Clarke Quay Food Street, Singapore Food Festival 2009

Video of the Kick Off Festival at the Clarke Quay

I arrived just in time as the organizers of the Peranakan parade pounding on chili to mark the opening ceremonies of the Singapore Food Festival 2009. Clarke Quay at Read Bridge was teeming with eager customers ready to try the lip-smacking food ranging from popular local delicacies to exquisite Peranakan snacks.

It took a popular TV soap opera called “The Little Nyonya” to boost the declining Peranakan culture For the first time, a Peranakan parade where more than 200 Peranakans, elaborately dressed in traditional gear, marched down to Clarke Quay.

Around 30 stalls dotted the Clarke Quay-Food street.

You can tell the most popular dishes by the queue. I took that as my gauge on what to eat for dinner. I wanted the rojak but the line was just too long.

Rojak, which means “wild mix” or “combination of ingredients” in Malay, is built on a vibrant assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, which may include pineapple, cucumber, sweet turnip, water spinach, green apple, beansprouts, water apple, green mango, guava, slivers of lime zest, and shredded ginger bud. A generous sprinkle of finely chopped roasted peanuts is added to the mix.

The next most popular stall was the “Thye Hong Fried Prawn Noodle” otherwise known as Hokkien Mee. The queue wasn’t too bad so I decided to stick it out here.

Placed on top of dried palm leaves, it added a unique touch to the dish.

Other favorites in the Food Street were the perennial hawker favorites like Chilli Crab & Black Pepper Crab, Chicken Rice, Satay

Much as I wanted to take more photos and sample the dishes, the Food Street was jumpacked. See for yourself.

And I met two wonderful Singapore Food Bloggers who got introduced to me by Benjamin Yee Meng, Singapore Tourism Board New Media Senior Officer. Heng Ju-Ee to my right blogs at thelittleteochew.blogspot.com where you will learn about her favorite dish, Rempah. Beside her is Catherine Ling who blogs at camemberu.com. Oh, and Heng is a Nuffnang Singapore member too!

Anyway, it’s been a long day. I will add more to this tomorrow.

(to be continued)

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