Eating in Singapore with Kids: Hawker Centres

Asia is an amazing place if you are a foodie. Singapore, in particular, has a great reputation as being a city filled with great local and exotic cuisine. Singapore has a huge food blog scene (Some blogs are great -like one of my favorites I Eat I Shoot I Post while others have recently raised a ruckus for failing to disclose the fact they don’t pay for meals.

Anyway, I was reading today in the Singapore Expat Living magazine (where VagabondDad just had an article published by the way (Skip to page 244 on the flipbook here) and I noticed that in 4 reviews of places to travel, few if any ventured beyond the hotel to eat. What a waste! Why travel to places if you are not going to try to eat local dishes, and no I am not maligning the hotel restaurants, they probably do a mean Laksa, but at three times the cost. BUT, what about the kids? You know those little ones that are traveling along with you. Not an adventurous bunch? Mac and Cheese the extent of the culinary range? Well, fear not, Singapore’s got that covered too - you can hit the Chili’s if you need to, but our first stop is the hawker center for some Local Food. Here are a few favorites dishes that grown ups and kids will enjoy and they won’t break the bank.




Chicken Rice

Seriously, my daughter would eat this dish (and Ramen noodles) for a week straight if I let her. Chicken Rice is a simple meal with either Roasted or Steamed Chicken, a bowl of chicken broth and rice cooked in chicken stock for extra flavor. Served with soy sauce, chopped garlic and chili sauce (for the brave) all on the side.


Source Here

Roti Prata

Grilled flour based “pancakes” served in Indian food stalls. Dipped in curry, if you want, a simple and delicious snack.



Satay

Grilled chicken, beef or lamb (not pork) grilled over a fire on sticks. Who doesn’t like BBQ meat on a stick! Served with cucumber slices and rice formed into cubes. Also, served with a Peanut dipping sauce.




Photo Source

Ice Kacang or Cendol

Basically two versions of the same dish. Cendol is shaved ice with a brown sugar topping and coconut milk and Ice Kacang has additional toppings, a red syrup and can include corn and beans (yes really) and it is delicious. But they are both great for a desert in the warm tropical business!





Cooking up some Satay



Note: I am in the process of reorganizing my pictures so I was able to grab images from Flickr to round out this post. All images that are not my own have been credited.