If there is one country in which food is a national hobby, bordering on obsession, it must be the city-state island of Singapore, where a melding of different cultures - Chinese, Indian and Malay - has created a unique cuisine. Let international movers help you unpack as you wander the streets sampling the humble and simple, but delicious, local dishes.
1. Chicken rice is undoubtedly the most ubiquitous food on the island. It can be found in the cheapest hawker stalls and the nicest luxury hotels alike. Serving steamed or boiled chicken atop a bed of fragrant oily rice and garnished with sliced cucumbers, the dish may appear simple, but is guaranteed to satisfy. Eating the dish becomes a fun interactive experiment as well, with a wide array of dipping sauces such as dark soy sauce, chili with garlic and chopped ginger. Visit Boon Tong Kee for the most succulent chicken around.
2. If chicken rice is not Singapore's national dish, it must surely be chili crab then. The whole crab is flooded in a hearty and spicy chili-tomato gravy so popular with diners that it often competes with the crab itself to be the main attraction. Eating this dish can be a production as well, as eaters are usually armed with a small hammer for breaking the shell and a bib to guard against inevitable splatter. Mini buns are a nice accompaniment to soak up the gravy long after the crab has been polished off.
3. Breakfast staples don't often make lists of must eat foods, but kaya toast is on a different level. Kaya, a coconut custard jam that is both intensely sweet and immensely fragrant, is spread between two slices of grilled bread, with a slab of butter for good measure. The saltiness and sweetness, coupled with the warm toast, creates an unbeatable combination. Check out Ya Kun, with its branches all over the island, for some of the best kaya toast.
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