5 ms·
I think in general the hawker stands are such an integral part of the Singaporean culinary culture that, even as an homage, you'd have to honor that culture by
by davidmr 10y ago
I think in general the hawker stands are such an integral part of the Singaporean culinary culture that, even as an homage, you'd have to honor that culture by finding the best one to give a star to.
I'm certain that his food is outstanding, but it's also a good move to ingratiate yourselves with the locals as you start your business there.
As an aside, I have never been anywhere with more consistently amazing food than Singapore. You can pay $300 for a fabulous meal or $7 for an almost equally fabulous one. The first time I went, I ate at a couple of high-end restaurants, but on all my subsequent trips, I've basically just wandered around and eaten at random. I've never been disappointed.
- klausa 10y agoJust curious - have you been to Bangkok? "Just wander around and eat at random — you have a decent chance of having one of the best meals of your life" was my impression of it — but I haven't had chance to visit Singapore yet, so I'm wondering how it compares.
- contingencies 10y agoBangkok is much cheaper and has more variety than Singapore. It has real communities from different parts of the region and the world who maintain their culture, run their own schools, and speak their own languages... not some kind of silly-Singlish with cheapened versions of iconic dishes of everywhere, like this Michelin stared foodstall selling soy sauce meat. The ignorance of western culinary practitioners to mainland Chinese cuisine is really staggering. It wouldn't surprise me if the Michelin star reviewers they used here were those "considers-self-Chinese, can't-even-properly-speak-Mandarin" Singaporeans with some kind of half western/half-Singapore restauranteur career and a Cantonese family. The first time I went to China, 15 years ago, I flew through Singapore. "Eat well here, the food in China is terrible!" my ultra-rich Chinese-Singaporean friends told me. Still in China now, and I've since been back to Singapore: how wrong they were! I just founded a mainland Chinese food-related startup...
- princeb 10y ago> considers-self-Chinese, can't-even-properly-speak-Mandarin i don't think true ethnic chinese speak mandarin. that language is something that was only recently (in the grand span of chinese history) imposed upon the rest of china by a bunch of mandarins in Peking. in fact if you look at the chinese diaspora in overseas chinatowns, the predominant language might be something like cantonese. these people have avoided the homogenization that is taking place in their ancestral villages. in the straits settlements, various (mutually intelligible) subdialects of hokkien are the predominant languages among the ethnic chinese, but standardization in mother tongue education among these countries are eroding this uniqueness. > It wouldn't surprise me if the Michelin star reviewers they used here were also, the michelin guide does not use local reviewers in the first (or more) years of a guide starting up at a new city.
- contingencies 10y agoYes, what you say is true, which is the point: these people are multi-generational isolates. Therefore, from a mainland Chinese perspective, they are considered less Chinese, and their tastes (culinary or otherwise) unrepresentative. It's like, if you had an Italian grandfather you never met, never having visited Italy and literally unable to speak any Italian, you visit Sicily once on holiday, pick up a few words, return to the US, and open a Sicilian food truck declaring it 'traditional' and yourself 'true ethnic Sicilian', serving only one type of pasta.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Gigablah 10y agoI'm not sure why you're so obsessed with the "mainland Chinese perspective". The Michelin star wasn't awarded for pure-bloodedness. Also, try telling the Taiwanese that they're "less Chinese" because they don't write simplified script.
- nicolas_t 10y agoOk, so if I go to Sichuan and eat Sichuanese food which is widely different from the food in Beijing or Shanghai which one is the correct "mainland Chinese" food? It's rather difficult to call any food traditional mainland Chinese food when there's so much differences between regions even. And on your comment on language, go to Sichuan and then tell me if the chef in a food stall speaks decent Mandarin? What about people in Xinjiang? or people in Wenzhou? Of course, educated professionals tend to speak relatively good Mandarin (they have to) but don't tell me that the Mandarin of people working in food stalls in the country side is any better than the Mandarin of people working in food stalls in Singapore. People in Singapore are mostly Hokkien, Teo Chew and Cantonese, they claim to be oversea Chinese but definitely do not claim to be Mainland Chinese but, they've kept a big part of the Chinese culture and customs from their regions (and yes, the food in Chaozhou is much more similar to Teo Chew food in Singapore than to food in Shanghai or most regions in China). I think you're just unfairly biased against Singapore for various reasons and don't want to admit it...
- theCodeStig 10y agoIn Bangkok you will have more of a "street food" experience. In Singapore you will have less risk of food poisoning (but it can still happen).