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Dining Why We Can’t Get Enough Of Singapore’s Hainanese Western Food?
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Why We Can’t Get Enough Of Singapore’s Hainanese Western Food?

A writer and photographer explains why he can’t get enough of Singapore’s Hainanese Western food. Click here to read the full story.

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By: Faris Mustafa Published: Sep 18, 2021 07:00 AM IST

Why We Can’t Get Enough Of Singapore’s Hainanese Western Food?
Colbar was opened by the Lim family in 1953, initially serving the British military personnel who lived in the neighbouring Wessex Estate, a colonial residential district.

A writer and photographer explains why he can’t get enough of Singapore’s Hainanese Western food. By Faris Mustafa

Singapore
Colbar was opened by the Lim family in 1953, initially serving the British military personnel who lived in the neighbouring Wessex Estate, a colonial residential district.

On my first trip to Singapore, I was introduced to Hainanese Western food in one of the country’s numerous ‘hawker centres,’ or open-air food courts. Being British, I was struck by the familiarity of dishes like ‘chicken merry land’: a hearty portion of fried chicken, fried banana, fried egg, fried bacon, fried potatoes, and baked beans. This cuisine emerged at the turn of the 20th century, when immigrants from the Chinese island of Hainan arrived in British-occupied Singapore, taking jobs as cooks in military canteens, hotels, and wealthy European households. By the 1930s, many were opening their own restaurants and kopitiams (coffee shops), adopting cooking styles from those Western kitchens. Today, a dish like Hainanese pork chop is considered as Singaporean as chilli crab. When I moved to the city-state last year, I explored this culinary subculture with cameras in tow, documenting the people and places keeping this tradition alive.

The menu at Colbar is vast. I like to sample Chinese favourites like fried mee in gravy (pictured) or ho fun noodles and sweet-and-sour pork.

 

Singapore
Pop-culture artefacts—including a slot machine and posters of Elvis, Princess Diana, and Xi Jinping—serve as decoration at the restaurant British Hainan, run by Frederick Puah, whose Hainanese father worked as a cook for a British family.

The menu at Colbar also includes standard British dishes (such as these cucumber sandwiches) and fish-and-chips.

Singapore
The Western Barbeque hawker stall was founded in the 1970s. Their chicken chop with fries makes a satisfying lunch.

In addition to the standard packets of ketchup and chilli sauce, an essential accompaniment at Western Barbeque is their famous secret recipe garlic sauce.

Singapore
Portions at Wow Wow West Genuine are generous: the chicken cutlet comes with sausage, fries, and coleslaw.

Wow Wow West is a popular stall run by Elizabeth Huang and her husband, Jayden Cheong, both second-generation hawkers.

Singapore
At British Hainan, I always order the house special, a classic of the Hainanese-Western genre: oxtail stew.

Singapore
I visited Ye Lai Xiang Tasty Barbecue —a stall founded in 1971 by hawker Joel Leong’s late father, a one-time cook for the British navy—for an excellent sirloin steak.

Getting There

Most Indian airports have direct non-stop flights to Changi Airport in Singapore.

Eat Hainanese Western Food in Singapore

British Hainan

Entrées INR 817–INR 2,302; 75 Carpmael Rd.

Colbar

Entrées INR 223–INR 1,708; 9A Whitchurch Rd.

Western Barbeque

Entrées INR 371–INR 594; Old Airport Road Food Centre, No. 01-53, 51 Old Airport Rd.

Wow Wow West Genuine

Entrées INR 148–INR 668; ABC Brickworks, No. 01-133, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah.

Ye Lai Xiang Tasty Barbecue

Entrées INR 445–INR 1,188; Maxwell Food Centre, 1 Kadayanallur St.

Related: Hawker Centres In Singapore Earn A Spot On UNESCO’s Intangible Culture List

Written By

Faris Mustafa

Faris Mustafa

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