Eating with your hand has its own etiquette, too. Only the right hand is used and just the fingers; the palm has to be kept perfectly clean. Washing the hands before eating is not only polite but hygienic. In finer Indian and Malay restaurants, a waiter will bring a bowl of warm water, sometimes with a lime, before and after a meal in some Chinese restaurants, the bowl of delicately fragrant lime water is also a common sight whenever Chilli Crab or Prawns are served in the shell. There have been reports of unsuspecting tourists mistaking the water for a drink—so do warn your guests beforehand, especially if they are not familiar with Southeast Asian dining practices. In the more pedestrian curry shops or "banana leaf" restaurants, there will usually be a row of wash basins and soap for customers to clean up. Even with clean hands, diners should touch only the food on their plate, never that in the communal dishes, and the left hand is used to hold the serving spoon to keep it clean.
Chinese food is more likely to be eaten with chopsticks, although at some Chinese food stalls and in many Chinese homes, forks, spoons and knives are used. At a ten-course Chinese meal, chopsticks are de rigueur. Sucking or licking the tips of the chopsticks is considered impolite and contact between mouth and the tips of chopsticks is kept minimal Spoons are set out for larger mouthfuls. In between mouthfuls, never leave your chopsticks stack into the rice or food—this is associated with rice offered to religious idols and the dead. Always place the chopsticks together resting on a bowl or with the tips on your plate and the handles on the table.
Some ancient Chinese traditions live on in modern Singapore, where a teahouse offers a chance for repose while drinking a specially brewed pot of tea.
Often before and always at the end of the meal, hot towels are handed round for cleaning the face and hands. It is also common to receive individually wrapped rolls of perfumed, wet paper towels in many Chinese restaurants.
Chinese tea is the traditional drink with Chinese food— the hot, slightly bitter brew of oolong tea is a superb accompaniment to oily stir-fries. If you prefer something milder and sweeter, you can ask for a pot of chrysanthemum tea. Hot water for the pot is always refillable, but the first brew is always the thickest. For some, however, there is nothing quite like beer to take the heat off your tongue and to cool you down when you eat spicy food. One of the major local beers, Tiger, has won awards world-wide and has even been immortalized in Anthony Burgess' satirical novel, Time for a Tiger.
The Kopitiam Tradition
"Coffee shop talk" is a phrase Singaporeans use to describe gossip, and no wonder since the neighbourhood coffee shop or kopitiam is where news, views and grouses are exchanged over a cup of coffee or a quick meal.
In a typical kopitiam, a drinks stall at the back is run by the owner, who also sells breakfast items and small snacks. A typical breakfast at a kopitiam might include two slices of locally made bread lightly toasted over a charcoal grill, and served with a thick slice of chilled, melting butter, slathered with kaya (coconut and egg jam) or sprinkled with sugar. Soft-boiled eggs, eaten with soy sauce and pepper, are another kopitiam staple. The other kinds of food come from stall holders, who lease space from the owner These stall holders are usually of various ethnicities, adding to the customer's variety of choice cuisine. This is in fact where the concept for the food court originated—lots of food stalls with independent owner-cooks sharing the same dining venue. More often than not, there will be a stall selling Malay Nasi Lemak (fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk wrapped in banana leaves), roti prata and "economical noodles" (Hokkien mee or rice vermicelli stir-fried in sweet soy sauce, served with side dishes)—so named for its extremely reasonable price.
This watercolor by Daniel Wegera captures the tranquil mood of the old-style Singapore coffee shop—as much a social centre as a place to eat and drink.
Breakfast is washed down with kopi-o (sweet black coffee) or kopi susu (coffee with a few dollops of sweetened condensed milk), the usual morning beverages of heartland Singapore. Other variations of the morning brew include kopi-C, which is basically coffee with evaporated milk (the 'C' is for Carnation, a brand of evaporated milk). Replace kopi with the word teh, and you get tea. Add the word kosong—which means "empty" in Malay—and you get your cuppa sans sugar.
In a decent kopitiam of old, the owner roasted and ground his own beans, and some developed quite a reputation for their brew—as did their Malay counterparts in sarabat (ginger tea) stalls with their teh tarik. Singapore coffee is thick and strong; roasted corn and margarine are often added, along with a dollop of syrupy thick sweetened condensed milk. The local brew had a reputation of being illegal—stories circulated of how opium, once legal and easily available, was added to boost the potency of caffeine. Now most kopitiam owners depend on coffee factories for their supplies.
In the mornings, the kopitiam fills up quickly with people having breakfast before heading to the office or school. In the late morning, the crowd thins out but there are always a few shift workers or senior citizens who linger over a cuppa for some "coffee shop talk".
Towards lunch time, children attending the afternoon session drift in for an early lunch before school, followed by those who have just finished the morning session. Part of the lunch crowd is made up of workers from nearby shops and offices. Afternoons are a little quiet until evening brings back people in search of dinner, then the diners give way to those who gather to socialize over a pint of beer or stout.
The ebb and flow of customers depends much on the kopitiam's location and character. Some pack up by early evening, while others only do so in the wee hours of the morning. The kopitiam, in spite of rising competition from upmarket air-conditioned food centres and restaurants, firmly remains the heart and soul of Singapore.
These flask-like kettles, ideal for making coffee, are part of the typical kopitiam kitchenware Coffee powder is scooped onto a muslin sieve placed over the opening, and hot boiling water is poured over the powder The resulting brew is a smoky, fragrant concoction thai provides a powerful caffeine jolt.
Chinese Food in Singapore
A potluck of Hokkien, Teochew and Cantonese cuisines
When two Chinese meet, the traditional greeting is to ask whether the other has eaten, highlighting the central place of food in Chinese culture. The greeting must surely have been brought about by the cycles of famine long a part of Chinese history, which have made Chinese cooks firm followers of the adage "waste not, want not". This approach to food is also characteristic of a people with strong roots in the soil; you ate whatever was plentiful, or in season, and you made the best you could of it. And Chinese everywhere, including Singapore, do make the best of everything they can get their hands on.
A little can go a long way when there are several kinds of ingredients cut small, tossed into a hot kuali (wok) with a bit of oil, and stir-fried with garlic and fermented soybeans. Slicing food into bite-size pieces makes for rapid, even cooking. Small pieces are also easier to eat when you are manipulating two thin pieces of wood to pick up your food, and they simplify sharing in the communal style of eating Although large chunks of meat are not unknown, these are cooked until the meat falls away from the bone and can be eaten in bite-sizes, or else the meat is cut into small pieces before being taken to the table When using large meat cuts to sweeten soups, the meat is often not eaten, but is left in the pot with remaining herbs.
Cantonese cuisine is a perennial favourite, especially the tidbits known as dim sum, enjoyed here in a typical Chinatown teahouse cum restaurant.
While stir-frying is very Chinese, so is steaming, where the prepared food is placed in bamboo baskets over a kuali of boiling water. Equally popular is braising or stewing—the long, slow cooking with seasonings such as soy sauce, bean paste,