What’s for dinner?

Posted Singapore
Eating at Telok Ayer Market . This food market was originally opened in 1838 and became a national monument of the country in 1973.

Eating at Telok Ayer Market . This food market was originally opened in 1838 and became a national monument of the country in 1973.

I have never really thought that I would have trouble choosing what to eat in a foreign location, whatever’s local right? For Korea it was some delicious buckwheat noodles or K-BBQ, China boasted a wide variety of delicious dishes, but only recently with Hong Kong and now Singapore have we been truly conflicted about what to eat. In the Asia-based international cities, which also boast large immigrant populations, what is the go-to cuisine?

It seems like a trivial question, but when trying to fully taste all that Asia has to offer, would you really want to eat, say Chinese food, in Singapore when you had just been in China, or Thai food when you will be visiting there in a week regardless. Trying to keep this in mind, it is also hard to survive for a week only eating the local favorite fried noodle seafood Laksa. So far in Singapore alone we have managed by dining at locally loved Hawker markets, a Singaporean home-cooked food festival, and lots of the aforementioned noodles.

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Char kway teow. A very popular noodle dish in Singapore and Malaysia made from Shahe fen noodles, light and dark soy sauce, chilli, belachan, whole prawns, deshelled blood cockles, bean sprouts, and Chinese chives. It is one of Rob’s favorite foods.

After choosing to go for Indian food in Singapore’s little India for dinner tonight, I realized that the answer to this question was a lot simpler than I had previously thought it was; when I had spent my time only searching for those cuisines specific to the region, I had completely ignored the evolution of food over time.

All of the international cuisines available today that were passed on by locals, brought by immigrants, and planted by colonists are the common roots of Singapore’s national cuisine tomorrow. With this in mind, I will rest easy tonight about eating that Chinese pork bun and Turkish kebap last night at dinner.

P.S. Fast food is still a no-no for all travellers abroad.

– Alex Yeagle