Affordable Bites (SG)

Wrapped in pandan leaves and stuffed with a generous amount of ingredients, Hoo Kee sure makes one of the best rice dumplings. They're huge because they're packed with whole chestnuts and lean pork. If you're feeling extravagant, go for the one with the salted egg. If not, try the one with mushrooms! The glutinous rice is fragrant, moreish, and perfectly cooked. This is one kickass ba zhang. And no, it doesn't have to be dragon boat festival for you to enjoy these.
Photo by Hoo Kee Bak Chang

Hoo Kee Rice Dumplings
#01-18, Amoy Street Food Centre
Mon - Sat: 0900 - 1500
Closed on Sun

[Keong Siak] We are all living in such a high-paced society that makes us neglect all the simple things in life. From time to time, we should take a well deserved break, sip some kopi, have some toast and just watch the world goes by. One such place that I will recommend is the iconic Tong Ah Eating House that serves some pretty darn good quintessential coffee and toast, or you can call it the Chinese "brunch" to make it sound cooler. The art of making coffee though the sock and scrapping off the burnt bits from the toast using the sharp edges of a milk can top dates back to many years and this practice is still being applied today at Tong Ah. No need for any eggs benedict, waffles or pancakes, you just need to order a set of crispy thin toast kaya or fresh toast with kaya, soft boiled eggs and a cup of kopi. After which, sit by the roadside table and appreciate the simple things that mean something. #hawkerpedia

My parents use to storm my room at 8am on weekends, rudely dragging me to the bathroom, just so we could hit Old Airport Road earlier - all for a bowl of this Blanco Court Kway Chap. Of course us being Singaporeans, we never stop at just one dish. The table would be packed full with loads of other bites: from fried carrot cake, rojak, to bowls of ice kachang and tau huay. The star however would always remain this kway chap. The aunty only used to speak in dialects, so us kiddies learnt the kway chap lingo just to enjoy this dish for breakfast. We'll fight over the braised intestines and pig's skin (much to any ang moh's horror) and all would be gone before you know it. But that was a long time ago. Before cafés were up, before we grew up. Today the aunty actually speaks English and Mandarin. Doesn't feel all that same. #hawkerpedia

Loud claps. That was how my dad used to wake my brothers and I every Sunday morning from our slumber, and the whole family would make our way down to Old Airport Rd. My brothers and I would find a table and play the silliest games, while the task of ordering was left to my food-loving dad who always knew where all the best food was. The first thing he would do before going on a mad rush to order all our favourites—Lor Mee, Rojak, Wanton Mee, Curry Rice—was to secure two plates of Hokkien Mee which would always be met with the uncle's casual remark "wait 30 minutes ". Nonetheless, it was always worth it. I love everything about this hokkien mee — it has the right amount of bee hoon, is just a little drier than others, and the accompanying bright red cut chilli. As I greedily gobbled down the noodles, definitely more than my "allocated" portion, all I could think of was—loud claps. #Hawkerpedia

My childhood breakfast almost every Saturday, my dad will drove my bro and I to Chinatown Complex to eat the "shark fin" porridge. We love to add some of the bee hoon into the porridge. After a few stirs, the color of the porridge darkens, making the bee hoon looked like shark fin in the soup. The porridge is infused with dried bonito flakes and the fried bee hoon filled with wok hei. Thus my bro and me thought that this was how shark fin tasted like (of course, until we tried the real one)! Way better than any shark fin. 😋😋

We witnessed the power of inflation through this stall, their prices raised from 50CENTS to 1 dollar a bowl. Thankfully, it's taste remains the same. Last time they also sold fried hor fun, but now they only focus on fried bee hoon and porridge. Nothing fancy and very simple ingredients but I can't find any similar flavors in Singapore! #Hawkerpedia

This stall at Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre owns the title as the most pocket-friendly Xiao Long Bao stall amongst our Burpple community! Come with your colleagues after work and order a few sets of Xiao Long Bao ($5.50 for 10). As you wait, grab a seat nearby to watch them work their magic as they knead, stuff and fold the soup dumplings like clockwork. The translucent thin-as-paper dumpling skin traps hot soup inside, so don't be too eager to pop them right into your mouth. Another must-order is the Hong You Chao Shou ($4.50 for 10) that Burpple Tastemaker Michelle Kayla Tey strongly endorses — velvety smooth pork and prawn dumplings doused in a piquant reservoir of red chili oil and black vinegar!
Avg price: $10 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Peter Wong

Set up by Temasek Polytechnic Culinary & Catering Management alumnus Jeremy Han, this hip yakitori stall in The Bedok Marketplace is gaining a reputation for its amazing wagyu beef dishes. Prior to setting up shop, Jeremy honed his chops in fine-dining kitchens including Saint Pierre and the defunct FiftyThree. If it's your first time here, get the Truffle Wagyu Donburi ($16), which Tastemaker Amanda Liu says will hit the spot for beef bowl cravings. Expect a bowl filled with rice (almost to the brim), topped with perfectly seared Tokyo-style braised wagyu, minced beef and a perfect onsen egg. Order the 72-Hour Slow-Cooked Angus Beef Short Ribs Skewers ($6/stick) on the side — while pricey, this is tender, smoky and absolutely yummy. You might also want to share an a la carte order of Iberico Pork Cheeks ($12), which is melt-in-the-mouth soft. Tastemaker Amanda warns that the portion sizes here are rather generous, so either come hungry or bring a friend. Waiting time can get painfully long especially during peak meal hours, so you've been warned.
Avg Price: $20 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Amanda Liu

Young hawkers Randall and Kai spent four months in Malaysia learning how to prepare KL-style roasted meat, before setting up shop at Old Airport Road Food Centre (Kai's uncle owns Famous Seremban Favourites, a widely acclaimed roast meat shop). Starting their day as early as 5am, so the first batch of meats can be ready by 11am, these hawkerpreneurs are extremely dedicated to their craft, and that shows in the quality of the meat. The Char Siew (200g, $8.50) here is a Burpple community favourite. Tastemaker Justin Teo describes it to have a beautifully charred exterior, with the flavours reminding him of bak kwa. On the other hand, Tastemaker Peter Wong likes the sweet char siew sauce, and that the loin meat is nicely trimmed. While the char siew can sometimes be on the leaner side, it still has a pleasant layer of fat that melts in your mouth. Yum!
Avg Price: $5 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Peter Wong

This hawker stall at Amoy Street Food Centre has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 2013, working its way to being awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand in both 2016 and 2017. Run by Shatec graduates and fine-dining-trained chefs Gwern Khoo and Ben Tham, A Noodle Story puts a premium spin on local wanton noodles, and their service is top-notch too! Brave the queues for their lauded Singapore Style Ramen ($7). Unlike what its name suggests, the base features thin, springy wanton noodles laced in an umami-rich sauce, topped with painstakingly prepared ingredients — juicy prawn-filled dumplings, a crisp-golden potato prawn, an oozy lava egg and, in Tastemaker Kelly Wong's words, "melt-in-your-mouth chashu bathed in a sweet and savoury gravy". Be prepared to wait an average of 30 minutes for a bowl of this deliciousness, although the Burpple community seems to have had luck with 15-minute waits when they visit at the magic hour of 6:15pm. Our advice? Better early and wait than late, for they close the stall the moment noodles run out, more or less around 7pm.
Avg Price: $10 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Kelly Wong

As our Tastemakers soon realised, Seah Im Food Centre is full of budget-friendly gems. Take for instance this bowl of Braised Duck Kway Teow Noodles Soup ($3). Tastemaker Ice Blossom was blown away by the generous portion of tender duck meat topping the noodles, which come bathed in a comforting, herbal broth. This makes for an incredibly warming meal on cool, rainy days. You might want to take her lead and stir in some chilli for a bit of a kick! They also serve a pretty decent bowl of Lor Mee ($3), topped generously with a variety of ingredients that Tastemaker Casey Tan says often feature only as add-ons in other stalls.
Avg Price: $5 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Ice Blossom

Eat 3 Bowls makes it incredibly easy to eat three bowls of their Taiwanese street food offerings, from the Salted Crispy Chicken ($4) to their Intestine Mee Sua ($3.50). Whether you’re into innards or not, try the latter. Even Tastemaker Xing Wei Chua, who usually doesn’t enjoy innards, found the combination of slippery mee sua in thick gravy and crunchy fried innards to be irresistible. The Tastemakers’ consensus of a top dish here is the delicious Braised Pork Rice ($2.50). Describing the rice as "very moist and fragrant with gravy", Tastemaker Peiwen vouches for its authentic flavour that matches up to the ones she's had in Taiwan.
Avg Price: $5 per person
Photo by Burpple Tastemaker Xing Wei Chua

As many Singaporeans will attest to, nothing hits the spot in the mornings quite like kaya (coconut jam) toast, soft boiled eggs and a hot beverage. Kaya toast shops are aplenty, and like most dishes, locals each have their favourite. A well-known chain in town, Ya Kun has various locations, one of which is in the heart of the Orchard shopping district at 313@Somerset. Come by for breakfast or tea before or in between trawling the shops. The classic Kaya Butter Toast Set ($4.80) comes with four thin pieces of toast, soft-boiled eggs (best enlivened with pepper and drizzles of black soy sauce) and a hot coffee or tea (known as kopi or teh). The star is no doubt the thinly sliced bread, toasted on a charcoal grill till crisp, then slathered with luscious kaya and sandwiched with a thin slab of chilled butter. Pro tip: Here's a trick to ordering your kopi or teh like a local. Say "siew dai" if you like it less sweet, "gao" if you like it stronger and "peng" if you want it iced (usually at an extra charge).
Avg Price: $5 per person
Photo by Burppler Hilary See