For any homesick Singaporeans or Malaysians
Saturday, August 06, 2005
I've always wondered how cuisines incorporate themselves into our culture. Why, for example, are there so many Thai restaurants in the United States? Thailand's a pretty small country, and it seems that a pretty large proportion of it's restauranteurs have opened shop in the US at some point.
Anyway, Malaysian cuisine has never quite become massively popular like Thai food has. It's a shame, because it means that it's fairly hard to find Malaysian food outside of the largest cities, but on the plus side, it also means that Malaysian food has largely escaped being Americanized.
But what is Malaysian food? Malaysia's a small country in South-East Asia. It's had several waves of immigration, with the result that it's population today is comprised of three major ethnic groups - the Chinese, the Indians, and the Malays. Malaysian food, therefore, reflects elements of all three cuisines.
So what does Singapore Cafe have to do with this? Well, Singapore's a small city-state island next to Malaysia. The food's pretty similar across borders. Does that make sense yet? Well, nevermind, because the proof is in the pudding, and the food at Singapore cafe is pretty good.
There are two strategies I would suggest. You can bring a small group, order dishes and rice, and share the dishes. Or, you can order individual noodle dishes, which are pretty much complete meals by themselves. Generally dishes that already include noodles or rice are complete meals, whereas dishes that are only meats or vegetables, and don't have any staples, are meant to be shared with rice.