9 Food Souvenirs to Bring Back from Singapore

Everytime I go travelling, without fail, I will google what are the best souvenirs to bring back to Singapore from that country. And of course, food often ranks high on that list.

Instead of telling you to buy merlion fridge magnets (what?), here is a list of 10 food souvenirs to bring back from Singapore- from a Singaporean's perspective (i.e. I do not consider the Singapore sling a worthy souvenir).

1. Kaya 

Kaya is a coconut jam spread, that it is made from coconut milk, sugar and eggs. There are recipes online (for example, Rasamalaysia) but really, I am not going to go through all that effort to make kaya.

My cousin who stays in Germany recently requested that I bring 3 bottles of kaya when I visited. The family of 2 adults and 2 children finished one bottle in 2 weeks!

I have Glory brand Nonya Kaya at home, and know of others who have this brand at home too. At less than S$3 for a 400g jar, this is an inexpensive souvenir.

Credit: RedMart

Alternatively, if you are looking for something more presentable, and possibly more reputable to foreigners, you may want to go for Ya Kun's kaya at S$4.80 for a 290g jar.

Credi: Ya Kun 

Alternative:

If you know Ya Kun, you probably would know Toast Box as well.

I was very intrigued by the Sprouting Kits sold by Toast Box. Firstly, this is a charitable effort where they help to raise funds for Abilities Beyond Limitations and Expectations. Secondly, you may say ahh this does not fall under the food category! Well, the sprouting kit comes with soil compost processed from Toast Box's recycled coffee grounds, together with seeds for growing the sprouts, so yes, it kind of counts as food.

I know for a fact that the plants that my friend grew in an office environment had sprouted uncontrollably, meaning that these are really easy plants to care and maintain for.

The sprouting kit is sold for S$5 each and 100% of the proceeds go to charity.

Credit: Toast Box 

2. Pandan Cake 

CNN has named Pandan Cake as Singapore's national cake- you may therefore want to bring a box of it back. Do ask about its shelf life beforehand.

Pandan cake is a chiffon cake made with the juice of the pandan plant. CNN has specifically named Pine Garden and Bengawan Solo for their pandan cakes. I have tried both and both are great. But if you don't want to specially go out of the way to get your hands on some pandan cakes, Bengawan Solo is a better option because there are many outlets in Singapore, including the airport.

At Bengawan Solo, one slice costs S$1.50 and a whole cake costs S$15. At Pine Garden, it costs S$9 for one cake. (P.s. You may also want to get the kueh lapis / pineapple tarts / chilli prawn rolls from Bengawan Solo.)

Credit: Bengwan Solo

Alternative: 

If you are one who really enjoys baking, instead of buying the pandan cake, how about buying the pandan leaves themselves! You can find these useful green leaves at markets or supermarkets such as NTUC. Pandan leaves are not just meant for baking or cooking soups- they can be insect repellants as well. Check out their many purported uses here.

3. Bak Kwa

Bak Kwa is essentially barbequed meat which is sweet and salty, or otherwise known as jerky. They may be pork, chicken or beef.

You can either eat them piping hot on the spot, or if bring some back to share (are you sure you really want to), you can buy those vacuum packed ones which are really convenient. These are pricer than your normal food souvenirs- it costs S$38.40 for 600g of these vacuum packed goodies.

Credit: Bee Cheng Hiang

You may get them at Bee Cheng Hiang or Lim Chee Guan.

Alternative: 

Instead of barbequed meat, how about some floss? It has a light and fluffy texture and goes well with anything plain tasting (e.g. porridge). If you have eaten Thai pineapple fried rice, you probably would have seen this sprinkled on top of the rice.

Credit: Seriouseats 

4. Pre-mix

Wow, there are so many in this category, I don't even know where to begin. Basically, if you are lazy to cook things from scratch but really want to try some Singapore food, here are some of the pre-mixes that you can easily buy off the shelves of supermarkets in Singapore.

(a) Bak Kut Teh

Bak Kut Teh is essentially pork rib cooked in a broth full of herbs and spices. It literally means "meat bone tea" - there is however no tea in the dish. The tea is served alongside the soup as it is believed that the tea can help to dissolve the fat in this dish.

Credit: NTUC

(b) Chicken Rice

Unless you haven't been on the hunt for local food, I am sure you would have come across this dish.

Credit: NTUC

Bonus: Believe me, no chicken rice is ever complete without chilli sauce.

Credit: Shermay

(c) Laksa

Laksa is a noodle dish served in a soup of rich curry coconut milk - it's one of those dishes where you will wonder whether the numbers on the weighing machine will shoot up after drinking that delicious curry gravy.

Credit: Redmart 

(d) Chilli Crab

"I hate chilli crab"- said no one ever.

Chilli crabs have been a real treat since young. It is both sweet, salty, sour and spicy all at the same time. Best enjoyed with deep fried buns.

Credit: Jumbo

5. Irvin's Salted Egg Fish Skin

This is certainly a new addition to the souvenir list. This is not something that one would traditionally buy from Singapore as it was quite recent that the salted egg yolk craze hit our shores.

Honestly, I am not sure what is weirder- salted egg or deep fried fish skin. All I know is that this is a very addictive snack. One moment, the packet of fish skin is in your hands, the next moment, like magic, it mysteriously disappears.

Back in the days when they first started and rented small carts, the packets flew off the shelves and you had to be put on a waitlist to get your hands on a packet. Nowadays, they are doing so well that they actually have physical stores in big shopping centres.

6. Biscuits

Just like how there are biscuits from overseas you can't find in Singapore, the reverse holds true as well.

This tinned biscuits formed a large part of our childhood. However, I am not sure when, but these are now "retro" biscuits. They are cheap, sweet, unhealthy and satisfying.

Credit: Makansutra

One of the all time favourites remains the gem biscuit. These are fluorescent little sugar gems dropped from the celestial skies! I used to exclusively eat the sugar. Now that age has caught up, I throw most of the sugar away and eat the biscuits. You can get these from supermarkets, for example Khong Guan brand.

Credit: Thefoodpornographer

7. Tau Sar Piah 

Two of the most well known Tau Sar Piahs are in Balestier - Loong Fatt Tau Sar Piah and House of Tau Sar Piah. These are old-school shops and you can choose either the sweet or salty green bean-based pastries. Best eaten hot!

Credit: Burpple

8. Janice Wong's sweets 

If you find that your wallet is dripping with money, and you really want to impress your friends with some chocolates, but not those from Godiva which is available in so many countries, you may wish to buy some exclusive Janice Wong chocolates.

I have heard from my friends on how delicious and beautiful her desserts are, but never tried them due to the price. But really, look at these beautiful treasures. Guess what, these chocolates come in local flavours, including chilli padi, gula melaka, mango curry and salted egg etc. If you want the more normal flavours, they have it too!

Credit: Janice Wong

9. Instant Teh Halia 

Starbucks sells pumpkin spice latte, chai latte etc. Here, at Singapore, we have teh halia which is essentially ginger tea. No need to labour over making the tea from scratch- here, for less than S$5, you can get 20 satchets of instant teh halia. If you are not a fan of teh halia, you can consider getting the teh tarik as well.

Credit: Cold Storage

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Old School Delights

My good friend's mother was telling me that she liked this cafe along Thomson - Old School Delights because it was fun. Since it got her stamp of approval, we headed down. 

I think the main draw here is that they provide games (from our era) for families to bond over.

Back in those days when there was no iPhone, no iPad, no internet on phones, my mum used to buy random games for us to play- Uno, Game of Life, Monopoly, Snake & Ladders, Bingo, Scrabble, Donkey etc. And of course, not forgetting Old Maid. At this cafe, they bring you back to those good old days. Up till this day, my mum still owns us at playing five stones, nothing has changed in 20 years!

Even their menu is in the form of a school notebook.

The Lil' Drumlets ($5.50), not surprisingly, were a hit. Deep fried to a crisp and very juicy within.

I ordered the Hor Fun with Mushroom Stock ($8.80). The question is why should I be paying so much for something that I can buy for much cheaper in a hawker centre? Aside from the fact that the price point is fine considering that you enjoy the comforts of air con and can play games, they try to value add to the dish. For example, the portion here is certainly bigger than what you get at a hawker centre and the mushrooms are certainly bigger as well. My only gripe with this was that it was a little too salty.

While i didn't try the Nasi Lemak Besar ($6.90), I tried the jumbo otak which was pretty decent.

We ended the meal with a Lemony Cake ($4.50). Without any embellishment, this was a homely and simple cake that was buttery and lemony without being too sweet.

A nostalgic place with decent food at affordable prices.

Old School Delights 
215M Upper Thomson Road
Tel No: 6458 4518 

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132 Traditional Teochew Noodle

One weekend, we decided to track down 132 Traditional Teochew Noodle, the store that has reportedly changed its location 5 times but die-hard fans manage to find it all the same.

It took so long to wait for our meal, and the 30-40 minutes wait had better be worth it. We subsequently found out that the long waiting time was not due to the number of people queuing- it was just that it took very long for each customer to be served. 

What was the "wow" factor with this bowl of Mee Pok ($4)? Yes, it is worth it for the price given that there were fresh prawns, little fish dumplings, and springy noodles. But, no, it is really not worth the wait for half an hour as I could get something pretty close for less than half the waiting time.

132 Traditional Teochew Noodle 
59 Marine Terrace
#01-105 

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Blanco Court Prawn Mee

As with some things in life, the more you want something, the more you won't get it. Yet, when you least expect it, something good drops into your lap. Without any intentions to eat here, we decided to have a meal here just because it looked like that was a sizeable crowd. 

A good bowl of Prawn Mee is very elusive- average bowls of prawn noodles always miss the oomph. I got a bowl of Prawn & Pork Ribs Noodle ($4.50) and it was nothing less than satisfying. The prawns were fresh, the stock was rich yet not too heavy on the tastebuds, the pork ribs were chewy and there was little chilli padi to give that extra kick to the final slurp of this delicious stock.

While waiting for our prawn noodles, we also bought some Ngor Hiang to munch on. In an ideal world, we could eat all the oil we want without being unhealthy and/or fat. Unfortunately, this isn't an ideal world and all we can do is to eat these fatty stuff in moderation. Special mention to the crispy prawn crackers- you could actually feel the oil seeping out, but it's so addictive, you stop hearing your arteries cry for a while.

Service was also friendly- one aunty was walking around giving plates of chilli padi because she said those at the counter was probably not enough.

Blanco Court Prawn Mee
243 Beach Road
#01-01
Tel No: 6 396 8464 

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Eng's Noodles House

The one thing that people never fail to talk about when mentioning Eng's Noodles House, is its super fiery, super scary and super shiok chilli sauce. More about that later. I never had the chance to try this stall when it was at Dunman Road Hawker Centre but I'm not complaining since I don't need to queue after it has moved. 

The shop was completely packed at dinner. It's not air-conditioned but the ventilation is pretty okay. 

Here's the chilli sauce I was talking about. At least they have it in bottles. Normally, when you queue up for food, the aunty or uncle just asks, "Want chilli?" and a generous portion of chilli goes into it. Had this system been in place here, there would be no trace of doubt that I would be making many toilet trips. They are even kind enough to put a sticker on the bottle. I have a pretty okay tolerance for chilli but a squirt of this was enough to let me taste the prowess of this deceptively plain chilli sauce. 

The Wonton Noodles ($4) was served pretty quickly. $4 is a good price to pay for the amount of food as they don't skimp on the ingredients. The char siew is not dry, which is the case in many other stalls. I'm not a fan of eggy noodles although I've to say its texture is good and springy. The bite-sized wontons hidden snugly at the bottom of the bowl were flavourful and went well with the sauce.

The service was good and fast and the lady who served us was friendly. Try not to takeaway the food and eat it on the spot!

Eng's Noodles House
287 Tanjong Katong Road
Tel No: 8688 2727 

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Hoover Rojak (Whampoa Drive)

If you are 1) not eating alone and 2) wish to try the popular stalls at Whampoa Drive Food Centre, I suggest you get one person into each queue because the queues can get a little long. The Balestier Road Hoover Rojak and the famous duck rice are just next to each other. 

I opted for the $3 Rojak. You could also order the $4 or $5 portion. First impression is that they give a lot of rojak sauce. If you request for chilli to be added, be mindful that the chilli sauce is a little spicier than usual. The sauce is one of the best rojak sauces i have tried. The addition of jellyfish was interesting but you had to make an effort to look through the sauce.

The utter letdown of this dish, however, was the fact that the taupok and the youtiao were not grilled on the spot. They were just left in a heap and served together with the sauce. This resulted in the dish being cold and a little soggy.

Hoover Rojak (Whampoa Drive)
Whampoa Drive Food Centre
Blk 90 Whampoa Drive
#01-06
Tel: 021 4593 

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Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice

I don't eat chicken rice that often because of that long lasting taste that garlic leaves in my mouth. So, when I do, I make sure I go for good chicken rice. Today, I decided to try Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice. There was a queue which took about 15 minutes for me to reach the front. 

Seeing that everybody in front of me opted for the Steamed White Chicken Rice ($2.50, $3.50 option available), I decided to get that as well. Honestly, that isn't something that I would risk having garlicky breath over. The rice is passable and the meat is tender. The rather spicy chilli sauce complements the chicken well. However, I'm not accustomed to the taste of the soup.

Also, there's just something missing about the chicken- smoothness and chewiness factor. Compared to Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, I would opt for Tian Tian.

Tiong Bahru Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice
Tiong Bahru Market and Food Centre
30 Seng Poh Road
#02-82 

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328 Katong Laksa (51 East Coast Road)

In Singapore, you judge whether something has attained a certain level of fame by seeing whether there are Japanese words affixed to the name. Clearly, 328 Katong Laksa has attained a phenomenal level of fame. Step into their shop and you'll be overwhelmed by the number of photographs on the walls with famous politicians or artistes. 

It can get pretty busy during lunch time on weekends. You can either eat at the coffee shop side (no air condition) or at their air-conditioned shop. The moment we sat down, the server asked impatiently in Chinese, "How many?" Still reeling from the shock of the abrupt question, we answered "Two." "Cockles?" "No." "Otak?" "No." With that, our order was done. Only then did we peruse their menu pasted on the wall.

We paid $4 for Laksa (small). One thing you will notice is that the thick beehoon is cut so that it fits nicely into your spoon instead of you struggling to twirl it into the spoon. Other ingredients include sliced fishcake and prawns. I like the gravy because it's rich yet not overpowering and not too oily. For those who can't eat spicy stuff, this might suit you well because it isn't spicy. If you like it to be spicy, there is a can of chilli paste on the table. The prawns were also fresh. Only a spoon is served together with the bowl. But if you are not used to it, there are chopsticks available. 

The laksa here is good (not sure how it compares to the other katong laksa contenders). But it's not an understatement to say that service is scary. A man hollered to a group of people "No more seats!" while signalling them to go out, without even attempting to ask them to wait for a while before the next seat is vacant. They also looked like I owed them money, even though I paid them the money for my laksa and barley! There are some places where service can be fast yet polite. Here's definitely not one of them.

328 Katong Laksa (51 East Coast Road)
51 East Coast Road
Tel No: 9732 8163

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Jumbo Seafood (Indoor Stadium)

You can never go too wrong with seafood, especially if you have slogged it out and competed at the East Coast stretch for more than 10 years. All the discerning tastebuds will ensure that only quality seafood is served at East Coast by eliminating those that do not deserve a spot there.

With its first restaurant established in 1987 at East Coast Seafood Centre, Jumbo now has 6 restaurants. We have tried most of the longstanding seafood restaurants in East Coast, and decided to go to the one at Indoor Stadium.

The Donut with Seafood Paste ($12) was different from the you tiao with seafood paste that we always order. Firstly, this is considerably bigger. Secondly, the accompanying dip is a sweet peanut prawn paste which basically tastes like rojak sauce. This is as opposed to the mayonnaise that normally comes with the you tiao.

We should have ordered 300g instead of 500g of Prawns ($30) because the prawns were huge. Very juicy and fresh. (Allergy alert!) 

This was the Fei Cui Tofu ($21) which had heaps of different mushrooms on it. The tofu (not reflected in the picture) had a layer of mashed vegetables on it and this was probably the healthiest dish we had during the meal.

We also had Broccoli with Scallop ($33). I felt that the broccoli was rather crunchy but another found that it was too hard.

The star of the show has to be the crabs. Who goes to a seafood restaurant in Singapore without ordering crabs? The Chilli Crab ($52) was spicy and had a lot of meat. We ordered some Deep Fried Mini Buns ($7 for 14) to mop up the chilli goodness.

The Black Pepper Crab ($46.80) paled a little in comparison to the chilli crab. The buttery taste was overwhelming and killed the peppery taste. The crab was not evenly coated with the black pepper which resulted in half the table saying that it was super peppery (and coughing in between) while the other half proclaiming that the chilli crab was much more cough worthy.

Together with some Ee-Fu Noodles ($15), the bill came up to $259 for seven people. By then, we were stuffed to the brim. Service was okay, although I didn't like the fact that our plates weren't regularly changed. It's typical for plates to be changed in between a few dishes but strange enough, our plates were changed only at the last dish.

Jumbo Seafood 
Various locations
Singapore Indoor Stadium
No. 2 Stadium Walk
Tel No: 6 440 3435

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Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee (Hong Lim)

My first memories of curry noodles started when I was in secondary school. Every Thursday, they would sell curry noodles and I would definitely queue for it. Today, I tried the famous Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee. In prices of $3.50, $4.50 or $5.50, I opted for the smallest bowl. You can also choose from different types of noodles.

Don't go there without a packet of tissue paper. First, to wipe your perspiration from the spicy gravy. Second, to wipe the curry away from your mouth. Third, what else? To chope seat!

I haven't tasted curry noodles as spicy as this. The gravy is very slurp-worthy (those who are watching their waistlines please don't eat this) and is completely absorbed by the thinly sliced tau pok. There are also other ingredients, such as potato, chicken and fishcake. They don't skimp on the ingredients. The uncle also makes it a point not to scoop the layer of oil in the big pot into the individual pots.

For $3.50, this portion was just right for me although those with bigger appetites should get a bigger bowl. I was lucky to get my food within 5 minutes before the queue got long. But there's usually a queue so run to Hong Lim to get your food! Tasty and worth its price.

Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hoon Mee 
Hong Lim Food Centre
Block 531A Upper Cross Street
#02-58
Tel No: 9243 0601 

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