Tuesday, September 30, 2008

The Original Singapore McRib

Recently, Katherine and I met up with our Singapore family at a traditional "Hawker Center" for dinner.

Hawker centers are covered outdoor venues that are very common throughout Singapore. Their charming authenticity and homemade food has been both cheap and accessible for generations of Singaporeans. While the food is also considered "fast", it is a far cry from Western fast food.

The most obvious difference is in the southeast Asian menu, where you can find all kinds of treasures for the palate including: Hainanese Chicken rice, fried intestines, sauced chicken feet and my personal favorite, roasted pig organs.
I doubt I'll ever see these items on a McDonalds menu board. Of course the actual ingredients of the McRib is unquestionably suspect, but I don't expect to hear "gimme a McPig Organ extra value meal" uttered in my lifetime.

Please don't get me wrong. I love these places. Indeed, the unique charm of these Hawker centers have won this expatriot over. The variety and quality of these meals have left me hungering for more.

Now let's see, I think that I'll have a rainbow Ice Kachang - the Singaporean corn-filled snowcone - for dessert. Ah, now that's life.

4 comments:

  1. A corn filled dessert? It doesn't seem you've gone too far from Nebraska.

    Dare I ask if it's possible for a vegetarian to eat in these hawker centers?

    Have a great vacation!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love international food. I especially love the stuff that sounds like it would be disgusting but is actually delicious. Like the crab-flavored gelato I had in Italy a few years ago. I've been craving more of that ever since.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That dessert looks like what I'd expect if Qdoba had Ice cream.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That dessert looks terrifying.

    ReplyDelete