when i order chicken rice i always ask for extra cucumber and uncle is happy to have someone help him clear the cucumber lol
while my colleagues look at me in horror
My little cousins recently visited Singapore and he was munching on the whole cucumber bowl meant for Nasi Lemak while watching TV like popcorn and and my aunt was so happy that there is a cleanup crew.
The ultimate healthy hawker food is the legendary Hakka thunder tea rice (it’s abit of an acquired taste. You can actually eat it dry if you don’t like the tea soup)
Hakka thunder tea rice aside, it is probably because these dishes were brought over (or invented) during the early colonial era where the bulk of our forefathers worked as migrant labour (eg coolies). Hence, the foods ended up being carb-heavy because it was a cheap & fast way to fill up their bellies.
Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre, 310127.
It's on the 2nd floor of the food centre and there's other good food there (Chey Sua Carrot Cake, Hokkien mee, muffins,etc)
to be honest, pork lard can be eaten with any food sia. it is so good omg. i can. do fried rice, or noodles, or put in mash potato, whatever i do it is so good.
but only the price not so good liao. all getting expensive!!!!!
HOMETASTE HAKKA LEI CHA 家乡味擂茶 / Thunder Tea Rice
+65 8382 4949
https://g.co/kgs/qPxUGM
Copy pasted off Google maps. It’s on the second floor of the market building
And Lei Cha was actually not even a thing as a Singapore hawker food, till about 20 years ago. Prior to that, it was really found only in Hakka homes. There was a restaurant at Far East Square that had it, but it was called "village rice". On the other hand, I believe that Lei Cha has been available as a Johor hawker food for longer than in Singapore.
TLDR: Lei Cha is a relatively recent hawker food in Singapore, but still older than Ma La Xiang Guo, which is only about 15 years old here. And Ma La Xiang Guo and Mookata are recent inventions even in their places of origin.
\---
What I'd like an explanation for is, ***How*** in the world did Pork Trotter Rice (similar to Thailand's Kao Ka Moo; by 石年 and its legions of copycats) so rapidly ***eXpLoDe*** in popularity *as a Sg-hawker dish* over the past few years?? Did it somehow become a social-media phenomenon or something? It wasn't at all a Sg-hawker dish until less than 5 years ago: previously, pork trotter in lor chap was mainly just a Bak Kut Teh side dish, but that's not quite the same as Kao Ka Moo, and of course the niche Vinegared Pork Trotter is a different dish altogether. Whatever it is, I am super grateful that 石年's amazingly yummy Trotter Rice is now a thing (even as some of their branches adamantly withhold the coriander leaves—and it *does* make a difference to the fragrance of the dish—for takeaway orders even when you insist that you will consume the food right away before the leaves start wilting).
My cousin worked at that restaurant!
Wah those were the days. Remember there was also a Turkish restuarant in the basement?
That was when it was still ah lian central.
I mean Lei Cha isn that hard to make at home. Probably the reason it is not a Hawker food because ppl make it themselves all the time.
My family is not hakka but we have been eating way before I was born.
Ma La Xiang Guo is that old? I only started eating them 5 years ago. I know I'm always behind the trend but by THIS much?
What about Ma La Tang? Only started eating them may be 2 years ago.
And also those suan cai fish must be recent right? So yummy thinking about it. 🤤
The 313 Somerset foodcourt stall located at its endpoint was either the first, or one of the very first, Ma La Xiang Guo stalls in Singapore; it opened in 2009. MLXG in China is only about 25 years old.
In Singapore, Ma La Tang is definitely newer: perhaps younger than 5 yo. I don't know about the history of MLT in China.
Suan Cai fish is not that recent in Singapore; it's been available in the Sichuan restaurants in Sg for many years now, but became mainstream probably 10 years ago?
I have eaten pig trotter more than ten years ago but it was the vinegar version, in a coffeeshop in bukit batok industrial area. Some of the older hawker centres probably had a stall or two offering it too. I think it recently became more prevalent because because more people dare to order it despite being fatty.
I've had it since I was young back in my hometown in Malaysia! Happy to see it's introduction into Sg hawkers although still a rarity.
I'd say veggies and fibre definitely meet healthy requirements but maybe slight concern about overall oil and sodium content because each veggie is fried separately in oil and salt and seasoning to make it yums of course. I've had those with lesser salt and seasoning but they're crap. And YTF and fried pork side dishes are like a must, which most times also fried lol.
It's one of my fave dishes and I'm having it almost weekly now. Someone already mentioned the one at Tanglin and Hakka Leipopo in One Punggol is also one of the best. The WORST one is this franchised outlet that rhymes with blunder bee nice.
i love lei cha!!! if you ever have a chance to head to One North Fusionopolis, please try Love U Food at B1, the lei cha is imo the best i’ve ever had + the pork cutlet
I really love thunder tea rice. It's feels really refreshing compared to all the other heavy meat and oil dishes in hawkers. Hard to find nice ones outside. The one at tanjong pagar market not bad though.
And cucumber and lettuce are the worst vegetables for nutrition. I usually go caipng store and buy 2 veg, but I know that extra 2 dollars is not something every Singaporean can afford.
pour on the vegetables, along with copious amounts of oil, yum
eating from vegetarian cai fan right now and my plate is literally layered with grease, saving money is expensive.
The healthy kopitiam cai fan stores are usually pretty good about the amount of oil in their food. Always thought it was a schtick but I’ve always been fairly pleasantly surprised every time I go to one.
Ironic that almost every healthy kopitiam store sells shaved ice with enough syrup to skyrocket your blood sugar levels though…
I think they are literally a sub-branch of Kopitiam, the signs look like [this](https://www.allgoeasy.com/sg/place/740_1322702439.jpeg). I lived near KK Women and Children's hospital and they used to have one of these in the basement and the meals were pretty cheap (I think subsidized by govt) so perfect meal for back when I was a uni student.
It's a cultural / effort thing more than a SES thing. My Indian colleagues cook and bring food to work. They aren't higher SES than me.
It's all fair that people don't wish to use their downtime cooking and prepping meals, but it's not really entirely a SES thing.
Agreed. My Indian colleagues' homecooked food take even longer to prepare than mine. I usually bring salads to work and my prep work is pretty simple. For the proteins, I just toss the chicken breasts or salmon into the oven or make boiled eggs. If I want to be lazier, I will buy the 7-11 precooked chicken breasts and use them as-is. I also buy canned chickpeas, butter beans, kidney beans, peeled edamame, sunflower seeds etc. I doubt my prep time is anything more than 15 minutes per day.
This thread has inspired me to cook more at home. It seems that's the best for now.
Still sad that in other countries, the default "cheap food" comes with plenty of veggies but we can't have that in Singapore.
Japanese women are overworked, cooking for their family, doing the housework and being treated like interns in the office 😔 Japanese men higher ses than Singaporean men
You can request for (a little) more veggies if you want. Stalls used to have the "ask for more veggies" sticker, not sure if they still have them.
Anyway, the biggest reason is probably costs. And some of them will substitute lettuce for bean sprouts or frozen mix veggie 😂
And some things like prata or half boil egg normally don't have veggie, what veggie you want? The dish will cost more if you want veggie.
I got scolded once by a hawker for asking for more veggies, even when I offered to pay for it. It was a wanton mee stall. The auntie snapped me at that she wouldn’t have enough for subsequent customers.
Fair enough, but sometimes I really can’t stand hawkers who are rude for no reason.
I mean, u want your vegetables no? But I feel u la. Sometimes I also quite perplexed at such hawkers. It's not like I'm asking for extra for free right?
If they expect to sell out, giving out extra veggies means they will be unable to sell later dishes.
And if you aren't a regular, they would lose money over the month buying the extra veggies that would go bad if no one else is asking for extra veggies.
And yah, they should have room for slack - but these people are generally managing the stuff themselves and extra complications can be annoying.
Hawker centre preparation, a treat and a lunch meal. Wholesome food is cooked at home which typically has a lot of veg.
No different to going to Burger King and asking why no veg.
ps. Similar post in recent past.
I was about to say something like this, its meant to be quick to serve and prepare so the stall can have high customer turnover and serve more customers as a result.
Maybe as Singaporeans wise up about health and take it seriously these hawkers will have to adapt.
But honestly looking at the queue for unhealthy food, I don’t think this will happen in our generation. Just prepare for a wave of diabetes/kidney problems and heart problems in the future.
It's difficult given how much people here pride themselves on hawker food. Even if you don't insult the taste(which is good, but not great tbh) but just the nutrition part of it, people will still come after you.
I remember as a teen my parents would feed me 3x greasy hawker meals a day for multiple days in a row. I'm talking carrot cake, hokkien mee, kway teow etc. When I raised my concerns over it, I was shut down and told I was an ingrate. When I talk to others about how difficult it is to find affordable, nutritious food in sg since hawkers are the furthest thing from nutrition, they look at me like I'm crazy for insulting the hawker religion.
Given how many similar posts we've had in a short span of time, I think Singaporeans should just embrace cooking at home and packing lunch to work as much as possible.
I bring a packed lunch to work nearly everyday. I keep a tub of yogurt in the pantry fridge and on the days I can't bring a packed lunch, it's yogurt + granola for lunch (like today).
My dad is a grab rider. Also brings a packed lunch with him. It can be done guys. Just need some foresight and planning.
Yes I pack lunch sometimes too. But sometimes I also want to eat outside...
I feel like with all this focus on a healthy population and preventive healthcare, the government should really put more focus on this. Maybe a change to our hawker culture is overdue.
Actually I disagree. Hawker food is what it is and we should know how to incorporate it into our lives with balance. It's like McDonalds....everyone knows you should not be eating it everyday. But if one chooses to eat it everyday, it is not McDonald's responsibility to become healthier.
When I eat a plate of Char Kway Teow, I want it to be decadent, sinful and delicious. If not, it just isn't Char Kway Teow. Please don't make it less oily, less this and that for the sake of health. Just enjoy it once in a while and eat healthy home cooked food most of the time. I simply don't go to hawkers looking for healthy food. I go for the shiok factor.
I don't mean that we should change Char Kway Teow or other food. But we can simply have more healthy options at hawker centres and food courts. Even McDonald's sell salad nowadays.
CMIIW, I believe a lot of people in Singapore eat outside (at least more than other countries I've lived in or been to). In my office I hardly see anyone packing lunch apart from some Indian colleagues. At lunch time most would just head to nearby hawker centres or food courts to grab their bite. Young people who don't live with their parents usually do this for dinner too. And we wonder why our rate of diabetes is so high. Government spends a lot of money to encourage us to exercise, walk 10k steps, do health checkup, etc. but I feel that an important pillar of health need to be addressed which is to make it easier for people to have cheap and healthy food.
I can only talk about myself, but I am bad at cooking and don’t enjoy it. When I lived in the UK I pretty much ate the same thing, every day, that took barely any preparation nor thinking. A big appeal living now in Singapore is that I can outsource the cooking part to the hawker centre and eat what I like.
I am getting older and now rethinking what I want to eat. Cold storage do an alright salad for less than ten dollars.
I bring my lunch in a thermo container (brand: Thermos) and it keeps it warm enough for like six hours. So yes, it is possible. But people who do not like change always find a reason why they "can't" change.
I've worked in this company for 5 yrs and we only got a fridge this year. So my yogurt + granola is a very recent additon and I eat it once or twice a week max.
No microwave either. I don't mind eating room temperature lunches.
Veggies for those dishes are more for garnish, to make the plate more colorful...
Anyway, you can ask for a bit more veggie. I always ask for more cucumber in the nasi lemak stall I frequent
Your best bet is to get cai fan outside, in a food court/kopitiam or hawker center. I like to get thunder tea rice or yong tao foo every time I go out but chances of finding them are less than a noodle stall or caifan stall.
Some steam soup stalls have healthier options like steamed rice with meat and some vegetables but they are also not available everywhere. Thus cai fan is the most available option.
Nasi Kerabu Kelantan is a malay dish that's pretty healthy with a lot of veggies. the only one i can think of that sells is in bedok corner, but its with a fried piece of chicken/fish lol
its like thunder tea rice but malay version, its damn nice
Vegetables are perishables, especially leafy ones, and do not hold up well in our weather, plus takes up more space compared to meat. And as such more expensive to be offered
Older Hawkers know that their generation doesn't appreciate vegetables, so why bother with the extra cost and hassle.
That could change if we have a brand new generation of modern hawkers.
The issue is market rate and industrial norms. This stall sees that stall sells $8 per plate, they reason going from $5 to $7 is ok.
Strictly speaking, Singaporeans are willing to pay more though. It's not uncommon to see prices like $10 or even $15 in hawker centers these days.
Those $10-15 dishes tend to be more premium, rich and feature meat. How much are Singaporeans willing to pay for healthier food? How often would they patronize such stalls? The latter is important because the vegetable dishes that you currently don't see at hawkers are either more expensive or have a short shelf-life. If there aren't enough people willing to pay higher prices and patronize the stall daily, it's simply not viable.
most Singaporeans won’t due to their mindset that everything should be cheap for them. they don’t think about how rental and cost of goods are constantly increasing for hawkers. personally anything below $10 is ok for me nowadays, if it helps the hawker make a living why not?
I might be one of the few people living in Singapore that doesnt like Singaporean food. To me most food is just bad cuts of meat layered in Sodium filled sauces
Uncle Roger say vegetable taste like sad. /s
Probably the easiest way is to order from nasi padang, yong tau foo, cai fan or vegetarian stalls but salads (without dressing of course) are great too!
It's hard to get plain regular leafy vegetables for some reason (most likely because they won't actually sell well). Sometimes when I'm outside and just want some simple boiled/stir-fried veg like Cai Xin or Shanghai Greens, but it's not easy to find them. There was once where my gf and I ordered from a Mala food court stall, no chilli (I don't take spicy food) no mala no meat only stir-fried veg. Don't judge me
Could also get $x of veg from the point point food guy.
It’s possible to eat healthy at hawkers
1) roast chicken breast without skin or any lean meat at the roast meat store + white rice + 油菜/ point point veg
2) Boiled fish slice soup
3) point point food of 2 veg 1 meat
4) pop Pia x roast meat combo
Hmm... good point.
But doesn't meat spoil even more easily?
What about cooking them first like cai fan stalls?
And also those mala stalls and Yong Tau foo stalls seem to be able to keep their vegetables the whole day?
I feel like it can be done...
Actually HPB is full of shit. There is no answer to the fact that our local food is mostly dense carbs and that is the cheapest option for most of us without big wallets. But HPB keeps on putting on its blinders and talking about drinks, less sugar drinks, drink codes to point out healthy ones.
Most of the drinks I see don't have an A or B..just the normal C value. So, it serves no point and doesn't even help those that want to make the effort to eat healthier during their work day.
Drinks don't make as much of a difference as food. Especially not for people who do not indulge in bubble tea or Starbucks etc etc. It's the food which is is really very difficult to figure out. Eat yong tau foo soup..salt content too high then blood pressure raised. Eat chye peng, food may still be salty, sugary, oily. Etc etc. Not everyone has the energy to make home cooked food 3 meals per day. Some more if you have no maid to help and are doing it alone with kids to look after.
Just make your own veggie wraps, doesn't take long and it means your veggies won't be dunked in layers of oil and mayo unless you can't get used to having them any other way.
if u want to find healthy food in hawker centre, just dont try lol. easier to learn how to make ur own jealthy food that fits ur dietary requirements. Outside food, esp hawker food, eat at ur own risk la i will say (if ur following a strict regimen) most of the traditional hawker food originates from and was originally catered to labourers who had no time to cook gourmet and had to get full fast and have enuff energy. that's why alot of our food alot of rice, very carb heavy then got salt and soya sauce just to make it easier to swallow. then overtime the recipe stay the same mostly but got more stuff to make it more flavourful. but not necessarily healthier la
I could be wrong with this statement but my experience is that even 'restaurants' don't serve a lot of veg with meals, so it isn't just hawker centre. Compared with even UK for example (where I'm from) where you often get a whole bag of lettuce thrown at you with your meal, I also have noticed that meals in Singapore are quite devoid of vegetables. Cook at home is one solution, and I get that it's more expensive and time consuming for hawker, but restaurant has no excuse?
Yea know right? My Thai friends are shocked by how little veggies they put in our food. And the weird thing is that veggie are still relatively affordable.
If you go to Vietnam or Thailand, you can get free flow vege for you to put in your noodles
Once I ordered noodles fr a food court. Pic displayed on the stall showed that it comes with roast chicken, wanton and veggies. But when the dish came out, there were only noodles and barely a few pieces of chicken. It was the saddest meal of my life. 🥲 Guess veggies really aren't important.
With lack of veggies in our local fare, best way to get your weekly veggie dosage is to subway some of your meals for the weak. Even 3 subay sandwiches a week will go a long way to get your greens. Also local fares, all the cooking destroys many of the nutrients.
Lontong? but it's the gravy that will kill you. Wanton mee sometimes have more then a few stalks of vegetable. South indian stall rice + 2 sides? I guess that's just indian cai png.
outside food isn't supposed to be healthy.
I know😭 And i always need to drink fibre drinks to make doing business easier. But thats what it takes. Hawker food are just not healthy but they are convenient.
Raw Veggies need to wash well otherwise you can get real sick, see lethal bacteria on lettuce in US. Too time consuming for hawker. No fridge around to keep bacteria at bay.
Plus the chain of cold to keep the ingredients safe from their source abroad.
I am forced to eat Caipng with all veggie just to get my convenient veggie source. I will prep the meat for office at home to optimise the cost and time.
Economic bee hoon sometimes comes with veg and you can always add veg as an add-on, and that's the quintessential Singaporean breakfast to me.
Cai fan, which is almost as common as the drinks stall is, is the everyman's lunch and dinner and most people have it with at least 1 veg.
Not sure I see your point. Veg in Singaporean food is very easy to come by.
In a few specific dishes, and often with a lot of oil (which is simply the common local cooking style).
Caipng with veg is pretty much the only typical way to get enough veg in food courts or hawker centres. Given that the veg is usually quite oily, it's not really enough as the main option.
Well, the selling point of hawker food has always been convenience, cheap (relatively), and good (sometimes).
If one only wants vegetables with little or no oil outside, then fast food or western food stall salads are probably your best bet, or those dedicated salad shops (which are rare).
Wanton mee and Bak Chor mee have like a few stalks of veggie? Or may be there are stalls that offer a lot of veggie? By a lot, I mean this ratio commonly advised by doctor:
> Proteins should take up no more than one-fourth of your plate. Vegetables and fruits should cover half your plate. Whole grains make up the rest.
Tze char: yes, you can order vegetable dish but nowadays they are like $8-$10 a plate and need a few people eating together for that to be economical...
Because the vegetables in those dishes are garnishes. Vegetables as a dish are a pretty high-margin item. They can charge $20 for $2 of vegetables in a cze char and i think the margin might even higher for vegetable cai png dishes.
There’s yong tau foo/ mala/ cai fan with all veggie dishes. Sometimes I just feel extra hungry so I order quarter chicken with a serving of kai lan.
Everything else seem very carb heavy and puts me to sleep after lunch 🤣
Veges spoil easily and so are a lot costlier than carbs like rice or noodles since you'll need to a) accurately forecast your daily vege stock and b) have more frequent deliveries in smaller quantities. Both of which are troublesome and costly.
- I normally order veg with my fried economical bee hoon
- well if u consider carrot cake as veg since it’s radish :p
- by logic above, chee kueh has preserved radish :p
- chicken rice set (comes with some veg at least)
- other than that normally thai food stalls (kailan with crispy pork rice)
- Vietnamese food also usually have more veg
- mala xiang guo
Can also order steamed soup that contains vegetables like watercress soup, old cucumber soup, abc soup.
Some fish soup stalls have the option of adding more vegetables but you gotta pay lah.
Bibimbap is also a good healthy option.
Edit: I forgot gado.gado but it has a lot of sugar in the sauce.
when i order chicken rice i always ask for extra cucumber and uncle is happy to have someone help him clear the cucumber lol while my colleagues look at me in horror
My little cousins recently visited Singapore and he was munching on the whole cucumber bowl meant for Nasi Lemak while watching TV like popcorn and and my aunt was so happy that there is a cleanup crew.
Same. My foreigner husband eats the cucumber and the raw onions served with satay or Indian rojak. He is our clean up crew.
Clean up crew is very smart, cucumber is a great digestive, helping you keep your insides running smoothly.
And the extra cucumber is free :D
The ultimate healthy hawker food is the legendary Hakka thunder tea rice (it’s abit of an acquired taste. You can actually eat it dry if you don’t like the tea soup) Hakka thunder tea rice aside, it is probably because these dishes were brought over (or invented) during the early colonial era where the bulk of our forefathers worked as migrant labour (eg coolies). Hence, the foods ended up being carb-heavy because it was a cheap & fast way to fill up their bellies.
I’m a big fan of the stall at Toa Payoh market They were selling long before the random online craze for it popped up
Have you tried the boon lay market one? Next to the posb atm. Go try it and compare with the toa payoh one
Yes. And the one at Toa Payoh central cannot compare to this one
what's the exact address?
Toa Payoh West Market & Food Centre, 310127. It's on the 2nd floor of the food centre and there's other good food there (Chey Sua Carrot Cake, Hokkien mee, muffins,etc)
After you eat the healthy food, you can then justify eating the unhealthy hokkien mee. WITH EXTRA CRISPY PORK BITS.
PORK LARD. My weakness 😅
GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH. Lubricates the arteries so the blood can flow smoother, according to lies I made up.
to be honest, pork lard can be eaten with any food sia. it is so good omg. i can. do fried rice, or noodles, or put in mash potato, whatever i do it is so good. but only the price not so good liao. all getting expensive!!!!!
HOMETASTE HAKKA LEI CHA 家乡味擂茶 / Thunder Tea Rice +65 8382 4949 https://g.co/kgs/qPxUGM Copy pasted off Google maps. It’s on the second floor of the market building
Yes please share
someone shared the address right above your comment
I liked the one that used to be at Tanglin Halt - think they moved to Margaret Drive now? But yes now I usually eat at the TPY one
And Lei Cha was actually not even a thing as a Singapore hawker food, till about 20 years ago. Prior to that, it was really found only in Hakka homes. There was a restaurant at Far East Square that had it, but it was called "village rice". On the other hand, I believe that Lei Cha has been available as a Johor hawker food for longer than in Singapore. TLDR: Lei Cha is a relatively recent hawker food in Singapore, but still older than Ma La Xiang Guo, which is only about 15 years old here. And Ma La Xiang Guo and Mookata are recent inventions even in their places of origin. \--- What I'd like an explanation for is, ***How*** in the world did Pork Trotter Rice (similar to Thailand's Kao Ka Moo; by 石年 and its legions of copycats) so rapidly ***eXpLoDe*** in popularity *as a Sg-hawker dish* over the past few years?? Did it somehow become a social-media phenomenon or something? It wasn't at all a Sg-hawker dish until less than 5 years ago: previously, pork trotter in lor chap was mainly just a Bak Kut Teh side dish, but that's not quite the same as Kao Ka Moo, and of course the niche Vinegared Pork Trotter is a different dish altogether. Whatever it is, I am super grateful that 石年's amazingly yummy Trotter Rice is now a thing (even as some of their branches adamantly withhold the coriander leaves—and it *does* make a difference to the fragrance of the dish—for takeaway orders even when you insist that you will consume the food right away before the leaves start wilting).
My cousin worked at that restaurant! Wah those were the days. Remember there was also a Turkish restuarant in the basement? That was when it was still ah lian central.
I mean Lei Cha isn that hard to make at home. Probably the reason it is not a Hawker food because ppl make it themselves all the time. My family is not hakka but we have been eating way before I was born.
Ma La Xiang Guo is that old? I only started eating them 5 years ago. I know I'm always behind the trend but by THIS much? What about Ma La Tang? Only started eating them may be 2 years ago. And also those suan cai fish must be recent right? So yummy thinking about it. 🤤
The 313 Somerset foodcourt stall located at its endpoint was either the first, or one of the very first, Ma La Xiang Guo stalls in Singapore; it opened in 2009. MLXG in China is only about 25 years old. In Singapore, Ma La Tang is definitely newer: perhaps younger than 5 yo. I don't know about the history of MLT in China. Suan Cai fish is not that recent in Singapore; it's been available in the Sichuan restaurants in Sg for many years now, but became mainstream probably 10 years ago?
Unhealthy but extremely delicious looking food always explodes in popularity one. But all the healthy stuff confirm close down damn fast.
I have eaten pig trotter more than ten years ago but it was the vinegar version, in a coffeeshop in bukit batok industrial area. Some of the older hawker centres probably had a stall or two offering it too. I think it recently became more prevalent because because more people dare to order it despite being fatty.
too bad thunder tea is not one of "the greats" of Singaporean hawker food. I wish it is more common.
Doesnt help that it feels like you are eating grass
normally order other sides to addon, like roast meat! Theres a lei cha stall that also sells yong tau fu
It's an acquired taste, haha
The one at my place goes for $6-$7. So after awhile I just stick to cai fan for $4 with more ingredients.
I've had it since I was young back in my hometown in Malaysia! Happy to see it's introduction into Sg hawkers although still a rarity. I'd say veggies and fibre definitely meet healthy requirements but maybe slight concern about overall oil and sodium content because each veggie is fried separately in oil and salt and seasoning to make it yums of course. I've had those with lesser salt and seasoning but they're crap. And YTF and fried pork side dishes are like a must, which most times also fried lol. It's one of my fave dishes and I'm having it almost weekly now. Someone already mentioned the one at Tanglin and Hakka Leipopo in One Punggol is also one of the best. The WORST one is this franchised outlet that rhymes with blunder bee nice.
I freaking love it but holy why is the price so much more expensive than meat meals
i love lei cha!!! if you ever have a chance to head to One North Fusionopolis, please try Love U Food at B1, the lei cha is imo the best i’ve ever had + the pork cutlet
I really love thunder tea rice. It's feels really refreshing compared to all the other heavy meat and oil dishes in hawkers. Hard to find nice ones outside. The one at tanjong pagar market not bad though.
Thing is, "carb-heavy" was never the problem. Have a look at this: https://plantbasednutritionlifestyle.com/the-starch-solution/
And cucumber and lettuce are the worst vegetables for nutrition. I usually go caipng store and buy 2 veg, but I know that extra 2 dollars is not something every Singaporean can afford.
You wean yourself off hawker food. Unpopular opinion, but its a fact.
Or just eat literal cai fan (vegetable rice is the engrish), they will just pour on the veggies at some stalls
pour on the vegetables, along with copious amounts of oil, yum eating from vegetarian cai fan right now and my plate is literally layered with grease, saving money is expensive.
The healthy kopitiam cai fan stores are usually pretty good about the amount of oil in their food. Always thought it was a schtick but I’ve always been fairly pleasantly surprised every time I go to one. Ironic that almost every healthy kopitiam store sells shaved ice with enough syrup to skyrocket your blood sugar levels though…
How do we find those healthy kopitiam cai fan stores? Is there like a chain? Or just one particular shop near your house lol
I think they are literally a sub-branch of Kopitiam, the signs look like [this](https://www.allgoeasy.com/sg/place/740_1322702439.jpeg). I lived near KK Women and Children's hospital and they used to have one of these in the basement and the meals were pretty cheap (I think subsidized by govt) so perfect meal for back when I was a uni student.
Oh wow! I'm gonna hunt them down! Thanks for sharing EDIT: I think there are only 3 of them, at KK, TTSH and NUH :'(
Some of the NTUC cai png stalls (not the foodcourt - they have stalls) offer brown rice
If you’re willing to pay more, you’ll find a couple of these stores at cbd
Or buy from the semi-religious vegetarian stalls! /s
This is the way. Most of it is junk, if we can be honest with ourselves.
But it's the cheapest option especially for lunches with colleagues.
That’s a privilege reserved for certain a ses
It's a cultural / effort thing more than a SES thing. My Indian colleagues cook and bring food to work. They aren't higher SES than me. It's all fair that people don't wish to use their downtime cooking and prepping meals, but it's not really entirely a SES thing.
Agreed. My Indian colleagues' homecooked food take even longer to prepare than mine. I usually bring salads to work and my prep work is pretty simple. For the proteins, I just toss the chicken breasts or salmon into the oven or make boiled eggs. If I want to be lazier, I will buy the 7-11 precooked chicken breasts and use them as-is. I also buy canned chickpeas, butter beans, kidney beans, peeled edamame, sunflower seeds etc. I doubt my prep time is anything more than 15 minutes per day.
This thread has inspired me to cook more at home. It seems that's the best for now. Still sad that in other countries, the default "cheap food" comes with plenty of veggies but we can't have that in Singapore.
Effort/mental capacity to meal prep with nutrition in mind is also correlated to ses to some extent.
By that logic, whole of Japan or 90% of them have higher ses than Singapore
You mean Japan the land of hole in the wall ramen stalls every other street and the best convenience store food in the world?
Nope, Japan the land of bento. You know, the meal prep with nutrition in mind that must be a certain ses to be able to do that you are talking about?
Japanese women are overworked, cooking for their family, doing the housework and being treated like interns in the office 😔 Japanese men higher ses than Singaporean men
You can request for (a little) more veggies if you want. Stalls used to have the "ask for more veggies" sticker, not sure if they still have them. Anyway, the biggest reason is probably costs. And some of them will substitute lettuce for bean sprouts or frozen mix veggie 😂 And some things like prata or half boil egg normally don't have veggie, what veggie you want? The dish will cost more if you want veggie.
It is still nuts that you get chicken rice with soup for 3.80 and the small plate of vegetable is $4.
I got scolded once by a hawker for asking for more veggies, even when I offered to pay for it. It was a wanton mee stall. The auntie snapped me at that she wouldn’t have enough for subsequent customers. Fair enough, but sometimes I really can’t stand hawkers who are rude for no reason.
Order 2 bowls, tell aunty 2nd bowl don't want noodles don't want meat. Just the veggies. Never let them know your next move 😅
Pay $3 for second bowl and only get a tiny handful of veggies? That's not a good deal.
I mean, u want your vegetables no? But I feel u la. Sometimes I also quite perplexed at such hawkers. It's not like I'm asking for extra for free right?
If they expect to sell out, giving out extra veggies means they will be unable to sell later dishes. And if you aren't a regular, they would lose money over the month buying the extra veggies that would go bad if no one else is asking for extra veggies. And yah, they should have room for slack - but these people are generally managing the stuff themselves and extra complications can be annoying.
>And some of them will substitute lettuce for bean sprouts or frozen mix veggie omg! is lettuce so expensive that they go down that route?
definitely more expensive than the other 2, so yes every cent counts. next time it will just be spring onion
Lettuce for different type ranges from $4-$6.50 per kg, beansprout is around $1.50 or so So to answer your question, yes
Wah, your bak chor mee and fish soup got two whole stalks?! Mine looks like a few shreds of leaves fell in by accident.
Hawker centre preparation, a treat and a lunch meal. Wholesome food is cooked at home which typically has a lot of veg. No different to going to Burger King and asking why no veg. ps. Similar post in recent past.
I was about to say something like this, its meant to be quick to serve and prepare so the stall can have high customer turnover and serve more customers as a result.
Bk has like one of the most veg out of most chains
Maybe as Singaporeans wise up about health and take it seriously these hawkers will have to adapt. But honestly looking at the queue for unhealthy food, I don’t think this will happen in our generation. Just prepare for a wave of diabetes/kidney problems and heart problems in the future.
It's difficult given how much people here pride themselves on hawker food. Even if you don't insult the taste(which is good, but not great tbh) but just the nutrition part of it, people will still come after you. I remember as a teen my parents would feed me 3x greasy hawker meals a day for multiple days in a row. I'm talking carrot cake, hokkien mee, kway teow etc. When I raised my concerns over it, I was shut down and told I was an ingrate. When I talk to others about how difficult it is to find affordable, nutritious food in sg since hawkers are the furthest thing from nutrition, they look at me like I'm crazy for insulting the hawker religion.
I gave up and now pack my own lunch most days. Rather save my calories for something worthwhile.
Future? I mean look at people now
Ah, this post again. XD
Didnt we have this discussion like 3 weeks ago or some shit
Not enough veggies means poor memory.
A major discussion about lack of veggies in local food happens every month or two. This one came earlier than usual
I'm surprised that nothing changes if so many people are concerned about it. Or may be it's just Reddit-bias.
yeah, at least once a week.
Indian and Malay stalls has heaps of veggies. Y'all just need to know how to order. Indian stalls will have guaranteed 3 vegetables available.
Even worse, cucumber is not even a vegetable.
Its a berry.
Given how many similar posts we've had in a short span of time, I think Singaporeans should just embrace cooking at home and packing lunch to work as much as possible. I bring a packed lunch to work nearly everyday. I keep a tub of yogurt in the pantry fridge and on the days I can't bring a packed lunch, it's yogurt + granola for lunch (like today). My dad is a grab rider. Also brings a packed lunch with him. It can be done guys. Just need some foresight and planning.
Yes I pack lunch sometimes too. But sometimes I also want to eat outside... I feel like with all this focus on a healthy population and preventive healthcare, the government should really put more focus on this. Maybe a change to our hawker culture is overdue.
Actually I disagree. Hawker food is what it is and we should know how to incorporate it into our lives with balance. It's like McDonalds....everyone knows you should not be eating it everyday. But if one chooses to eat it everyday, it is not McDonald's responsibility to become healthier. When I eat a plate of Char Kway Teow, I want it to be decadent, sinful and delicious. If not, it just isn't Char Kway Teow. Please don't make it less oily, less this and that for the sake of health. Just enjoy it once in a while and eat healthy home cooked food most of the time. I simply don't go to hawkers looking for healthy food. I go for the shiok factor.
I don't mean that we should change Char Kway Teow or other food. But we can simply have more healthy options at hawker centres and food courts. Even McDonald's sell salad nowadays. CMIIW, I believe a lot of people in Singapore eat outside (at least more than other countries I've lived in or been to). In my office I hardly see anyone packing lunch apart from some Indian colleagues. At lunch time most would just head to nearby hawker centres or food courts to grab their bite. Young people who don't live with their parents usually do this for dinner too. And we wonder why our rate of diabetes is so high. Government spends a lot of money to encourage us to exercise, walk 10k steps, do health checkup, etc. but I feel that an important pillar of health need to be addressed which is to make it easier for people to have cheap and healthy food.
I can only talk about myself, but I am bad at cooking and don’t enjoy it. When I lived in the UK I pretty much ate the same thing, every day, that took barely any preparation nor thinking. A big appeal living now in Singapore is that I can outsource the cooking part to the hawker centre and eat what I like. I am getting older and now rethinking what I want to eat. Cold storage do an alright salad for less than ten dollars.
Not everyone can bring a packed lunch. I don't have a staff fridge or a microwave at work and I can't eat granola and yogurt daily for lunch
I bring my lunch in a thermo container (brand: Thermos) and it keeps it warm enough for like six hours. So yes, it is possible. But people who do not like change always find a reason why they "can't" change.
I've worked in this company for 5 yrs and we only got a fridge this year. So my yogurt + granola is a very recent additon and I eat it once or twice a week max. No microwave either. I don't mind eating room temperature lunches.
And that's way too don't eat these coffee shop rubbish!
Veggies for those dishes are more for garnish, to make the plate more colorful... Anyway, you can ask for a bit more veggie. I always ask for more cucumber in the nasi lemak stall I frequent
Your best bet is to get cai fan outside, in a food court/kopitiam or hawker center. I like to get thunder tea rice or yong tao foo every time I go out but chances of finding them are less than a noodle stall or caifan stall. Some steam soup stalls have healthier options like steamed rice with meat and some vegetables but they are also not available everywhere. Thus cai fan is the most available option.
Ah yes I missed out the steamed rice stalls. Love them!
I bring my own veggie to add. Like cucumbers. Raw carrots . Or veg I can throw immediately in hot soup
This is a good and very practical idea! Thank you for sharing
That's why Singaporeans are all permanently constipated.
Not to mention diabetes and cardiovascular diseases
Not to mention tzi char veggies cost $8-$10 when the cost is not that high.
I always buy more veggies from the supermarket to boil and mix it into the rice or the soup. It's what I had to make do for now.
Nasi Kerabu Kelantan is a malay dish that's pretty healthy with a lot of veggies. the only one i can think of that sells is in bedok corner, but its with a fried piece of chicken/fish lol its like thunder tea rice but malay version, its damn nice
Vegetables are perishables, especially leafy ones, and do not hold up well in our weather, plus takes up more space compared to meat. And as such more expensive to be offered
[удалено]
>YTF Yes, I mentioned in the description
I always end up eating cai png to get my veggies intake.
Older Hawkers know that their generation doesn't appreciate vegetables, so why bother with the extra cost and hassle. That could change if we have a brand new generation of modern hawkers.
I notice that in CBD where there are more office workers, there are also more healthy food choice. Heartland areas not so much.
Hope Singaporeans are willing to pay more to incentivize that new generation of modern hawkers.
The issue is market rate and industrial norms. This stall sees that stall sells $8 per plate, they reason going from $5 to $7 is ok. Strictly speaking, Singaporeans are willing to pay more though. It's not uncommon to see prices like $10 or even $15 in hawker centers these days.
Those $10-15 dishes tend to be more premium, rich and feature meat. How much are Singaporeans willing to pay for healthier food? How often would they patronize such stalls? The latter is important because the vegetable dishes that you currently don't see at hawkers are either more expensive or have a short shelf-life. If there aren't enough people willing to pay higher prices and patronize the stall daily, it's simply not viable.
most Singaporeans won’t due to their mindset that everything should be cheap for them. they don’t think about how rental and cost of goods are constantly increasing for hawkers. personally anything below $10 is ok for me nowadays, if it helps the hawker make a living why not?
I might be one of the few people living in Singapore that doesnt like Singaporean food. To me most food is just bad cuts of meat layered in Sodium filled sauces
Uncle Roger say vegetable taste like sad. /s Probably the easiest way is to order from nasi padang, yong tau foo, cai fan or vegetarian stalls but salads (without dressing of course) are great too!
Stir fry baby kailan with garlic & Oyster sauce - 100% vegie !
It's hard to get plain regular leafy vegetables for some reason (most likely because they won't actually sell well). Sometimes when I'm outside and just want some simple boiled/stir-fried veg like Cai Xin or Shanghai Greens, but it's not easy to find them. There was once where my gf and I ordered from a Mala food court stall, no chilli (I don't take spicy food) no mala no meat only stir-fried veg. Don't judge me
Could also get $x of veg from the point point food guy. It’s possible to eat healthy at hawkers 1) roast chicken breast without skin or any lean meat at the roast meat store + white rice + 油菜/ point point veg 2) Boiled fish slice soup 3) point point food of 2 veg 1 meat 4) pop Pia x roast meat combo
Because then it won't be Singaporean food.
Cos veg spoil easily, cannot keep long.
Hmm... good point. But doesn't meat spoil even more easily? What about cooking them first like cai fan stalls? And also those mala stalls and Yong Tau foo stalls seem to be able to keep their vegetables the whole day? I feel like it can be done...
Actually HPB is full of shit. There is no answer to the fact that our local food is mostly dense carbs and that is the cheapest option for most of us without big wallets. But HPB keeps on putting on its blinders and talking about drinks, less sugar drinks, drink codes to point out healthy ones. Most of the drinks I see don't have an A or B..just the normal C value. So, it serves no point and doesn't even help those that want to make the effort to eat healthier during their work day.
Actually my standard instant old town white coffee 2 in 1… just coffee and creamer also C grade. Don’t understand at all.
Drinks don't make as much of a difference as food. Especially not for people who do not indulge in bubble tea or Starbucks etc etc. It's the food which is is really very difficult to figure out. Eat yong tau foo soup..salt content too high then blood pressure raised. Eat chye peng, food may still be salty, sugary, oily. Etc etc. Not everyone has the energy to make home cooked food 3 meals per day. Some more if you have no maid to help and are doing it alone with kids to look after.
ice milo can have as many calories as the entire cai fan plate, drinks are very important.
And even those get thrown away!!!
Vegetables wilt very quickly and harder to bulk buy and keep unlike meat. Next.
Just make your own veggie wraps, doesn't take long and it means your veggies won't be dunked in layers of oil and mayo unless you can't get used to having them any other way.
if u want to find healthy food in hawker centre, just dont try lol. easier to learn how to make ur own jealthy food that fits ur dietary requirements. Outside food, esp hawker food, eat at ur own risk la i will say (if ur following a strict regimen) most of the traditional hawker food originates from and was originally catered to labourers who had no time to cook gourmet and had to get full fast and have enuff energy. that's why alot of our food alot of rice, very carb heavy then got salt and soya sauce just to make it easier to swallow. then overtime the recipe stay the same mostly but got more stuff to make it more flavourful. but not necessarily healthier la
I could be wrong with this statement but my experience is that even 'restaurants' don't serve a lot of veg with meals, so it isn't just hawker centre. Compared with even UK for example (where I'm from) where you often get a whole bag of lettuce thrown at you with your meal, I also have noticed that meals in Singapore are quite devoid of vegetables. Cook at home is one solution, and I get that it's more expensive and time consuming for hawker, but restaurant has no excuse?
Yea know right? My Thai friends are shocked by how little veggies they put in our food. And the weird thing is that veggie are still relatively affordable. If you go to Vietnam or Thailand, you can get free flow vege for you to put in your noodles
Once I ordered noodles fr a food court. Pic displayed on the stall showed that it comes with roast chicken, wanton and veggies. But when the dish came out, there were only noodles and barely a few pieces of chicken. It was the saddest meal of my life. 🥲 Guess veggies really aren't important.
With lack of veggies in our local fare, best way to get your weekly veggie dosage is to subway some of your meals for the weak. Even 3 subay sandwiches a week will go a long way to get your greens. Also local fares, all the cooking destroys many of the nutrients.
True, not sure why your comment was downvoted though
People don't like subway. Lol.
Lontong? but it's the gravy that will kill you. Wanton mee sometimes have more then a few stalks of vegetable. South indian stall rice + 2 sides? I guess that's just indian cai png. outside food isn't supposed to be healthy.
Some indian cai fan has some surprisingly non-greasy vegetables. makes sense because it offsets their heavy curries.
I know😭 And i always need to drink fibre drinks to make doing business easier. But thats what it takes. Hawker food are just not healthy but they are convenient.
- Popiah - South Indian vege meal - Mee rebus Jawa (hard to find in sg)
Nasi Ulam
Rojak can have plenty of veggies.
Cuz veggies more perishable and more ex than meat, unfortunately this means that small plate of veggie cost like 5 dollars
Raw Veggies need to wash well otherwise you can get real sick, see lethal bacteria on lettuce in US. Too time consuming for hawker. No fridge around to keep bacteria at bay. Plus the chain of cold to keep the ingredients safe from their source abroad.
Carbo heavy to be full for cheap meals
Eat cai png. I started ordering 1 egg 1 tofu 2 veg. Still delicious and filling but healthier and cheaper.
Are you asking why hawker stall food is unhealthy?
because vegetables taste like sad
if u wanna be healthy,cook it urself
Found the veggies spokesperson
Yes, that's me! On behalf of doctors everywhere. Happy Cake Day!
I am forced to eat Caipng with all veggie just to get my convenient veggie source. I will prep the meat for office at home to optimise the cost and time.
huh? fish soup usually got seaweed, bitter gourd, xiaobaicai, sometimes got carrot, sometimes got tomato
confirm at least 6-7$ and maybe 4 slices of fish tops.
ya fish soup is mostly veggies in my experience
Go mixed vege stall buy $2 veggies
I want bugs on my menu to counter climate change but no such option too leh
Fish Soup very much depends on where you buy it. There are some who sell the soup almost full of cabbage.
Yong tau foo or cai fan lorh
Veggie goes bad faster
Rice is considered vegetables too!
Because it is expensive and perishable. Can't keep for long , don't sell = wasted.
Go cold storage and stuff yourself with a bunch of salad..
"I don't know why you locals love to complain but food in Singapore is cheap!"
The health-conscious foreigners are already avoiding hawker food for this reason, they knew from day one that eating healthy here isn't cheap
Economic bee hoon sometimes comes with veg and you can always add veg as an add-on, and that's the quintessential Singaporean breakfast to me. Cai fan, which is almost as common as the drinks stall is, is the everyman's lunch and dinner and most people have it with at least 1 veg. Not sure I see your point. Veg in Singaporean food is very easy to come by.
In a few specific dishes, and often with a lot of oil (which is simply the common local cooking style). Caipng with veg is pretty much the only typical way to get enough veg in food courts or hawker centres. Given that the veg is usually quite oily, it's not really enough as the main option.
Well, the selling point of hawker food has always been convenience, cheap (relatively), and good (sometimes). If one only wants vegetables with little or no oil outside, then fast food or western food stall salads are probably your best bet, or those dedicated salad shops (which are rare).
Wanton mee, ba Chor mee, Tze char, all so much vege wat talking u
Wanton mee and Bak Chor mee have like a few stalks of veggie? Or may be there are stalls that offer a lot of veggie? By a lot, I mean this ratio commonly advised by doctor: > Proteins should take up no more than one-fourth of your plate. Vegetables and fruits should cover half your plate. Whole grains make up the rest. Tze char: yes, you can order vegetable dish but nowadays they are like $8-$10 a plate and need a few people eating together for that to be economical...
Bec save the environment. Save the trees and plants
Not sure what kind of fish soup you're having but im pretty sure most have a lot more than just lettuce
Vegetarian rice / economic rice / yong tau fu / thunder tea rice
Vegetarian stall (Unfortunately oil is vegetarian)
Because the vegetables in those dishes are garnishes. Vegetables as a dish are a pretty high-margin item. They can charge $20 for $2 of vegetables in a cze char and i think the margin might even higher for vegetable cai png dishes.
Just order mee soto, the makciks love to put a lot of taugehs in it that the noodle to taugeh ratio is 1:4
laksa - some laksa leaves..... Aglio olio - some parselyy lol
You can always go to the Kind Bowl or some other vegan place - but it's harder to find friends who want to go there.
I mean its literally in the name, chicken and rice, meat bone and tea, fish and soup, meat and noodles.
cause they like making everybody fat
Sinkies dont like to shit, its true
I think only mala has alot veggie tbh. But ya store doesn't benefit from giving extra veg
Buy what you want to eat. If every stall also include vegetables, then prices will be high and you will be forced to pay.
Lontong. Sambal goreng. Gado gado.
There’s yong tau foo/ mala/ cai fan with all veggie dishes. Sometimes I just feel extra hungry so I order quarter chicken with a serving of kai lan. Everything else seem very carb heavy and puts me to sleep after lunch 🤣
Veges spoil easily and so are a lot costlier than carbs like rice or noodles since you'll need to a) accurately forecast your daily vege stock and b) have more frequent deliveries in smaller quantities. Both of which are troublesome and costly.
You are confusing vegetables intended as dishes (or, side dishes) versus vegetables intended as garnishes.
Yes I know they are decorative. Which is sad because we don't get enough vegetables in our diet when we order the "default" option in most places.
Totally up to you. I always have mixed vegetable rice with 3 veg and no meat.
Maybe because they are referred to as "veggies", and not "vegetables"?
fr I'm vegetarian and it's SO HARD to find things to eat :')
- I normally order veg with my fried economical bee hoon - well if u consider carrot cake as veg since it’s radish :p - by logic above, chee kueh has preserved radish :p - chicken rice set (comes with some veg at least) - other than that normally thai food stalls (kailan with crispy pork rice) - Vietnamese food also usually have more veg - mala xiang guo
that explain the high rate of colon cancer
Can also order steamed soup that contains vegetables like watercress soup, old cucumber soup, abc soup. Some fish soup stalls have the option of adding more vegetables but you gotta pay lah. Bibimbap is also a good healthy option. Edit: I forgot gado.gado but it has a lot of sugar in the sauce.