17 hours to dream about popiah

By Kaie Wellman, Jan 4, 2012, View comments

I'm 4 hours into a 14 hour flight to Hong Kong, and then have another 3 hour flight to Singapore. During this almost full day of flying, I'll eat three or so divinely tasty in-flight meals that will be ingested for lack of anything better to do. And while I chew the plastic-y, something akin to 5-spice chicken and rubbery, not even close to fresh veg, I will dream about the food I will eat in Singapore.

 

The first item on my eating agenda will be popiah. These are the Malaysian version of salad rolls, and yet I find them so much more interesting then other Asian versions with their thin pancake wrapping. Most of the popiah I've had in Singapore have been moist, dare I say juicy, and yet also have a bit of vegetable crunch from the interior stuffing of bean sprouts and sometimes jicama. You'll find popiah in every hawker center in town, each with their own slighty different, unique recipe. In past visits to the city I've aimed towards a particular vendor in the Newton Circus Hawker Centre, but I think it's time to explore further. Other specialities of the region I will hope to consume upon arrival: Kaya Toast eaten with soft boiled eggs doused with soy sauce, Hainanese Chicken Rice, Laksa and Chili Crab.

 

 

One dish I won't be eating is a curry noodle dish that's referred to Singapore Noodles found in just about every other country around the world except Singapore. Thin rice noodles are doused with a yellow curry powder, served dry or wet depending on the restaurant, with slices of bbq pork and sometimes shrimp, onions and other assorted vegetables. I find this dish delicious in that slighty greasy, gut bomb type of way, but always hoped the homeland version would be spectacular. Turns out after searching for this dish all over Singapore on previous trips here, the closest to be found is a noodle dish called Xin Zhou Mee Fen that does not involve curry, but is just as delicious. So it seems that Singapore noodles are not even remotely Singaporean. Oh well, there's plenty of other amazing foods for me to graze on while visiting and I plan to eat them all.