Local Delight – Char Kway Teow

A popular dish in Singapore and various Asian countries

This dish is always attracting customers to eat. Customers are willing to queue and wait as long as possible just to eat this. What is this special dish? Make a guess! It’s obviously the famous fried Char Kway Teow that can be found in Singapore.

It tastes like fried rice noodles with enticing sweet and smoky fragrant flavours, typically served with juicy morsels of seafood and meat. An all-time Singaporean delight with a huge following! Here’s a picture of it!

Char Kway Teow, literally “stir-fried rice cake strips”, is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore. It is traditional and delicious yet affordable. Well, personally, I love this dish, although it is a bit spicy. As the dish has become increasingly popular, many cooks have come up with their own interpretations of the same basic main ingredient of rice cake strips/flat rice noodles fried with anything from eggs (chicken or duck), onions, garlic, prawns, cockles, Chinese sausage, chives, etc.

Also, we should not eat too much of it as it is quite unhealthy. Char Kway Teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its high saturated fat content. However, when the dish was first invented, it was mainly served to labourers. The high fat content and low cost of the dish made it attractive to these people as it was a cheap source of energy and nutrients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by fishermen, farmers and cockle-gatherers who doubled as Char Kway Teow hawkers in the evening to supplement their income.

Here are some of the best Char Kway Teow found in Singapore!

Hill Street Char Kway Teow

Bedok South Road Market & Food Centre #01-187

Blk 16 Bedok South Road S(460016)

Zion Road Fried Kway Teow

Zion Riverside Food Centre Stall 17

70 Zion Road S(247792)

Lao Fu Zi Fried Kway Teow

Old Airport Road Food Centre #01-12

51 Old Airport Road S(390051)

These stalls were recommended by many whom have tasted the Char Kway Teow there. If I find the time to, I might want to go and try the Char Kway Teow there! You all should go and try them too!

-Chevonne Law (1H)