Foie gras? Or caviar? How about kobe beef? 

After a long, long delay, my humble abode finally got her blessing from our priest few nights back, finally. Sitting next to my little veranda with my main door open, I can feel the tranquility surrounding me. You may not know, but my living room looks out to a patch of green as my place faces a park. Hence when I look up from my notebook, I can set my sights across the horizon where the pale blue sky meets the lush green trees. Hmm… how perfect if there could be a slight breeze running through now, I thought.

Though the air is rather still today, I am still glad it isn’t as warm as last week, and less humid too I find. Great time for me to write a little post!

Now what has food got to do with my house blessing? Ok I’m coming to that now.

After the houses were blessed, time was running quite late and all of us brainstormed for a good place to have a nice dinner. The nearest and most possible option seemed to be Serangoon Gardens, so we made our way there hurriedly. Still, we didn’t made it in time for Thai Express, the restuarant of our choice.

The next best choice looked like a little walk away. If you are familiar with that area, you probably would have guessed by now where did we landed up at in the end.

When all the restaurants were calling it a day by 10pm, the other side was bustling with energy. Hawkers were more than ready to serve you their delicious offerings, even if you were to arrive few hours later. That’s right, Chomp Chomp hawker centre was to be THE place to satisfy our hunger and yet not compromising on the quality of food.

Very soon we found a place to sit all 5 of us amidst invisible clouds of strong aroma and the heavy “oil” smell coming from each stall. We ordered bbq wings, oyster egg, carrot cake and bbq stingray to share.

Although we had to bear the heat, but that late night’s spread was a very enjoyable dinner indeed! And in the midst of it, I suddenly felt that it has been a very long time since I’ve dined like this. To sit down together and chat about anything we feel like sharing our opinions on and to savour local hawker fare.

Many a good and happy relationships are built around such tables with more than enough food to go around, fulfilling everyone’s palette while filling the air with more than just the “cooking haze”. The satisfied eaters bring about energy, vibrancy and yes, friendships.

Singapore’s hawker fare really has a unique place in everyone’s heart. While I relish dining at places that are air-conditioned, times like this are also something that I will remember for a long, long time.

I guess when the widely-raved Michelin food guide comes into this island full of gastronomic surprises, they should make a round and sample all these favourites that have captured the hearts of most of Singaporeans, just for the sake of satisfying their curiousity on a different type of “fine cuisine”. Oh, one round is certainly not enough!