Katong's Original Hawker Food Experience
It may not look like much: at first glance, it looks like a number of stalls crammed into the ground level of a carpark building. But this collection of food stalls happens to be one of the most popular public hawker centers on the island, outperforming the others in informal polls.
Since it opened in 1973, Old Airport Road Food Centre has hosted some of the finest family hawker enterprises, selling near-legendary satay bee hoon, char kway teow, and rojak.
Today, 168 stalls make up the hawker center component on the ground floor, selling inexpensive but delectable Singapore and international favorites. You'll only need to spend about SGD 5-7 (about $4 to $5.50) for a belly-busting meal at the Old Airport Road Food Centre: awesomely great value typical of Singapore's hawker centers.
Your guide was brought to the Old Airport Road Food Centre by Makansutra and its founder, Singapore food enthusiast K.F. Seetoh. "Old Airport Road has been around for very long, it's got very good food, a very good reputation," Seetoh told us as we waited for our order. "You get stuff from breakfast all the way to supper. And there's a huge carpark beside it - it's one of the main factors of a good hawker center. All good hawker centers have got huge carparks."
Seetoh then ordered four Old Airport Road favorites for us, his guests: pictures and an account of the eating experience follow in the next few pages.
Pork and Chicken Satay like Grandpa Used to Make
Chuan Kee Satay
#01-85 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open evenings: from 6pm to 10pm (earlier if sold out before 10); open from 1pm till sold out on Sundays; closed on Mondays and Thursdays
You can find satay in every corner of Singapore, but for really special satay - the kind that makes your Singaporean grandpa's eyes twinkle with the memories of itinerant hawkers roasting and selling the stuff from carts on the streets - you go to Chuan Kee Satay, which serves grilled pork skewers served with a side of sliced onions and cucumber.
It's not satay without peanut sauce; Chuan Kee serves a thick peanut and pineapple gravy, meant to be poured over the sticks before you dig in (see above). Heard of any other stalls that put pineapple in their satay sauce? Didn't think so, but Chuan Kee delivers. K.F. Seetoh himself gives two thumbs up: "that kind of peanut sauce, anybody will love, it's just so nice!"
We were served sticks of pork and chicken satay; the latter is more commonplace in Malaysia and Indonesia, both Muslim countries that tend to avoid pork. (Read this entry on Indonesian sate ayam, or this one about a sate ayam master in Jakarta.) "Pork satay [is] not common in the land of satay, which is Indonesia," K.F. Seetoh tells us. "This is a Chinese and Peranakan [style of] pork satay."
"The satay meat is tender and not too tough to bite and it has a balance of lean and fatty meat which makes it a real delight," gushes Dr. Leslie Tay, the prolific Singapore food blogger behind I Eat, I Shoot, I Post. "The peanut sauce or satay sauce also has pineapple in it which is quite rare...
I feel that this adds more depth to the satay. Definitely recommended!"
The Crocodile King's Croc Meat in Black Pepper Sauce
Singapore King Crocodile
#01-134 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open for lunch till 9m or till stock runs out, whichever comes first
Tel: +65 8313 4233, sgkingcroc@gmail.com
Guide's note: the Singapore King Crocodile stall is now closed.
If the movie "Peter Pan" has you feeling sorry for Captain Hook and angry at the crocodile, you can wreak psychic revenge at Old Airport Road by ordering a steaming plate of crocodile meat stir-fried in black pepper sauce.
"Singapore King Crocodile" (shortened to "SgKingCroc" in the signage), ruled by Singapore's "Crocodile King" Tony Tee, specializes in cooked crocodile meat served in a variety of ways: apart from the stir-fried meat mentioned above, the Kingdom also dispenses croc meat porridge, croc noodles, and croc meat bak kut teh. There's plenty of demand for Mr. Tee's quirky product, as the stall sells an estimated 30 to 40 kilograms of crocodile meat at any given day. (Source)
The meat is entirely legal, sourced from the Long Kuan Hung Crocodile Farm in Kranji, Singapore. The Farm houses about 9,000 saltwater crocodiles; the skins are harvested for milliners in Europe and Japan, while the meat is sold locally to enterprising hawkers like Mr. Tee. (Source)
It tastes like pork, this crocodile meat: like sweet, delicate pork medallions with plenty of give, melting in the mouth as you chew. Better yet, it's even healthier than its taste analogue: "Crocodile is totally natural, and they are selling it at regular supermarkets - lower cholesterol than pork and beef."
Chi Shuang Shuang
#01-51 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open for lunch till stock runs out
This unassuming stall in Old Airport Road sells goreng pisang (fried banana), but their secret weapon is a devastatingly delicious goreng durian, coated in tempura breadcrumbs and fried to deep, golden perfection.
In case you haven't tried the magnificent durian fruit, well, the best I can say is that it's an acquired taste.
First-time eaters of durian may be surprised when they bite down into the goreng durian - after all, it's pure durian meat under that crispy tempura skin. The durian flesh underneath is undeniably fresh and creamy, oozing out with every bite; we might just agree to disagree whether the aroma is wholesome or not.
This kind of durian preparation isn't exactly original: "[It's the] same kind of things you find in restaurants - deep fried durian, it's not new," explains K.F. Seetoh. "He froze fresh durian meat, battered it and fried it. But I've never seen this in a hawker, and theirs is very good!"
Lim Hin Assorted Cut Fruits & Fruit Juices
#01-136 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open for lunch till 9pm or till stock runs out, whichever comes first
Tel: +65 8224 8552
Let's say your reaction to durian resembles Andrew Zimmern's - we understand if your reaction to trying another exotic Southeast Asian fruit isn't very enthusiastic. But we promise: you won't be struggling to keep soursop juice down, in fact we bet you'll beg for seconds!
Soursop (Annona muricata, Wikipedia) produces a pulpy, seedy juice that tastes like a cross between apples and lemons. Fruit bar Lim Hin serves soursop juice in large plastic cups with ice - ideal for dousing the flames any spicy food may have left in your mouth!
The owner, James Fua, used to sell his soursop juice at a stall near the Singapore Botanical Gardens; after the area was redeveloped, James moved his operation to Old Airport Road, where his juice still earns fans from a new generation of hawker enthusiasts.
Unlike other soursop sellers, James makes the stuff fresh every day, avoiding the use of preserved or refrigerated stuff. Drinking James' soursop juice requires the use of a straw and a spoon, as he shows K.F. Seetoh in this video.
It may not look like much: at first glance, it looks like a number of stalls crammed into the ground level of a carpark building. But this collection of food stalls happens to be one of the most popular public hawker centers on the island, outperforming the others in informal polls.
Since it opened in 1973, Old Airport Road Food Centre has hosted some of the finest family hawker enterprises, selling near-legendary satay bee hoon, char kway teow, and rojak.
Today, 168 stalls make up the hawker center component on the ground floor, selling inexpensive but delectable Singapore and international favorites. You'll only need to spend about SGD 5-7 (about $4 to $5.50) for a belly-busting meal at the Old Airport Road Food Centre: awesomely great value typical of Singapore's hawker centers.
Your guide was brought to the Old Airport Road Food Centre by Makansutra and its founder, Singapore food enthusiast K.F. Seetoh. "Old Airport Road has been around for very long, it's got very good food, a very good reputation," Seetoh told us as we waited for our order. "You get stuff from breakfast all the way to supper. And there's a huge carpark beside it - it's one of the main factors of a good hawker center. All good hawker centers have got huge carparks."
Seetoh then ordered four Old Airport Road favorites for us, his guests: pictures and an account of the eating experience follow in the next few pages.
- How to get there: Old Airport Road Food Centre is located in the Katong neighborhood east of Marina Bay. Ride the Singapore MRT and disembark at Dakota MRT Station (Circle Line; CC8). The Food Centre is 140 yards west of the station exit. Old Airport Road Food Centre on Google Maps. For more on using Singapore's efficient transport system, read our article about Riding Singapore's MRT and Buses with the EZ-Link Card.
- Nearby accommodations: the neighborhood of Katong, where Old Airport Road is located, happens to host some of Singapore's top budget hotels - see this list of Katong and Joo Chiat budget hotels for details.
- Hawker history: For more on Singapore's hawker culture, read our introduction of Singapore hawker centers, or check out our list of top ten hawker centers in Singapore. For a Singapore event that puts the spotlight on the world's best street food, check this out: The World Street Food Congress Convenes in Singapore.
- Government lowdown: Visit the official government-run page on Old Airport Road Hawker Centre.
Pork and Chicken Satay like Grandpa Used to Make
Chuan Kee Satay
#01-85 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open evenings: from 6pm to 10pm (earlier if sold out before 10); open from 1pm till sold out on Sundays; closed on Mondays and Thursdays
You can find satay in every corner of Singapore, but for really special satay - the kind that makes your Singaporean grandpa's eyes twinkle with the memories of itinerant hawkers roasting and selling the stuff from carts on the streets - you go to Chuan Kee Satay, which serves grilled pork skewers served with a side of sliced onions and cucumber.
It's not satay without peanut sauce; Chuan Kee serves a thick peanut and pineapple gravy, meant to be poured over the sticks before you dig in (see above). Heard of any other stalls that put pineapple in their satay sauce? Didn't think so, but Chuan Kee delivers. K.F. Seetoh himself gives two thumbs up: "that kind of peanut sauce, anybody will love, it's just so nice!"
We were served sticks of pork and chicken satay; the latter is more commonplace in Malaysia and Indonesia, both Muslim countries that tend to avoid pork. (Read this entry on Indonesian sate ayam, or this one about a sate ayam master in Jakarta.) "Pork satay [is] not common in the land of satay, which is Indonesia," K.F. Seetoh tells us. "This is a Chinese and Peranakan [style of] pork satay."
"The satay meat is tender and not too tough to bite and it has a balance of lean and fatty meat which makes it a real delight," gushes Dr. Leslie Tay, the prolific Singapore food blogger behind I Eat, I Shoot, I Post. "The peanut sauce or satay sauce also has pineapple in it which is quite rare...
I feel that this adds more depth to the satay. Definitely recommended!"
The Crocodile King's Croc Meat in Black Pepper Sauce
Singapore King Crocodile
#01-134 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open for lunch till 9m or till stock runs out, whichever comes first
Tel: +65 8313 4233, sgkingcroc@gmail.com
Guide's note: the Singapore King Crocodile stall is now closed.
If the movie "Peter Pan" has you feeling sorry for Captain Hook and angry at the crocodile, you can wreak psychic revenge at Old Airport Road by ordering a steaming plate of crocodile meat stir-fried in black pepper sauce.
"Singapore King Crocodile" (shortened to "SgKingCroc" in the signage), ruled by Singapore's "Crocodile King" Tony Tee, specializes in cooked crocodile meat served in a variety of ways: apart from the stir-fried meat mentioned above, the Kingdom also dispenses croc meat porridge, croc noodles, and croc meat bak kut teh. There's plenty of demand for Mr. Tee's quirky product, as the stall sells an estimated 30 to 40 kilograms of crocodile meat at any given day. (Source)
The meat is entirely legal, sourced from the Long Kuan Hung Crocodile Farm in Kranji, Singapore. The Farm houses about 9,000 saltwater crocodiles; the skins are harvested for milliners in Europe and Japan, while the meat is sold locally to enterprising hawkers like Mr. Tee. (Source)
It tastes like pork, this crocodile meat: like sweet, delicate pork medallions with plenty of give, melting in the mouth as you chew. Better yet, it's even healthier than its taste analogue: "Crocodile is totally natural, and they are selling it at regular supermarkets - lower cholesterol than pork and beef."
Chi Shuang Shuang
#01-51 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open for lunch till stock runs out
This unassuming stall in Old Airport Road sells goreng pisang (fried banana), but their secret weapon is a devastatingly delicious goreng durian, coated in tempura breadcrumbs and fried to deep, golden perfection.
In case you haven't tried the magnificent durian fruit, well, the best I can say is that it's an acquired taste.
First-time eaters of durian may be surprised when they bite down into the goreng durian - after all, it's pure durian meat under that crispy tempura skin. The durian flesh underneath is undeniably fresh and creamy, oozing out with every bite; we might just agree to disagree whether the aroma is wholesome or not.
This kind of durian preparation isn't exactly original: "[It's the] same kind of things you find in restaurants - deep fried durian, it's not new," explains K.F. Seetoh. "He froze fresh durian meat, battered it and fried it. But I've never seen this in a hawker, and theirs is very good!"
Lim Hin Assorted Cut Fruits & Fruit Juices
#01-136 Blk 51 Old Airport Road Food Centre
Open for lunch till 9pm or till stock runs out, whichever comes first
Tel: +65 8224 8552
Let's say your reaction to durian resembles Andrew Zimmern's - we understand if your reaction to trying another exotic Southeast Asian fruit isn't very enthusiastic. But we promise: you won't be struggling to keep soursop juice down, in fact we bet you'll beg for seconds!
Soursop (Annona muricata, Wikipedia) produces a pulpy, seedy juice that tastes like a cross between apples and lemons. Fruit bar Lim Hin serves soursop juice in large plastic cups with ice - ideal for dousing the flames any spicy food may have left in your mouth!
The owner, James Fua, used to sell his soursop juice at a stall near the Singapore Botanical Gardens; after the area was redeveloped, James moved his operation to Old Airport Road, where his juice still earns fans from a new generation of hawker enthusiasts.
Unlike other soursop sellers, James makes the stuff fresh every day, avoiding the use of preserved or refrigerated stuff. Drinking James' soursop juice requires the use of a straw and a spoon, as he shows K.F. Seetoh in this video.
Source...