Monday 23 July 2007

Join The Queue

If you want to find the best food in a food court look for the longest queue. Singaporeans are very discerning when it comes to such matters and joining the back of a long queue is seldom a wrong move.

Mind you, there are some aberrations - the extraordinary lemming-like activity at the Doughnut Factory in Raffles City being one. Apparently the owner had originally wanted to buy the franchise of a well known brand, couldn't afford to, so developed his own.

The secret to his success? Innovation. Local flavours such as Durian, Chocolate and Durian or (presumably for the most jaded taste buds) Durian, Milo and Mango.

Our queue experience today was at the Redhill Food Centre which is adjacent to the market. We were running late so didn't reach the Bak Kee Teochew Satay Bee Hoon stall until about 2 pm.


Satay Bee Hoon is a yummy dish and the father and sons who run this stall are Bee Hoon artistes. Unbeknown to us another blogger had nominated this food outlet as the best for this local delicacy. I would happily second his opinion.

Satay Bee Hoon is a concoction of satay sauce poured over sliced cuttle fish, liver, chicken etc. on a bed of rice vermicelli. 'Bee Hoon' is the name for rice vermicelli.

I mention liver as it is something that seems to have disappeared off most western dinner plates in recent times. When I was a child my English-born mother would often make use of sweetbreads, stuffed sheep's hearts, tripe and liver - not forgetting kidneys on toast for breakfast. And quite delicious they were to.

Perhaps contemporary western cuisine panders too much to the squeamish? The Chinese have no such qualms and their food offerings are the better for it.

It could be also that having been born into a country where the sheep population was five times the human one, I was endeavouring to redress the balance but eating every part of the sheep possible!

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