You might recognise Xie Jia Fa as the host of #发哥好介绍 on 88.3JIA, a programme that shares music, entertainment and lifestyle content, with a special focus on local food on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
So if there’s one person you can trust to give you the best food and restaurant recommendations, it’s the self-confessed foodie who loves eating out, trying new dining spots and reviewing trendy dishes.
Jia Fa hopes that his listeners and more than 22,000 Instagram followers enjoy his food recommendations as much as he likes sharing them.
“I get really motivated when my listeners message me on Instagram to tell me that they like the authenticity of my reviews and my suggestions on where and what to eat,” says the popular food influencer.
“It’s important to me that my listeners know that I genuinely stand by the places I recommend. For me, it’s about staying real and giving honest reviews that people can trust.”
Obsessed with food
Jia Fa jokes that he only shares his food recommendations and photos on Instagram because he shudders at having to see his selfies on the social media platform.
But, on a more serious note, he’s a guy who loves to eat and is fascinated by what goes into making a dish taste good. If you check out Jia Fa’s Instagram page, you’ll see more than 4,000 photos and reels of his foodie adventures.
Jia Fa has pretty much eaten his way through Singapore – from minced pork noodles at Old Airport Road Food Centre and Hokkien mee at Hainanese Village Food Centre, to pork porridge on Veerasamy Road and Indonesian tahu goreng at Lucky Plaza. But if he had to choose one dish he wouldn’t mind eating again and again, it’s the simple fried chicken wing. Not just any old chicken wing, though.
“One of my favourite places for fried chicken wings is Da Ji Hainanese Chicken Rice 達記海南雞饭, located at Block 75, Lorong 5 Toa Payoh,” he shares.
“There’s always a long queue for their wings, which cost $1.50 each and are marinated with turmeric, which makes them beautifully aromatic. And they’re really juicy, too.”
He also loves Japanese cuisine. His go-to omakase spot is Sushi Masaaki in South Beach Tower.
“I love sushi with a unique blend of vinegar and when it’s paired with different types of seafood. My favourite sushi dish at Sushi Masaaki is the Akami.”
What Jia Fa loves most about Singapore’s food scene is that it’s always evolving and there are always new dining trends to keep up with.
“In the last few months, for instance, I’ve noticed an increasing number of eateries offering lala and prawn hotpot as well as pasta and pizza,” he says.
To stave off weight gain from all the rich food he eats, Jia Fa makes it a point to work out at least five or six times a week. In fact, you’re likely to find him on the cross-trainer at any of the EnergyOne gyms at SAFRA clubs.
And to prevent indigestion, Jia Fa tries to take a long walk after eating, which helps to settle his stomach. He also tries to relax in the sauna when he visits the EnergyOne gym.
Best – and worst – food memories
It’s not surprising that Jia Fa rarely eats at home. He only has two meals a day, and because he’s always being invited out to family meals and food tastings for work, he prefers to eat out.
That said, when he does have a homecooked meal, he prefers his mum’s fried rice, which he describes as his ultimate favourite dish.
“It’s not laden with wok hei – that complex, charred, smoky flavour that’s achieved through stir-frying at extremely high temperatures – but just simply prepared with soy sauce and eggs. It’s the perfect comfort food.”
Jia Fa also likes travelling to eat, and says that he plans most of his overseas trips around the restaurants he wants to try. On a recent trip to Shanghai, China, he got to sample an amazing noodle dish recommended by a local Chinese barber.
“The noodles were in a league of their own – freshly made, springy noodles tossed in onion oil and soy sauce, and piled with a mountain of pork liver. The Chinese really know their noodles!”
Another dish he’ll never forget is the nasi lemak at Changi Air Base. It was one of his favourites during his National Service (NS) days, when he was attached to 121 Squadron as a photographer.
“The chicken wings and chilli sambal were especially addictive,” he quips.
The cookhouse also offered Western meals on Fridays. Jia Fa couldn’t wait to tuck into the roast chicken with vegetables and says that the dish always lifted his mood and got him looking forward to the weekends.
If he could choose one dish to add to the cookhouse repertoire, Jia Fa would go with Hokkien hae mee, a hearty and flavourful prawn noodle soup that he says is perfect for cold days and makes him feel good inside.
“Good food can go a long way towards boosting morale and making NS a more positive and fulfilling experience,” he explains.
He’s had some bad restaurant visits, too – but not because of the food.
“I recently ate at a Chinese restaurant and was put off by the service staff because they kept pushing me to order expensive dishes like the cold crab and alcohol. I don’t even like cold crab and I rarely drink alcohol to begin with. It’s because of their pushiness that I didn’t enjoy my meal. That was my first and last visit.”
Jia Fa also recalls specific foods he will never eat again because they literally left an unpleasant taste in his mouth.
“I once tried bat, snake and rat at the infamous Tomohon Extreme Market in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, for a TV shoot back in 2016. I can still taste those strong flavours when I think back to that trip. Those aren’t foods I’d ever try again!”
Don’t miss the Lifestyle Food content on the CAMOKAKIS app, and follow 88.3JIA and Jia Fa’s socials for the latest updates: Instagram @883jia, TikTok @883jia and Facebook @883jia, and Instagram @883jiafa and TikTok @883jiafa
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