Yes, Singapore does have some good eats. But honestly, go anywhere else in SEA for a tastier, better, cheaper, soulful dining experience. Why? Because what they have in those sanitised, sterile food courts is decidedly NOT street food. The soul of the street has been stripped away. This is not the fault of the hawkers but the govt, who long decided to do away with street dining. And now, having the temerity to get UNESCO to recognise "street food" as an intangible cultural heritage is plain laughable.
Ayyyy, Singaporean here :) (living in the US though) I don't have a particular favorite, because I have a huge rotation of food I feel like eating from day to day. I do love tah mee, prata and curry, dosa, the fries from the Western food stalls (originally started by the Hainanese chefs who used to cook for the British), and the roasted version of Hainanese chicken. Also, I already see it starting in the comments, where people are like, "Singapore hawker stalls are sOuLlEsS" because we have government-mandated cleanliness standards. Sorry that we decided people not falling ill from botulism and salmonella was more important than playing up to tourists' idea of "exotic Asia." We mourn the passing of the days where you could get satay grilled on the street by the local satay uncle and the days when lower costs of living meant that we could get even more ingredients into our $4 dishes, but we don't bloody mourn the fact that we can eat out without fear of e. coli.
Re: the next generation of hawkers, the older hawkers were solving this problem by hiring immigrants from the PRC to help out, or even run the shop. Been going on for years now. I remember ordering goo bak kway teow (Teochew-style beef noodles) from a cook from the PRC in my crappy Mandarin almost 10 years ago, and the lady behind me had to explain that the cook was asking me if I wanted (in Chinese) "wet or dry" i.e. soup noodles or dry. The kopitiams (coffee shops) in Little India and Arab Street have also been hiring PRC immigrants as busboys and general dogsbodies, such is the immigrant's lot. I think the migrant workers' dorms that are ablaze with COVID right now are filled with construction workers (mainly from India and Bangladesh, some from the PRC), rather than the food industry workers, but the pandemic is obviously doing the hawkers no favors at any rate.
Hainanese chicken, chili crab and "a squid as big as your face", on a stick. I am hoping my favourite taco stand here in Houston reopens. I have been there enough that they know my name, I know all their names and have started to get to know their other regular customers
This video is one of the most beautiful i have ever seen. Am a Singaporean and in this covid period, hawkers are quietly and noticeably vanishing. Some have chosen to take a break, some retired and some others passed on. My mum was a hawker (she is 79 this year and fading fast from dementia). I grew up ashamed to be son of a hawker. I vividly recall details of the greasy mosaic tile floor as i looked down while bringing food to my classmates and collecting their money. Now i am ashamed for having felt ashamed. There is so much to be proud of. My mum toiled behind the stall so that everyone can afford a respectable meal. Thank you Andong for renewing our eyes to appreciate afresh the things we may have taken for granted. May we learn to love and cherish more post-covid. Bless the hands of those who cook us our meals.
As a Singaporean who loves her food, this is an amazing homage to our food culture. I love how you've embraced all our foods and the informative background information in the video. Keep it up!
Hello Andong! A new follower and Singaporean here! During this Covid 19 situation, the government allowed food providers to continue running, and because we can't get out of the house, we have hawker food pickups and food delivery services that allows the hawkers to continue running! Majority of the Singaporeans continue to support our local hawkers! But regardless, thank you for shedding light on hawkers and hawker centres to the world! To us Singaporeans, this is our bread and butter, and I'm so proud to know that our food heritage has touched the hearts of many! Cheers!
As a Singaporean, I just want to say a BIG thank you to you Andong for showcasing our food and country! Proud to be a Singaporean 🇸🇬 And I love to watch your channel to find out about different cuisines and cultures around the world.
In the past, the government kept rental Low for the Hawkers, and this was kept Low for them up till today unless the Hawkers cut the lease themselves. That’s why you could see first or second gen Hawkers getting rich and making it a viable career option. However new gen Hawkers face a bigger problem of rental spikes and logistical/manpower challenges which are natural barriers to entry into this industry. It doesn’t help societal expectations of hawker food being cheap and affordable still persists. I mean in the past they could offer cheap food with Low rent, but now with increasing costs, people still expect $3 for a plate of food every hawker centre they go to. That’s probably why good hawker food is not going to last another one to two generations.
As a daughter of a hawker, I disagree with u. Rental is NOT the biggest turn off for 2nd gen hawkers. We see our parents get mistreated by entitled elderly Singaporeans, who expect you to give everything for free but if u increase the price by 10 - 20 cents after 5 years, they complain. Even if you have not increased the price for 10 years, you still get those ppl complaining saying that we increased the costs. You are also expected to work every single day, from 6am to 10pm. If you take a week off, people think u are making a huge fortune. Don't blame it on 1 problem. Blame it on the population. The self entitled. Blame it on the economy, where you can find better jobs that gives u guaranteed annual leave.
Love the message and integrity of it. Support local food, local businesses, and art&music in general. There's people creating for people. Like you! Love your content! Regards!
Hello from Singapore! Thanks for the amazing video highlighting a much loved but neglected part of society here. I'll definitely be ordering more delivery from my favorite hawkers to support them during this lockdown!
Still remember my 3 day holiday in singapore after visiting new zealand for a month and it took my breath away. What a beautiful city with so many great sights; Marina bay sands, gardens by the bay (can recommend the light show at night), botanic gardens, singapore flyer, orchard road, chinatown, little india and many more. AND of course the foodmarkets everywhere, never failed to amaze me, so cheap and also delicious. Thank you for bringing back these memories in these hard times. Cant wait to go back there someday.
Visit Malaysia, much larger and lots more stuff to do. And the food is the same if not better, mainly due to the fact that Singapore used to be a part of Malaysia
Your Average Passer-By malaysia is much harder to get around compared to singapore though, sure enough there is more to do but doesnt mean its btr or anything
@@SuccessforLifester There are companies that do these 'tours' nowadays. Eg: you can rent a car for a day trip ard Johor area and if you let them know you are interested in food/temples etc they will plan for you. If you have an itinerary already getting ard by grab is easy and cheap.
Oh dear........yong tau fu .......one of my absolute favorites.....don’t even want to start on the other gorgeous delicious simple hawker dishes..... brings back the most wonderful memories.....I lived in Singapore for several years till 25 years ago and STILL dream about the food.......Andong, I really like how you give a real picture of all the hard work involved, I used to sit and observe the cooks doing their stuff with this incredible speed and focus and be amazed.....
Char kway teow literally changed my life along with Laksa in Malaysia... that's what pushed me to learn cooking at home. Well done Andong, great video!
Malaysia and Singapore originated from the same root. Still over time you will find variation of the same food, a twist of taste and favor. Example Laska has 6 known variation, Penang Asam Laksa, Johor Laksa, Curry Laksa, Sarawak Laksa, Laksam & Nyonya Laksa. theculturetrip.com/asia/malaysia/articles/the-different-types-of-laksa-you-can-eat-in-malaysia/
You know Andong. You should teach world culture through food. Berlin is the perfect progressive city for such a course and your delivery would leave students SPELLBOUND. BRAVO SIR.
As a Singaporean, i am thankful for your generosity in sharing the very local and hit in the bulls eye food varieties that most tourists that comes to singapore do miss out alot. As well as your very honest opinion on the taste experience of them as well. Do hope after this pandemic or when boarders are open and have less restrictions, people can come forth and really get to the heart of the FOOD in sg which really tells alot of Singapore. Be it the stories as well as y use the ingredients in that dish. I enjoyed this video :)
thank you for this beautiful video. I saw your video by chance thru YT and enjoy your presentations of your work A Singaporean living for the last 40 years in Germany, it brings back so many great memories of my youth, Thank you
This is so informative! We are a reupholstery sofa local business at a workshop and have worked with many expats. Simply love how friendly people are in Singapore.
Wow you really did your research ! I am so impressed as a Singaporean! Thank you for introducing our food culture and the problem of the survival of our traditional food culture. You are hell of a food vbloger underlike the other foreign food vbloger I have seen! Keep up the good work!! Love your videos!
Before the pandemic, we started to have some 1st gen hawkers who quitted their cushy jobs to cook. There’s 2 stalls in a small Kopitiam several busstop from my house in the heartlands where the stall owners are in their late twenties, early thirties! As far as I know the business is still surviving. Phew! Of course, time to be given to them to further master their art of cooking but the food is already pretty decent
Aw man, no worries, you can come anytime after the COVID situation improves! 🇸🇬SG and our delicious food awaits you. Most importantly, stay safe and well :) Cheers!
I don't know if Singapore is a 8 week holiday destination. Other than food, there's really not much to explore. I'd say 4 days to a week would be just nice to explore most tourist spots and notable eats.
@@reveirg9 thanks for the reply but Singapore was just meant to be the first leg (6 nights). After that we were meant to be travelling to Taiwan, Korea and Japan. All a distant memory now :(
Ich finde das so super interessant, wie du eine perfekte Balance geschaffen hast, aus Reise-Food-Vlog, Hintergründe von Speisen und eben how-to-make-food. Also ich freu mich jedes mal total wenn was neues von dir kommt, esse da nebenbei was und lern für mich und meine kulinarischen Horizonte was. AWESOME :D !
7:43 When you have Yong Tau Fu you typically want to dip your ingredients into the sauce given. One is sweet and the other is spicy. It enhances the overall flavour by A LOT because usually the broth is light and contains mostly ikan bilis or soy bean, the sweet or spicy notes gives it another dimension.
This paints such a good scape of Singapore's hawker culture and also for taking the time to learn the history behind it. Honestly, really happy to see a foodie take it a step further than just trying out the most popular hawker centers.
This was fantastic! I live in Germany, but grew up in Singapore during the 80s and 90s. I love that place and hope to go back soon. Besides the hawker centres, there were also many delicious food stalls/centres in the local HDB housing developments. I would often venture into those during the weekends with my teenage appetite. Ate like a king for under S$5 :-) Good memories!
Yes, each hawker in the hawker centre, specialise in their own dish. Grouping them together under one roof gives us the unique chance of experiencing and tasting different foods by each and every hawker chef on a single visit.. nowadays other national dishes take root in the neighbourhood hawker centres, and gives more vibrancy and colour to this unique culture
Singaporean here! At 13:13, you can see that the chopsticks are planted into the bowl vertically upwards. For some of us, especially the Chinese, it is a huge no-no. For most Chinese people, they do offerings for their ancestors or gods that they pray to. The usual offerings include fruits, roasted meat, and a bowl of rice with chopsticks or incense placed vertically upwards into the bowl. Therefore it is associated with inviting ghosts and spirits to your table when you do that. So, I hope you understand where I am coming from, and for anyone reading this, please avoid that when you visit an Asian country, especially if the population is mostly dominated by Chinese people. Sorry for the lecture >< Other than that, I love the videos you make! Keep it up! :D
Hi Andong, love your channel. I was in Singapore 4 times. First time at a Hawkers center was in the morning where my friend ordered noodles with chilis. Something I never had for breakfast. I love spicy, but I never had my stomach rumble like that. It was so good. I saw the documentary you mentioned. It was a good documentary. It is sad that the government wants to rid of the Hawkers Centers as it is one legacy the Singaporeans will miss dearly, I miss it and haven't tried half of the things you tasted. Keep up the great vids.
I know I’m late by a couple of years, but I really enjoyed your video here, and the story about these shops; and I do hope to visit Singapore one day before all these hawkers disappear.
You really did your research about Singapore food food culture huh! Unlike other food reviewers, yours was actually very informative and fun to watch. Kudos
I stumbled across this video on accident, and am glad I did. I'm very happy that you put that much work in researching and understanding Singapore food and food culture. Thank you for showcasing our food to the world!
Thanks for the in depth video, Andong....your videos are super fun for me...my favorite is the one where you made stinky tofu from scratch and got your friend on Germany to eat it and actually like it...also, your Mandarin skills are top notch...how did you manage to become fluent in Mandarin? My friends, who were Singapore natives, told me this little bit of story about the hawkers back in 1995 when I went for a visit... Apparently, the entire island was burned and reduced to rubble during World War 2. As in 🏠 all burned down...the hawkers were the first to help everyone who hadn't died to get fed and survive...by 1995, my friends said the hawkers were all mostly multimillionaires already, but they kept all the centers because it was a reminder of post-World War 2 Singapore's history.
Thank you Andong for highlighting the perilous journey and the harsh truth of 3rd gen hawkers and their descendants. Its really sad to see because hawkers in general, they experience the hardship of hawkers and if they want their children to have a better lives, its something they wouldn't encourage their children to inherit unless they contain extreme heritage values and traditions. You have my greatest appreciation for this video, thank you so much!
I only saw a 10s cut of Malay food in Singapore.. you're missing out on all the non-Chinese food - like Malay and Indian food(specifically in Singapore). Chinese food is great and all but there's still so much you're missing out
People always neglect that. When we term singapore as a multicultural nation, many dont realise theres more than just our chinese culture....our malay and indian cultures are rarely represented.
YES. All the damn time, unfortunately, and not just Andong. I rarely see food bloggers touch on Malay food here in Singapore. Indian food, yes, but rarely Indian food.
true... as a chinese singaporean teenager, i have fleeting moments of realisation that i don't have a lot of exposure to malay and indian culture other than food, which all singaporeans love, so it's important to promote these dishes as much us chicken rice, char kway teow etc. we're becoming more out of touch with our "multiculturalism". i also kind of wish bahasa melayu was a language subject for non-malays in singapore. it's the national language yet it is not widely spoken. i also wish chinese dialects were promoted more instead of erased just for the speak mandarin campaign. young people should be able to preserve their heritage while gaining universal advantages in the modern world. but the government will always think differently from the people. there needs to be a lot more work to keep multiculturalism alive and strengthening national identity than rhd and ndp.
I like.....no, I LOVE your channel! You honestly love what you show in your videos and I appreciate it when you admit that you are not into oysters. I love a good variety in my dinning pleasure, but there are some that just do not agree with my taste buds. That’s why I really appreciate a TH-camr that can present sincere food reviews without click baits, catchy titles and, worse, - over acting😖 A new subscriber from 🇨🇦👍
In US, a similar problem is arising. The lovely chinese immigrants who came to US without speaking English and started ma & ba restaurants are starting to age out of the business. They were successful, and their children are native English speakers who can pursue any career. On one hand, I'm proud of their success, and yet at the same time, I am sad to see the decline in Chinese restaurants. I'm really proud of one of my best friends, who decided to make a Sino-Vietnamese restaurant, reflecting his heritage. Whether working as a cashier, selling pho, or as a server, bringing delicious pork belly to customers, I am proud to be a part of the continuation of their family recipes and the traditional food being shown love befitting it. It's the only pho my friends from Vietnam will eat when in US😂. We are finally reopening Tuesday after having to close for the pandemic. Let's all become evangelists of the amazing people who have mastered the art at expense of themselves and of the food that is a piece of cultural art in a dish.
Chinese restaurants all got replaced by Thai restaurants where I live. The only thing resembling Chinese food that I can get are from chains or fusion restaurants. I wish I could have both.
lio ng blame communist china for this , they're the ones that gave Chinese the bad name. If I may let me tell the world this, communism isn't even a Chinese thing & Communist China is barely a blip in Chinese's history despite their usual attempts to represent Chinese and of-course China which they have no legitimacy over .
weekuah lol China in its current state isn’t even communist. Shows your blatant lack of understanding in Chinese culture and you have probably never set foot in China.
I can agree with the first third of this comment. As a native New Yorker, the chinese food from the local spots from when I was a kid tastes different today than it used to. I guess ma & ba are too old, or have retired, and there's nobody to fill the space. Some of the old recipes are being replaced by packaged stuff, and you can taste it. It makes me a bit sad.
Like you, I went to Singapore to eat chicken and rice in Feb 2019. I eat that at a restaurant the night we arrived, then Whampoa hawkers center. We also ate hot pot rice recommended by a taxi driver. It was awesome.
Hello from singapore! I live next to Old airport road hawker centre and know most of the stalls there. Highly recommend everyone to check that place inside out!
This video causes me heartache! How long before we’re allowed to travel again? I want Australia and Singapore to become COVID buddies. At least in Sydney we do actually have most of the food you can find in Singapore, but now that we can’t sit and share that’s much less fun.
Super Video. Coole Formatidee, gerne mehr von sowas. Du machst ja echt Fortschritt aber bei der Videoqualität verdienst du locker 1-2M Subs. Viel Glück weiterhin !
Great episode, timely! Thank you! glad you got the facts... there is an interesting fact to share... along Orchard Road.. an opened air car park by day turns magically into an open air food center by night... its now the Central Mall.
Quick comment on "passing the knowledge" problem. I know of this specific Hokkien Mee (your 1st dish in Singapore) stall in MacPherson. It was done in the traditional way - charcoal, iron wok, wooden cover etc etc. When the guy got old, he passed the business on to a younger man, whom we presume to be his son. What the new guy did was to "upgrade" everything - gas stove, aluminium cover, steel woks, etc. Probably to get in line with modern hygiene standards. What happened was the food suffered. The taste changed. Ingredients were likely substituted for "healthier" alternatives. The method of preparation changed. Everything was about speed and efficiency. The Hokkien Mee went from "special" to "meh". The stall probably lost customers due to this. I don't know if the stall still exists there today, cuz we stopped going after the stall changed owners.
@@havenprice 🤣The local joke is that C rated stalls have "special secret ingredients" that made them delicious, but unhealthy for the customer. And, by "secret special ingredients" it is understood to mean "you really don't wanna know what they put in there". 😂😂 ps - before anyone gets offended, it's just a JOKE. Getting rated C still means they PASSED the regular hygiene audit, ie food is safe for consumption. The SG govt makes sure of that.
Char away teow is my absolute soul food. I have never ever had any decent ones since I came to Australia and nor could I replicate a home version. Hope this pandemic blows off soon so that I can go back. Take care everyone.
Thank you for liking Singapore and taking time to share your passion in Singapore food culture! Be careful when you pop the chopstick plastic cover. Sometimes the stray fragment of the wood will give you a really painful prick. 😄
That's the guy from Hill Street Char Kway Teow at Bedok South. He should be in his early 40s. His dad passed away a few years ago after frying kway teow for 50 odd years, if he had not taken over from his dad, we would have lost another heritage hawker stall. I'm glad to be able to travel across the island today to savour his char kway teow.
As soon as I saw the hawker center, I thought of the Tacoma Transit Station, I'd get off the train everyday after work and walk through the long lane of Greek, Thai, Indian, Mexican, etc. stalls. I loved the assault of aromas and would highly recommend.
Hey nice vid btw. Not sure if you've already known this since the filming of this video, but i would like to just clarify the thing about the "Carrot cake". I think its a concept of mistranslation. Carrot cake in Hokkien is called . And actually means raddish. But at the same time, carrot is called which translated to Red Raddish. So that's why the carrot cake contains raddish instead of carrots
I got really sad really quick during this video. Good video Andong! And while I personally don't have a lot of diverse food in my area except Döner, pizza or Chinese restaurants, I still think that supporting the local businesses is important. I neither order takeout a lot nor do I go to restaurants because my mum cooks, so I kind of feel bad for not supporting the people in my town who have restaurants and stuff during the pandemic. I know that's not what I should take from this video but I can't help it.
Support your local food scene!
Yes, Singapore does have some good eats. But honestly, go anywhere else in SEA for a tastier, better, cheaper, soulful dining experience. Why? Because what they have in those sanitised, sterile food courts is decidedly NOT street food. The soul of the street has been stripped away. This is not the fault of the hawkers but the govt, who long decided to do away with street dining. And now, having the temerity to get UNESCO to recognise "street food" as an intangible cultural heritage is plain laughable.
Hey Andong, is it just me or your coupon for Klingenhaus doesn't work?
Ayyyy, Singaporean here :) (living in the US though) I don't have a particular favorite, because I have a huge rotation of food I feel like eating from day to day. I do love tah mee, prata and curry, dosa, the fries from the Western food stalls (originally started by the Hainanese chefs who used to cook for the British), and the roasted version of Hainanese chicken.
Also, I already see it starting in the comments, where people are like, "Singapore hawker stalls are sOuLlEsS" because we have government-mandated cleanliness standards. Sorry that we decided people not falling ill from botulism and salmonella was more important than playing up to tourists' idea of "exotic Asia." We mourn the passing of the days where you could get satay grilled on the street by the local satay uncle and the days when lower costs of living meant that we could get even more ingredients into our $4 dishes, but we don't bloody mourn the fact that we can eat out without fear of e. coli.
Re: the next generation of hawkers, the older hawkers were solving this problem by hiring immigrants from the PRC to help out, or even run the shop. Been going on for years now. I remember ordering goo bak kway teow (Teochew-style beef noodles) from a cook from the PRC in my crappy Mandarin almost 10 years ago, and the lady behind me had to explain that the cook was asking me if I wanted (in Chinese) "wet or dry" i.e. soup noodles or dry. The kopitiams (coffee shops) in Little India and Arab Street have also been hiring PRC immigrants as busboys and general dogsbodies, such is the immigrant's lot. I think the migrant workers' dorms that are ablaze with COVID right now are filled with construction workers (mainly from India and Bangladesh, some from the PRC), rather than the food industry workers, but the pandemic is obviously doing the hawkers no favors at any rate.
Hainanese chicken, chili crab and "a squid as big as your face", on a stick.
I am hoping my favourite taco stand here in Houston reopens. I have been there enough that they know my name, I know all their names and have started to get to know their other regular customers
This video is one of the most beautiful i have ever seen.
Am a Singaporean and in this covid period, hawkers are quietly and noticeably vanishing.
Some have chosen to take a break, some retired and some others passed on.
My mum was a hawker (she is 79 this year and fading fast from dementia).
I grew up ashamed to be son of a hawker.
I vividly recall details of the greasy mosaic tile floor as i looked down while bringing food to my classmates and collecting their money.
Now i am ashamed for having felt ashamed.
There is so much to be proud of.
My mum toiled behind the stall so that everyone can afford a respectable meal.
Thank you Andong for renewing our eyes to appreciate afresh the things we may have taken for granted.
May we learn to love and cherish more post-covid.
Bless the hands of those who cook us our meals.
As a Singaporean who loves her food, this is an amazing homage to our food culture. I love how you've embraced all our foods and the informative background information in the video. Keep it up!
You did a good job in explaining Singapore Hawker and it’s importance to Singapore culture.
Hello Andong! A new follower and Singaporean here!
During this Covid 19 situation, the government allowed food providers to continue running, and because we can't get out of the house, we have hawker food pickups and food delivery services that allows the hawkers to continue running!
Majority of the Singaporeans continue to support our local hawkers! But regardless, thank you for shedding light on hawkers and hawker centres to the world!
To us Singaporeans, this is our bread and butter, and I'm so proud to know that our food heritage has touched the hearts of many!
Cheers!
Chicken rice has kept me alive during covid in april-may
Near my house got free delivery/50 cent and $3. Lifesaver
@@Spartan-sz7km I love how you phrased it XD
@@horriblekellible sorry it's Dr delivery fee either free or 50 cents and then the meal is $3
Actually, Singaporeans were allowed to go out of the house only to buy groceries or take-out food.
As a Singaporean, I just want to say a BIG thank you to you Andong for showcasing our food and country! Proud to be a Singaporean 🇸🇬 And I love to watch your channel to find out about different cuisines and cultures around the world.
In the past, the government kept rental Low for the Hawkers, and this was kept Low for them up till today unless the Hawkers cut the lease themselves. That’s why you could see first or second gen Hawkers getting rich and making it a viable career option. However new gen Hawkers face a bigger problem of rental spikes and logistical/manpower challenges which are natural barriers to entry into this industry. It doesn’t help societal expectations of hawker food being cheap and affordable still persists. I mean in the past they could offer cheap food with Low rent, but now with increasing costs, people still expect $3 for a plate of food every hawker centre they go to. That’s probably why good hawker food is not going to last another one to two generations.
As a daughter of a hawker, I disagree with u. Rental is NOT the biggest turn off for 2nd gen hawkers. We see our parents get mistreated by entitled elderly Singaporeans, who expect you to give everything for free but if u increase the price by 10 - 20 cents after 5 years, they complain. Even if you have not increased the price for 10 years, you still get those ppl complaining saying that we increased the costs.
You are also expected to work every single day, from 6am to 10pm. If you take a week off, people think u are making a huge fortune.
Don't blame it on 1 problem. Blame it on the population. The self entitled. Blame it on the economy, where you can find better jobs that gives u guaranteed annual leave.
The government is making moves to promote hawker centers no?
@@junehebe sounds rough, I wanted to mention that I do appreciate people like your parents, I hope it gets better for them!
that makes me sad, actually.
@@junehebe umm, he's talking about new people who want to be hawkers, not 2nd gen
Love the message and integrity of it. Support local food, local businesses, and art&music in general. There's people creating for people. Like you! Love your content! Regards!
Streetfood is super important to me whenever I go to a new country. It's not the same without that.
Hello from Singapore! Thanks for the amazing video highlighting a much loved but neglected part of society here. I'll definitely be ordering more delivery from my favorite hawkers to support them during this lockdown!
Still remember my 3 day holiday in singapore after visiting new zealand for a month and it took my breath away. What a beautiful city with so many great sights; Marina bay sands, gardens by the bay (can recommend the light show at night), botanic gardens, singapore flyer, orchard road, chinatown, little india and many more. AND of course the foodmarkets everywhere, never failed to amaze me, so cheap and also delicious. Thank you for bringing back these memories in these hard times. Cant wait to go back there someday.
try the southern islands (kusu island, saint john island, lazurus island) the next time u come.
Visit Malaysia, much larger and lots more stuff to do. And the food is the same if not better, mainly due to the fact that Singapore used to be a part of Malaysia
@@youraveragepasser-by7367 I do not know how to get around in Malaysia though.
Your Average Passer-By malaysia is much harder to get around compared to singapore though, sure enough there is more to do but doesnt mean its btr or anything
@@SuccessforLifester There are companies that do these 'tours' nowadays. Eg: you can rent a car for a day trip ard Johor area and if you let them know you are interested in food/temples etc they will plan for you.
If you have an itinerary already getting ard by grab is easy and cheap.
Oh dear........yong tau fu .......one of my absolute favorites.....don’t even want to start on the other gorgeous delicious simple hawker dishes..... brings back the most wonderful memories.....I lived in Singapore for several years till 25 years ago and STILL dream about the food.......Andong, I really like how you give a real picture of all the hard work involved, I used to sit and observe the cooks doing their stuff with this incredible speed and focus and be amazed.....
Char kway teow literally changed my life along with Laksa in Malaysia... that's what pushed me to learn cooking at home. Well done Andong, great video!
Fact of the matter - the food is plain better in Malaysia. That includes char koay teow and laksa.
@@Amphed I've been in both countries and I must say that you are absolutely right.
@@Amphed As a Singaporean, I beg to differ. Moreover, it's subjective.
But as much as I enjoy food here, I enjoy it equally in Malaysia.
My take is Singapore's hawker food is healthy and hygienic while Malaysia's is oily, salty and unhygienic.
Malaysia and Singapore originated from the same root. Still over time you will find variation of the same food, a twist of taste and favor. Example Laska has 6 known variation, Penang Asam Laksa, Johor Laksa, Curry Laksa, Sarawak Laksa, Laksam & Nyonya Laksa.
theculturetrip.com/asia/malaysia/articles/the-different-types-of-laksa-you-can-eat-in-malaysia/
Thanks for sharing the Hawker story with so much care and passion. It's a beautiful story and it will be sad to see it fall apart.
You know Andong. You should teach world culture through food. Berlin is the perfect progressive city for such a course and your delivery would leave students SPELLBOUND. BRAVO SIR.
If Andong had a Masterclass, I might actually pay for it xD
As a Singaporean, i am thankful for your generosity in sharing the very local and hit in the bulls eye food varieties that most tourists that comes to singapore do miss out alot. As well as your very honest opinion on the taste experience of them as well. Do hope after this pandemic or when boarders are open and have less restrictions, people can come forth and really get to the heart of the FOOD in sg which really tells alot of Singapore. Be it the stories as well as y use the ingredients in that dish. I enjoyed this video :)
thank you for this beautiful video. I saw your video by chance thru YT and enjoy your presentations of your work A Singaporean living for the last 40 years in Germany, it brings back so many great memories of my youth, Thank you
This is so informative! We are a reupholstery sofa local business at a workshop and have worked with many expats. Simply love how friendly people are in Singapore.
"Food is their religion, the hawker is their church" is soooo true!
Wow you really did your research ! I am so impressed as a Singaporean! Thank you for introducing our food culture and the problem of the survival of our traditional food culture. You are hell of a food vbloger underlike the other foreign food vbloger I have seen! Keep up the good work!! Love your videos!
Andong makes it possible for me to watch content about Covid-19 and still get a good feeling out of it. 10/10 smile. Grüße ausm Wedding.
Before the pandemic, we started to have some 1st gen hawkers who quitted their cushy jobs to cook. There’s 2 stalls in a small Kopitiam several busstop from my house in the heartlands where the stall owners are in their late twenties, early thirties! As far as I know the business is still surviving. Phew! Of course, time to be given to them to further master their art of cooking but the food is already pretty decent
Dude at 4:53, hilarious. "Tu dollah!"
Was supposed to begin an 8 week trip starting in Singapore next Saturday :(
Aw man, no worries, you can come anytime after the COVID situation improves! 🇸🇬SG and our delicious food awaits you. Most importantly, stay safe and well :) Cheers!
I don't know if Singapore is a 8 week holiday destination. Other than food, there's really not much to explore. I'd say 4 days to a week would be just nice to explore most tourist spots and notable eats.
@@reveirg9 thanks for the reply but Singapore was just meant to be the first leg (6 nights). After that we were meant to be travelling to Taiwan, Korea and Japan. All a distant memory now :(
@@PeterKontogeorgis It's ok! We'll welcome you to SG when everything is back to normal. 😊
@@PlayFoodSG Will definitely be on the first plane over once it's possible and safe!!
This guy explained Hawker Culture and it’s significance so respectfully and sincerely... So well mannered and open minded. Great video!
Your videos are so wonderful and carefully orchestrated. Brings me back to my days of visiting Singapore.
Thank you! It‘s a great city. Hope we can visit again soon.
One of the best food vlog with effort to research the background and share with your viewers. Subscribed. Keep up the good work!
He has such great energy! Nice to relax with your videos!
Lor mee or Lomie is one of my favourite noodle dish. It's gelatinous broth is perfect on a rainy day
Ich finde das so super interessant, wie du eine perfekte Balance geschaffen hast, aus Reise-Food-Vlog, Hintergründe von Speisen und eben how-to-make-food. Also ich freu mich jedes mal total wenn was neues von dir kommt, esse da nebenbei was und lern für mich und meine kulinarischen Horizonte was. AWESOME :D !
LOVE the local food emphasis on this! Let's keep this world diverse!
Thanks for promoting Singapore’s food culture!!
Wow you really did your research and included the history and the challenge of hawker culture in Sg. Bravo.
The Anthony Bourdain Layover episode, made us take a vacation to Singapore, cannot wait to return, best food ever.
7:43 When you have Yong Tau Fu you typically want to dip your ingredients into the sauce given. One is sweet and the other is spicy. It enhances the overall flavour by A LOT because usually the broth is light and contains mostly ikan bilis or soy bean, the sweet or spicy notes gives it another dimension.
Great mix of history, culture and food review! Plus your pronunciations were really really good!
This paints such a good scape of Singapore's hawker culture and also for taking the time to learn the history behind it. Honestly, really happy to see a foodie take it a step further than just trying out the most popular hawker centers.
Man, you're doing a very good job, deserves much more recognizement!
Cheers from Brazil!
This was fantastic! I live in Germany, but grew up in Singapore during the 80s and 90s. I love that place and hope to go back soon. Besides the hawker centres, there were also many delicious food stalls/centres in the local HDB housing developments. I would often venture into those during the weekends with my teenage appetite. Ate like a king for under S$5 :-) Good memories!
Yes, each hawker in the hawker centre, specialise in their own dish. Grouping them together under one roof gives us the unique chance of experiencing and tasting different foods by each and every hawker chef on a single visit.. nowadays other national dishes take root in the neighbourhood hawker centres, and gives more vibrancy and colour to this unique culture
Singaporean here!
At 13:13, you can see that the chopsticks are planted into the bowl vertically upwards. For some of us, especially the Chinese, it is a huge no-no. For most Chinese people, they do offerings for their ancestors or gods that they pray to. The usual offerings include fruits, roasted meat, and a bowl of rice with chopsticks or incense placed vertically upwards into the bowl. Therefore it is associated with inviting ghosts and spirits to your table when you do that. So, I hope you understand where I am coming from, and for anyone reading this, please avoid that when you visit an Asian country, especially if the population is mostly dominated by Chinese people.
Sorry for the lecture ><
Other than that, I love the videos you make! Keep it up! :D
Like this video. You have explained well and gave a good introduction to our local hawker food. Well done!
Thanks for doing this! Love from singapore
I love how your story telling. Gonna watch for a long long time..
Hi Andong, love your channel. I was in Singapore 4 times. First time at a Hawkers center was in the morning where my friend ordered noodles with chilis. Something I never had for breakfast. I love spicy, but I never had my stomach rumble like that. It was so good. I saw the documentary you mentioned. It was a good documentary. It is sad that the government wants to rid of the Hawkers Centers as it is one legacy the Singaporeans will miss dearly, I miss it and haven't tried half of the things you tasted. Keep up the great vids.
Oh and I do support our local small restaurants in my neighborhood in Chicago!!
I know I’m late by a couple of years, but I really enjoyed your video here, and the story about these shops; and I do hope to visit Singapore one day before all these hawkers disappear.
You really did your research about Singapore food food culture huh! Unlike other food reviewers, yours was actually very informative and fun to watch. Kudos
I stumbled across this video on accident, and am glad I did. I'm very happy that you put that much work in researching and understanding Singapore food and food culture. Thank you for showcasing our food to the world!
Well said man ... great food & great travel is the best - can’t wait to see and taste new things again
Thanks for the in depth video, Andong....your videos are super fun for me...my favorite is the one where you made stinky tofu from scratch and got your friend on Germany to eat it and actually like it...also, your Mandarin skills are top notch...how did you manage to become fluent in Mandarin?
My friends, who were Singapore natives, told me this little bit of story about the hawkers back in 1995 when I went for a visit...
Apparently, the entire island was burned and reduced to rubble during World War 2.
As in 🏠 all burned down...the hawkers were the first to help everyone who hadn't died to get fed and survive...by 1995, my friends said the hawkers were all mostly multimillionaires already, but they kept all the centers because it was a reminder of post-World War 2 Singapore's history.
Carrot cake is made of radish, and the chinese word for radish is white carrot.
Thank you Andong for highlighting the perilous journey and the harsh truth of 3rd gen hawkers and their descendants. Its really sad to see because hawkers in general, they experience the hardship of hawkers and if they want their children to have a better lives, its something they wouldn't encourage their children to inherit unless they contain extreme heritage values and traditions.
You have my greatest appreciation for this video, thank you so much!
I only saw a 10s cut of Malay food in Singapore.. you're missing out on all the non-Chinese food - like Malay and Indian food(specifically in Singapore). Chinese food is great and all but there's still so much you're missing out
yea
People always neglect that. When we term singapore as a multicultural nation, many dont realise theres more than just our chinese culture....our malay and indian cultures are rarely represented.
YES. All the damn time, unfortunately, and not just Andong. I rarely see food bloggers touch on Malay food here in Singapore. Indian food, yes, but rarely Indian food.
Was so ready to see indian and malay food to be talked about and all i get is 10s 😔😔😔💔
true... as a chinese singaporean teenager, i have fleeting moments of realisation that i don't have a lot of exposure to malay and indian culture other than food, which all singaporeans love, so it's important to promote these dishes as much us chicken rice, char kway teow etc. we're becoming more out of touch with our "multiculturalism". i also kind of wish bahasa melayu was a language subject for non-malays in singapore. it's the national language yet it is not widely spoken. i also wish chinese dialects were promoted more instead of erased just for the speak mandarin campaign. young people should be able to preserve their heritage while gaining universal advantages in the modern world. but the government will always think differently from the people. there needs to be a lot more work to keep multiculturalism alive and strengthening national identity than rhd and ndp.
I like.....no, I LOVE your channel! You honestly love what you show in your videos and I appreciate it when you admit that you are not into oysters. I love a good variety in my dinning pleasure, but there are some that just do not agree with my taste buds. That’s why I really appreciate a TH-camr that can present sincere food reviews without click baits, catchy titles and, worse, - over acting😖 A new subscriber from 🇨🇦👍
love this mans enthusiasm!!
In US, a similar problem is arising. The lovely chinese immigrants who came to US without speaking English and started ma & ba restaurants are starting to age out of the business. They were successful, and their children are native English speakers who can pursue any career.
On one hand, I'm proud of their success, and yet at the same time, I am sad to see the decline in Chinese restaurants.
I'm really proud of one of my best friends, who decided to make a Sino-Vietnamese restaurant, reflecting his heritage. Whether working as a cashier, selling pho, or as a server, bringing delicious pork belly to customers, I am proud to be a part of the continuation of their family recipes and the traditional food being shown love befitting it. It's the only pho my friends from Vietnam will eat when in US😂. We are finally reopening Tuesday after having to close for the pandemic.
Let's all become evangelists of the amazing people who have mastered the art at expense of themselves and of the food that is a piece of cultural art in a dish.
Chinese restaurants all got replaced by Thai restaurants where I live. The only thing resembling Chinese food that I can get are from chains or fusion restaurants. I wish I could have both.
Sadly there is lots and lots of misinformation resulting in racism. Chinese food in America is suffering from this Pandemic.
lio ng blame communist china for this , they're the ones that gave Chinese the bad name. If I may let me tell the world this, communism isn't even a Chinese thing & Communist China is barely a blip in Chinese's history despite their usual attempts to represent Chinese and of-course China which they have no legitimacy over .
weekuah lol China in its current state isn’t even communist. Shows your blatant lack of understanding in Chinese culture and you have probably never set foot in China.
I can agree with the first third of this comment. As a native New Yorker, the chinese food from the local spots from when I was a kid tastes different today than it used to. I guess ma & ba are too old, or have retired, and there's nobody to fill the space. Some of the old recipes are being replaced by packaged stuff, and you can taste it. It makes me a bit sad.
ah man, you should have tried some of the Indian food in Singapore. Little India's hawker centers are fantastic.
Like you, I went to Singapore to eat chicken and rice in Feb 2019. I eat that at a restaurant the night we arrived, then Whampoa hawkers center. We also ate hot pot rice recommended by a taxi driver. It was awesome.
Hello from singapore! I live next to Old airport road hawker centre and know most of the stalls there. Highly recommend everyone to check that place inside out!
your channel is so good
This video causes me heartache! How long before we’re allowed to travel again? I want Australia and Singapore to become COVID buddies. At least in Sydney we do actually have most of the food you can find in Singapore, but now that we can’t sit and share that’s much less fun.
Was it operated by Singapore Chinese in Sydney?
Super Video. Coole Formatidee, gerne mehr von sowas. Du machst ja echt Fortschritt aber bei der Videoqualität verdienst du locker 1-2M Subs. Viel Glück weiterhin !
Fantastic Video ! Thank you.
the home work you did is amazing, and accurate
I miss sg hawker food
Sincerely, your frequent sg visitor
Great episode, timely! Thank you! glad you got the facts... there is an interesting fact to share... along Orchard Road.. an opened air car park by day turns magically into an open air food center by night... its now the Central Mall.
I live in the uk and trying to find street food here is like trying to find water in a desert
I love this snack series! Great job on the video!
Excellent video. Great gastronomic, historic, cultural, sociological and even philosophical message!
You got the pronunciations for the local food pretty right too!
Quick comment on "passing the knowledge" problem. I know of this specific Hokkien Mee (your 1st dish in Singapore) stall in MacPherson. It was done in the traditional way - charcoal, iron wok, wooden cover etc etc. When the guy got old, he passed the business on to a younger man, whom we presume to be his son. What the new guy did was to "upgrade" everything - gas stove, aluminium cover, steel woks, etc. Probably to get in line with modern hygiene standards.
What happened was the food suffered. The taste changed. Ingredients were likely substituted for "healthier" alternatives. The method of preparation changed. Everything was about speed and efficiency. The Hokkien Mee went from "special" to "meh". The stall probably lost customers due to this. I don't know if the stall still exists there today, cuz we stopped going after the stall changed owners.
Quite rare but shops with C grade cleanliness usually the best tasting. Idk why.
@@havenprice 🤣The local joke is that C rated stalls have "special secret ingredients" that made them delicious, but unhealthy for the customer. And, by "secret special ingredients" it is understood to mean "you really don't wanna know what they put in there". 😂😂
ps - before anyone gets offended, it's just a JOKE. Getting rated C still means they PASSED the regular hygiene audit, ie food is safe for consumption. The SG govt makes sure of that.
Hey andong I'm still waiting on the pulled noodles bro... Here from Guyanas South America guyana🇬🇾🇬🇾
food paradise my friend . welcome to singapore.
Wow! Just found your channel! Great job explaining a Hawker Centre. I only know how to document them 😅
Andong, do you have any tips for the Moabit/Wedding foodscene? Would love to see your perspective on our neighborhood ;)
Thank you for installing the urgency in me to go to Singapore. I did not realize that the every chef is 59 in a hawker store
hate to bust yr bubble, they're more like 60-70. now hawkers are already 2nd or 3rd gen which is like late 40s to 60s
wish you tried the hokkien mee at old airport instead of lau pa sat. It's worlds apart.
Char away teow is my absolute soul food. I have never ever had any decent ones since I came to Australia and nor could I replicate a home version. Hope this pandemic blows off soon so that I can go back. Take care everyone.
Yaya if you're in Sydney try the Chinese Malay restaurant in Hunter Street
Top contender. Good choice of words.
Thanks for the hawker stall history Andong! I noticed that at 16:30 while you’re eating chendol, your eyes appear a beautiful blue. Are they blue?
at 11:40 I got so emotional that I had to pause the video and go for a snack!
BTW any other information about that documentary?
It's actually a docu-movie not a traditional documentary but the message is the same. It's called "Wanton Mee", and you can find it on Netflix.
@@japrpg THANKS!
Than you. I love this type of content.
It's food galore in Singapore!
Thank you for liking Singapore and taking time to share your passion in Singapore food culture!
Be careful when you pop the chopstick plastic cover. Sometimes the stray fragment of the wood will give you a really painful prick. 😄
11:37 “My daddy is really awesome, he can last so long”
💀💀
That's the guy from Hill Street Char Kway Teow at Bedok South. He should be in his early 40s. His dad passed away a few years ago after frying kway teow for 50 odd years, if he had not taken over from his dad, we would have lost another heritage hawker stall. I'm glad to be able to travel across the island today to savour his char kway teow.
Hahaha
@@user-um8wi5ym4y NICE!
As soon as I saw the hawker center, I thought of the Tacoma Transit Station, I'd get off the train everyday after work and walk through the long lane of Greek, Thai, Indian, Mexican, etc. stalls. I loved the assault of aromas and would highly recommend.
The amount of research you did! Wow 🤯
Greetings from South Lake Tahoe California. Thanks for your hummus video ❤️🤠👌
Glad you are able to shine light on the underlying issues.
I’m Singaporean and I wanna thank you for making this video
Hawkers food is our life Andong. I'm glad you did enjoy it.
Wanton Mee is now on Netflix btw!
thank you. you managed to make me cry. like my mom, if i cry that means it moved me.
Fish cake..... Lau pat sa ... heard many stalls are closed due to covid & work from home
Hey nice vid btw. Not sure if you've already known this since the filming of this video, but i would like to just clarify the thing about the "Carrot cake". I think its a concept of mistranslation. Carrot cake in Hokkien is called . And actually means raddish. But at the same time, carrot is called which translated to Red Raddish. So that's why the carrot cake contains raddish instead of carrots
I actually went on a Singapore tour and they brought us exactly to La po sat! Food there was sooo yummy! I miss that place so much 🥰👌❤️
Almost every other hawker centre is nicer and less touristy than Lao Pa Sat. And many of them are near MRT stations.
You need to try the Hokkin Mee in Serangoon's Chomp Chomp hawker centre
I got really sad really quick during this video. Good video Andong! And while I personally don't have a lot of diverse food in my area except Döner, pizza or Chinese restaurants, I still think that supporting the local businesses is important. I neither order takeout a lot nor do I go to restaurants because my mum cooks, so I kind of feel bad for not supporting the people in my town who have restaurants and stuff during the pandemic. I know that's not what I should take from this video but I can't help it.
Damn, man! You're making me miss this bad. And I have to fix dinner in an hour. I'm depressed. Quarantined in Chicago :(
Man ur so underated