Does this vegetarian/pescatarian make a special trip to eat chicken from the world’s first hawker stall to get a Michelin star? Yes lah. Hawker Chan has come a long way from his dingy stall at People’s Park in Singapore since he earned a Michelin star in 2016. Apparently an investor helped him open a fast-food like shop in Chinatown that’s like a soya chicken factory. Still, I had to go and experience it for myself. The chicken was indeed very tender with just the right amount of seasoning. Even I could appreciate it (and I’ve only eaten poultry a few times in the last 25 years), and in my jet-lagged fog I gobbled it up. The rice was kinda yuck – mushy and cold. I’d get the noodles next time.
So, in the photos: top left and clockwise, (1) Hawker Chan’s soya chicken with rice in Chinatown S$3; (2) char kway teow, wok-fried flat rice noodle with egg, fish cake and cockles (lil clams) at the Tiong Bahru hawker center S$3; (3) popiah, crepe-wrapped veggies and egg at the Maxwell Road hawker center, S$2, this was maybe my favorite; (4) rojak, a salad-like mix of cucumbers, bean sprouts, pineapple, radish, bean curd and cut you tao (dough fritters) topped with a black bean-chili-prawn-sesame paste at the Maxwell Road hawker center, S$3.