High time crappy hawker stalls closed shop

The issue of Singapore's heritage streetfood disappearing surfaced in discussions during the recent Singapore Food Festival.

Following up on it, The Sunday Times gave a listing of the hawker stalls that are likely to kaput as they have no successors to take over the stove as well as those that already have a succession plan.

The problem is that heritage street food, now sold in food centres and coffeeshops, was placed high on a pedestal especially when certain hawkers were accorded legendary status by some quarters without even scrutinising the quality of their food.

Maybe it's only a legend and that is all there is.

Honour was bestowed on one such oyster omelette hawker even though his is probably the most chau-tah (fried till burnt) or-luak we've ever come across. It was literally fried to death and served in a slap-dash manner. Some streets away, a similar dish was cooked lovingly by another or-luak seller. And it looked appetising too.

Overly chau-tah food would never pass the test of chefs trained in proper restaurant kitchens or culinary institutions.

In fact, almost all the old hawker-cooks did not undergo training and did not bother to improve on their skills.That's why the food at many hawker stalls sucks.

Another shocking 'legendary' hawker is a char kuay teow seller. He jiggles here and jiggles there, and fry and fry and fry, as a long queue (mostly his fans of course) awaits his 'masterpiece'. The taste? Bland, bland, bland.(to borrow the words of a famous food critic).

If you're not an unkind critic, you would probably say his char kuay teow is "Teochew-style". Which means "tasteless" to most foodies looking for a kick-ass char kuay teow.

Oh, we must point out that the assistant of the 'dancing' char kuay teow man is happy to give you extra toppings of crispy lard pieces. But little did she realised that those we had were all stale.

So where is the quality control? It was certainly not worth the 25-minute wait.

Then a few estates away in an old food centre, the char kuay teow from an obscure stall helmed by an elderly man was packed with flavour and fresh ingredients. He did not have as many customers but there was definitely honesty in his cooking.

Another famous nasi padang eatery also received sky-high praises for its rendang. It used to be very good but after a change of location, the flavours of its dishes just went downhill. The rendang tasted as if it was made with a peanut sauce instead of the traditional rempah spice blend for this Padang dish.

Over at Geylang Serai, two satay stalls were given very high ratings by a critic who's also regarded as a legend too. We took a bite and were sorely disappointed with the poor-quality meat, lousy marinate as well as cooking.

Satay from the frozen Jumain Satay pack tastes better. Oh, that's legendary! Kudos to the family who turned it into a big business, selling the satay in supermarkets and exporting the satay abroad.

Many food operators touting inferior fare like to promote their business with the face of some famous celebrity, usually in the form of a poster or a standy. We checked out a few recently. No prize for guessing the outcome.

We had the worst popiah and also the worst Hainanese dishes. It's time they changed their trade. Maybe that's too late. They should just...hang up the wok and retire.

Then there's a popular soto stall in Bedok with long queues which we don't understand. We can only deduce that its fans love its 'sugar water' - the light soup is overly sweet unlike the usual thick Soto broth.

We also don't understand the long queue for the wanton noodles in a Jalan Besar food centre. The noodles are limp, the wanton dumplings are anorexic and the gravy is some kind of sweet tomato water.

However, there are good hawkers who deserve more recognition and help by the Singapore Tourism Board, Spring Singapore and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises to expand their business. They are the creme de la creme of Uniquely Singaporean food.

Those we would nominate include:

Tai Hwa Minced Meat Noodles in Crawford Court
The stall uses fresh ingredients and the chilli sambal and vinegar are expertly balanced. It has outlets in Bestway Building and Hong Lim Food Centre (run by the brother of the owner and his nephew)

Lau Lim Mee Pok in Simpang Bedok
Possibly one of the best chilli mee pok noodles in Singapore, the owner, who bothers to experiment and improve on his sauces, takes pains to train his brother so that he could helm another outlet in Siglap.

Outram Park Char Kuay Teow
Now operating at Hong Lim Food Centre, this stall still fries kick-ass char kuay teow.
Every mouthful is flavourful though greasy. The stall's generous with cockles too, well-cleaned and very gently cooked.

Putu Piring stall in Geylang Serai
Located in a coffeeshop near the Haig Road food centre, this putu piring is freshly made on the spot, its soft rice dough encasing a generous dose of delicious palm sugar. Eaten with grated coconut, it's a perfect Singapore snack.

Toa Payoh Rojak
Although the stall moved to Old Airport Road Food Centre many years ago, the standard is still good. The rojak sauce is thick and well blended with tamarind water, sugar and peanuts before it's tossed with the youtiao, taupok, veggies and cut fruit. The old man's son-in-law helps him out at the stall these days.