Dining Tips from Asia's Top Food Bloggers

SINGAPORE | Dr. Leslie Tay

“Never waste your calories on yucky food,” advises Singaporean family physician Dr. Leslie Tay, who despite his health-conscious outlook admits he sometimes succumbs to “a plate of glistening Hokkien mee, just like any other mortal.” The affable Tay started his blog, ieatishootipost.sg, in 2006 to chronicle his dining escapades in his hometown. Since then, his passion for delicious street fare and photography skills have led to a loyal following of readers, friendships with like-minded foodies, and—unexpectedly—a book deal. “I was initially reluctant when the publisher approached me to write a book,” Tay says, “but I wanted to celebrate Singapore’s hawker heritage.”

From the hundreds of stalls visited over half a decade of food blogging, Tay whittles down 36 of his favorites in The End of Char Kway Teow and Other Hawker Mysteries (Epigram Books; S$28). Each dish, from bak chor mee (minced-pork noodles) to chwee kueh  (steamed rice cakes) to roti prata  (South Indian–style pancakes), is illustrated with Tay’s tantalizing shots and comes with a list of his must-try stalls. The book’s 416 pages also pack in personal food anecdotes, while uncovering hawker food mysteries: for example, does “tarik-ing” tea make it better? Tay’s answer, after meticulous personal experiments, is no. In addition to being a philanthropist—book proceeds go toward a Sabah children’s charity—the multi-talented Tay is adding another digital feather to his cap this month: a free iPhone app featuring Singapore’s best hawker stalls.

TAY’S SINGAPORE FOOD TIPS
ESSENTIAL SINGLISH “Shiok means ‘to really hit the spot’—like oishi in Japanese or aroi in Thai. Although Singaporeans use this word to describe many things, when it comes to describing great food, shiok is the word.” 

WORTH THE CALORIES “Wah Kee Prawn Noodles [Block 41A Cambridge Road Hawker Center #01-15; noodles for two S$10] is a cut above the usual prawn noodles found in Singapore. The soup has a unique taste, just like a lobster bisque. The Hokkien mee at Geylang Lor 29 Fried Hokkien Mee [369 East Coast Rd.; Hokkien mee for two S$10] is very shiok. It’s one place that I can confidently bring friends to without worrying about them being disappointed. Eng Seng Restaurant black-pepper crabs [247 Joo Chiat Place; dinner for two S$60] are unlike the ones served elsewhere. The sauce is slightly sweet, not overly spicy and strangely addictive—I couldn’t stop eating!”

SEASIDE DINING “Located right by the sea with constant breezes blowing, East Coast Park Lagoon Food Village [1220 East Coast Parkway; dinner for two S$20] is convenient and is open until late at night—great for makan [eating] sessions with friends after I knock off from my clinic. I love the Hokkien mee and satay.” 

BRING IT BACK “Kwong Woh Hing soy sauce [5 Defu Lane 9; 65/6288-9497; kwh.com.sg; bottles from S$4.80] comes in beautiful packaging. It’s made without additives and preservatives and fermented for one whole year under the hot Singapore sun, unlike four to six months for other soy sauces—probably the best discovery I’ve made in my five years of blogging.”

MALAYSIA | Bee Yinn Low
When Bee Yinn Low began blogging on RasaMalaysia.com in 2006, it was simply a way for the California–based professional recipe developer to keep in touch with her family in Penang. Her innate feel for Asian cooking—particularly Chinese, Malaysian and Nyonya dishes—and eye for food styling and photography quickly garnered the attention of online foodies. Five years and some 400 recipes later, Low has distilled her lifelong passion into her first cookbook, Easy Chinese Recipes (Tuttle)—a labor of love undertaken while pregnant. “It was really challenging as I had to do everything from scratch, from cooking to styling to photos,” Low says, “although I couldn’t shoot pictures at certain angles, say, bend down or up on a chair.” Geared toward U.S. readers with American–Chinese favorites—chow mein; beef with broccoli—Low’s 144-page cookbook also features her nostalgic tales of growing up in a Malaysian-Chinese household, as well as memories of Asia, her culinary inspiration.

LOW’S PENANG FOOD TIPS
BEST BLOGS “I read a lot of local food blogs such as Capturing Penang [capturingpenang.com] and Eating Asia [eatingasia.typepad.com], so I know the hottest things in town.”

COMFORT FOODS “I can eat Chinese pasembor [a local salad covered in a spicy sauce] at Padang Brown [corner of Jln. Perak and Jln. Anson; pasembor for two RM6] every day—it’s so refreshing and delicious. It’s the epitome of what’s so great about Penang street food—take a few unrelated ingredients, mix them up with a sauce and you get a plate of heaven that nowhere else can offer. The Hokkien mee at Classic Kopitiam [126 Jln. Perak; noodles for two RM10] is worth queuing up for. Eat everything and slurp the soup dry—that’s the way to go.”

LOCAL MARKETS “Jelutong morning wet market [along Jln. Penaga and Jln. Ipoh] and Batu Lanchang evening wet market [Lorong Batu Lanchang] offer the freshest seafood, a wide variety of fresh produce and abundant selections of tasty hawker food. The two markets have them all, and with the best Nyonya kuih [bite-size-snack] stalls too!”

PENANG CLASSICS “Stand under the scorching sun and eat a bowl of ice-cold cendol at Penang Road Teochew Chendul [21 Lebuh Keng Kwee; 60-4/261-8002; chendul.com; dessert for two RM5]. Eat a bowl of the famous Ayer Itam asam laksa [Pasar Rd.; laksa for two RM4.80] before climbing up Kek Lok Si Temple. Also check out any hawker centers in George Town, such as Kheng Pin [80 Jln. Penang], Joo Hooi [475 Jln. Penang], Taman Free School Food Court [between Jln. Trengganu and Taman Free School], or the kopitiams [old-style coffee shops] across Pulau Tikus Police station. Just avoid the touristy Gurney Drive.”

SAVORY SOUVENIR “Homegrown company A1 [action-one.com] has a killer instant paste for salted fish-bones curry, a Nyonya staple, available at most markets in Penang. I just love it.”

BANGKOK | Chawadee Nualkhair 
“Foodie rubberneck” is a syndrome that afflicts Chawadee Naulkhair, a Bangkok-based chowhound who confesses to always checking out other people’s plates and yearning for the same thing. The Chiang Rai–born, U.S.–raised freelance journalist, who has been documenting her dining forays in the Thai capital on her blog bangkokglutton.com with best friend Karen Blumberg since 2010, has zeroed in on her favorites in Bangkok’s Top 50 Street Food Stalls (Wordplay). The colorful, compact guidebook showcases Naulkhair’s top picks in Bangkok’s Banglamphu, Chinatown, Hua Lampong, Silom and Sukhumvit districts, alongside illustrated maps and handy Thai phrases for dining out. Naulkhair conducted the bulk of her book research while she was pregnant with her second child. “My son came out at about the same time as the book, so in a way I feel like the two are twins,” she says. And despite being a champion of the capital’s street food, Naulkhair doesn’t forget her northern Thai roots. “For the best stuff, go to Nan,” she says. “Bangkok restaurants call themselves “Nan-style” when they want to attract northern Thai food fans. After Nan, it’s Lampang and Chiang Rai on the tastiness meter.”

NUALKHAIR’S BANGKOK FOOD TIPS
TOP THREE FOOD STALLS “At Bamee Kai Lung Chuay [entrance of Soi 63, Sukhumvit Rd. (Ekamai), Soi 19; noodles for two Bt80], nicknamed ‘Bamee Slow,’ it takes up to half an hour for the vendors to get to you. They serve delicious egg noodles topped with barbecued red pork, blanched greens, a beautiful boiled egg with a sticky yolk and super-flavorful broth. Nai Mong [539 Soi Prapachai; omelets for two Bt130] is my absolute favorite hoy tod [oyster omelet] vendor in Chinatown. You can choose nim [soft] or grob [crispy] omelets topped with oysters or mussels—I like mine extra-crispy. Jay Fai [327 Mahachai Rd.; dinner for two Bt600], in my opinion, is Bangkok’s best street-food stall. The prices reflect this—up to 800 baht for a crab omelet and noodles in seafood gravy for 250 baht! But then you take a bite, and you stop complaining.” 

ADVENTUROUS EAT “Samong Moo Thai Tham or “Thai-made Pig’s Brain” [28/1 Phraeng Phuton Rd.; soup for two Bt140]. It’s supposed to give you lots of energy, which is why it is usually eaten for breakfast. The poached brain is mixed in with pork innards and fish skin in a clear, pepper-spiked broth—the part that really makes this dish.”

DOWN-HOME FAVORITES “One restaurant that I don’t think gets as much press as it deserves is Ruea Thong [351/2 Soi 55, Sukhumvit Rd. (Thonglor), Soi 17; lunch/dinner for two Bt450], which serves good, honest Thai home cooking. Sanguan Sri [59/1 Wireless Rd.; lunch for two Bt330] offers straightforward, no-frills, down-to-earth food.”

TOKYO | Makiko Itoh
Writing about Japanese food is a source of comfort for Makiko Itoh, a Tokyo native whose peripatetic lifestyle began in childhood. She now divides her time between Japan, Switzerland and France, and blogs on the Japanese-food-centric JustHungry.com, as well as JustBento.com, created in 2007 because she felt “the bento concept needed more focus and explanation for a non-Japanese audience.” The latter now boasts more than 460,000 readers globally and has led to The Just Bento Cookbook (Kodansha International). Describing bentos as “putting pictures in a small frame,” Itoh offers 150 recipes more than 127 pages, with a mix of Japanese and foreign-inspired menus (think deconstructed salade niçoise and mezze bentos). The greatest satisfaction for this web developer turned full-time food writer? “Seeing my words inspire people, even if it’s just to try a new recipe,” she says.

ITOH’S TOKYO FOOD TIPS
TOKYO TAKEAWAY “Yoshinobu Shibata [1-13-10 Kaminarimon, Taito-ku; 81-3/6231-6477; magewappa.com; boxes from ¥5,000], a tiny store in a picturesque corner of Asakusa, sells beautiful magewappa [bent cedar-wood] boxes made by the Yoshinobu Shibata workshop in Odate, Akita Prefecture.”

IN THE BOX “Try bentos everywhere! Bentos are just part of everyday life in Japan. You can get cheap and filling ones from konbini, pretty good ones in department-store food halls, station bentos on the Shinkansen as well as on regional train lines, and gorgeous, high-end bentos from famous traditional restaurants.” 

TOP SUSHI “I like Koraku [2-24-1 Kamimeguro, Meguro-ku; 81-3/3719-0054; sushi for two ¥5,000], a tiny mom-and-pop sushi restaurant, where the rather idiosyncratic, non-English-speaking owners are known to turn away first-timers and foreigners. Another favorite is the flagship store of Tsukiji Sushisay chain [4-13-9 Tsukiji, Chuo-ku; 81-3/3541-7720; tsukijisushisei.co.jp; lunch for two ¥2,500], which is right in the Tsukiji market. It’s a real old-style sushi joint with reasonable prices and cheerful staff.”

MADE IN JAPAN “A box of Tokyo Hiyoko [Narita International Airport; hiyoko.co.jp; from ¥3,150], little chick-shaped cakes with bean filling, makes a great souvenir. They are really cute wagashi [traditional Japanese sweets] that is easy to eat.”