One last Singapore food post! If you've been reading recent comments, you've probably gathered that my foodie friend and loyal blog reader David once came to Singapore for a visit. It was my distinct pleasure to introduce to him the wonders of the Singaporean hawker centre.
Singapore is dotted with hawker centres, which are basically giant covered, open-air food courts where local vendors have individual stands, usually specializing in a handful of dishes. I would guess the average hawker centre has around 30-40 vendors, usually covering popular Singaporean foods and drinks from Chinese, Malay, Indian and Indonesian cuisines. The diversity of cuisines reflects the country's ethnic makeup, but by now they're all considered Singaporean dishes.

You can get five kinds of fish ball soup at one vendor, handmade noodles at three others, chicken rice in the other corner, 18 kinds of juice squeezed in front of you, etc. I love it. The only place I've ever come across in the US that gave me remotely the same feeling was the second floor of this building in Boston's Chinatown. It only had about 6 vendors, but the dumplings were delicious, one of the vendors made bubble tea, and the atmosphere was fantastic. I still miss that place.
Anyway, the (first) hawker centre I took David to was on the ground floor of an old public housing apartment block, and I suspect that as we approached he was a little wary of what kind of cheap food I was touting that would be found in such a place. Then we stepped into the first aisle, and David stopped in his tracks, jaw open with what I can only describe as a sense of awe. I left him looking around and wandered off to get a plate of dumplings; when I returned with my goodies, I was met by a look of confusion mixed with disappointment. "You got dumplings? But you could get dumplings in the US!" "Umm...nope. Not like these." David dutifully tried one of my dumplings (I'd gotten well over a dozen for less than US$2) and was made a believer. "Ohmygod... these are really good! They're crispy but soft at the same time... and they're just... really good. Wait, how much did you pay for these? Oh my god." He then went off to do some more surveying and sample some more adventurous dishes, but I was pleased to have had my dumpling choice validated. :)