The bowl of bak chor mee comes in an intricate porcelain bowl, with a generous portion of minced pork, egg, and large pieces of dried sole fish. On the side, a robust broth chock-full of fish maw pieces.
To be sure, this is a bowl of bak chor mee from Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle, a well-known hawker stall that has been around for over 35 years. Only, the dish isn’t being served in a muggy hawker centre and eaten while mopping the sweat off one’s brow; instead, it is one of six main courses on the menu at The Lobby Lounge in Shangri-la Hotel.
In Search Of Hawkers
This is part of a new hawker heritage semi-buffet lunch that the hotel came up with earlier this year. But this is no tourist trap. Instead, plenty of care is put into this to ensure the dishes are as authentic as possible.
To be sure, this is a bowl of bak chor mee from Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle, a well-known hawker stall that has been around for over 35 years. Only, the dish isn’t being served in a muggy hawker centre and eaten while mopping the sweat off one’s brow; instead, it is one of six main courses on the menu at The Lobby Lounge in Shangri-la Hotel.
In Search Of Hawkers
This is part of a new hawker heritage semi-buffet lunch that the hotel came up with earlier this year. But this is no tourist trap. Instead, plenty of care is put into this to ensure the dishes are as authentic as possible.
The inspired version of bak chor mee by Seng Kee Mushroom Minced Meat Noodle stall.
To create the six mains, the hotel worked with known hawkers such as Seng Kee, Bib Gourmand- recommended restaurant Ka-Soh, and Beach Road Prawn Mee, to recreate their popular dishes like fish soup and prawn noodles based on the hawkers’ recipes. The hawkers themselves also return to the hotel to check on the quality of their dishes.
Over at the Grand Hyatt Singapore, StraitsKitchen shares the same vision of offering the best of Singapore’s hawker fare in the comfort of a luxury hotel setting. StraitsKitchen was the first restaurant in Singapore that brought hawker fare into the plush settings of a 5-star hotel.
Their story begins with a team of chefs from Grand Hyatt Singapore embarking on a 6-month long search to discover the best local food and hawkers on our sunny island, with the idea to recreate their recipes. Upon realising that the recreated flavours could only come close to being a shadow of the original, the hotel decided to employ these local hawkers instead and brought them on-board to launch StraitsKitchen in 2004.
Their story begins with a team of chefs from Grand Hyatt Singapore embarking on a 6-month long search to discover the best local food and hawkers on our sunny island, with the idea to recreate their recipes. Upon realising that the recreated flavours could only come close to being a shadow of the original, the hotel decided to employ these local hawkers instead and brought them on-board to launch StraitsKitchen in 2004.
Naan from Indian Station from StraitsKitchen
Same Recipe, Quality Ingredients
The recipes used for the hawker dishes at both hotels might come direct from the source, but one thing these hotels do to elevate the dish is to focus on using top-quality ingredients. At the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, for instance, top grade fish maw is used in the robust broth accompanying the bak chor mee. Here, large spongy pieces of maw sop up the flavour from the soup, and each piece has a subtle taste with a firm texture — a mark of quality.
On their menu at StraitsKitchen, the dishes on display are a tribute to the best of Singapore’s multi-racial culture, such as laksa, Haianese chicken rice, roti prata, and ayam buah keluak. But while you might find ready-made stacks of prata at a hawker stall, in a bid to preempt the long queues, the roti prata here at StraitsKitchen is always made a la minute, served with a rich luscious curry on the side.
The recipes used for the hawker dishes at both hotels might come direct from the source, but one thing these hotels do to elevate the dish is to focus on using top-quality ingredients. At the Shangri-La Hotel Singapore, for instance, top grade fish maw is used in the robust broth accompanying the bak chor mee. Here, large spongy pieces of maw sop up the flavour from the soup, and each piece has a subtle taste with a firm texture — a mark of quality.
On their menu at StraitsKitchen, the dishes on display are a tribute to the best of Singapore’s multi-racial culture, such as laksa, Haianese chicken rice, roti prata, and ayam buah keluak. But while you might find ready-made stacks of prata at a hawker stall, in a bid to preempt the long queues, the roti prata here at StraitsKitchen is always made a la minute, served with a rich luscious curry on the side.
Dining In A Classy Ambience
To be sure, these hotels are no longer just putting classic local dishes such as Hainanese chicken rice on the room service menu to serve tourists. Instead, the humble hawker fare finds a new home in the posh settings of The Lobby Lounge at Shangri-La Hotel and the architecturally-stunning StraitsKitchen in Grand Hyatt Singapore.
Not only do diners no longer need to mop sweat off their brow while eating — even if some might argue there's a certain charm in that — there's also all the good hawker dishes offered in one stop.
With such careful attention to detail and quality, it’s time to brush off the notion that hawker dishes in a hotel setting is just an afterthought.
To be sure, these hotels are no longer just putting classic local dishes such as Hainanese chicken rice on the room service menu to serve tourists. Instead, the humble hawker fare finds a new home in the posh settings of The Lobby Lounge at Shangri-La Hotel and the architecturally-stunning StraitsKitchen in Grand Hyatt Singapore.
Not only do diners no longer need to mop sweat off their brow while eating — even if some might argue there's a certain charm in that — there's also all the good hawker dishes offered in one stop.
With such careful attention to detail and quality, it’s time to brush off the notion that hawker dishes in a hotel setting is just an afterthought.
This post is jointly sponsored by Shangri-La Hotel Singapore and the Grand Hyatt Singapore.
