Today in Singapore Trails, I started with the desire to do a piece about our wet markets in Singapore. I made my way to the far North of Singapore. Determined, I walked towards the market. But instead of researching and talking to the vendors at the market, my eyes and nose led me towards the hawker centre over at Blk 20, Marsiling Lane.
In the past, there were hawkers with their pushcarts. They set up stall along the roadside and though food were pretty delicious, the food preparation was rather unhygienic. My parents vouched that this was the reason for food being tasty. The government thus decided to put these hawkers all under a one roof. (1) Usually, hawker centres are located beside a wet market.
The first mention of hawker centre in the newspaper was seen in The Straits Times, June 24, 1966. It was a tender calling for the building of a two-storey hawker centre along MacPherson Road. (2)
Hawker centres are integral to how Singaporeans eat and live. Singaporeans are never found too far away from food. It's a discussion topic at many office pantries, a hobby for some who will go around taking photos of good eats, and a religion for a few who cannot live without hawker food.
The government had even seen hawker centres as tourists attractions. (3) Now, there are more than 100 hawker centres that are spread out across Singapore. (4)
My Prawn Mee Experience
Ok, now back to my Prawn Mee story. For one I'm no food connoisseur. So when I arrived at the Marsiling Lane Hawker Centre, I looked around for the stall with the longest queue. That honour went to Lai Xing Prawn Noodle stall.
I contemplated about queuing as I really detest waiting in line for something, no matter how good they are. But since it's the New Year, I thought, "Why Not?"
The queue was 17-person long. 17-PERSON? That's crazy! I start to scramble for my mobile phone while getting into line. I'd wanted to find out if this was truly worth the wait. What I saw from my Google search was not too affirming. Other than its address listing in a few websites, nothing more could be found about this prawn mee stall. My instinct kicked in and I decided to be a good Singaporean and stay in the queue. IT WAS A 30-MINUTE WAIT! By the time I got to the front of the queue, I felt really accomplished!
Lai Xing Prawn Noodle
Since I'd already queue so long, why not make the full use of my time and have a chat with the stall owners. They looked so busy that with every question that I asked, I felt daggers of stare from the back that seemed to be saying that I'm delaying the serving of my bowl of noodle. In truth, I had only about 45 seconds with them. Still what they shared intrigued me.
- They started selling food in 1975 but were selling other stuff and not prawn mee
- When they first started, the entire swath of land in front of the hawker centre were swamps
- There were lots of mosquitoes
- Lai Xing Prawn Noodle stall came into existence in the early 1980s
- They have now been around for about 30 years
Finally, How did it taste?
By 10am, they have ran out of bee hoon. So I told them to mix mee with kuay teow. The gravy was light and the noodles, tasty.
Ingredients included prawns, layered pork and chunky pork meat. So this was what the people were queuing up for. Worth the try. What's more, this stall has 30 years behind them.
Blk 20, Marsiling Lane
#01-05
Singapore 730020
References
1. Hawkers off the streets by 1975. August 5, 1970. The Straits Times. Page 1.
2. Housing and Development Board. June 24, 1966. The Straits Times. Page 16.
3. The Straits Times. May 27, 1968. Our food can attract tourists.Page 6.
4. National Environment Agency. Managing Hawker Centres and Markets in Singapore. Retrieved on January 3, 2015. http://app2.nea.gov.sg/public-health/hawker-centres
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