indian food and Ice Teh is one of the best. Anyway, enjoy your visit to SG!
