Our local cuisine has roots and shared influences from almost every Asian cooking tradition. Examples include prata, rojak and chicken rice, all of which are local adaptations of dishes which originated from faraway places.
We may not have a homogeneous “melting pot” culture, but when it comes to food, there’s no doubt that restaurants and hawkers are constantly trying new combinations. “Mod-Sin” cuisine stands for “modern Singaporean cuisine”, and focuses on transforming local dishes in delightfully surprising ways. These new creations will make you forgo the crave for 2017’s smash hit, the Nasi Lemak Burger!
Impossible Murtaburger
Springleaf Prata Place
www.spplace.com
Springleaf’s Ultimate Hawkerfest Series consists of many other creations, with the most recent being the Magic Meatless Murthabak, which is a vegetarian and vegan option. This Impossible treatment has also extended to the popular “Murthaburger”, a crossover between a Murthabak, and a Ramly burger. It combines the crispy outer layers of the murtabak with the juicy “meat” and savoury sauces of the Ramly burger. As this is made from Impossible meat, we recommended having it hot, as a dine-in at any of Springleaf’s outlets.
Soft Shell Chilli Crab Pasta
Eatz19
www.eatz19.com
Eatz19 has been serving hybrid Eastern and Western cuisine since 1999, and this is one of their popular dishes. It’s pasta, but with a crispy soft shell crab, topped with homemade chilli crab sauce. The crab is doused with mixed batter and fried to crisp – a texture contrast to the pasta done “al dente”, meaning a little chewy.
The restaurant claims that their sweet, tangy and savoury chilli crab sauce is slow-cooked to bring out the flavour of the ingredients, before it is topped with fresh herbs.
Hainanese Chicken Roulade & Risotto Balls
d’ Good Café
www.dgoodcafe.com
The Hainanese chicken rice has been reimagined and reshaped for this dish, with poached chicken thighs shaped into rolls. Fragrant, crispy, and yet soft risotto balls are paired with marinated Japanese cucumber spaghettoni for added crunch.
Instead of the usual chicken liver, the dish is accompanied by foie gras. The garlicky and gingery chilli remoulade is made specifically to go well with this dish. Another spicy alternative available is their Nasi Lemak Sushi.
Nasi Coco Supreme
Makcik Market by Tenderbest
www.tenderfresh.com.sg
This is Nasi Lemak, but spiced up with Japanese Tempura. Originally from Nasi Coco when it was operating in Clementi, this dish has returned at the Tenderbest Makcik Market, a premium lifestyle food superstore in Bedok.
Taking the core component of Nasi Lemak, fragrant coconut rice is served with deep-fried mixed tempura (prawns, chicken tender, luncheon meat, seasonal vegetables) and lava egg. It is complemented with in-house sambal and a secret “Ten” sauce.
Laksa Romana Pizza
PizzaExpress
www.pizzaexpress.sg
Romana Pizza, also known as Roman pizza, is characterised by being very thin and crunchy. It also has a very low edge, making it easy to distinguish from the other pizza type: Neapolitan pizza.
To create the Laksa Pizza, PizzaExpress uses prawns, mussels, squid, clams, quail eggs, fried beancurd and homemade laksa sauce. It’s probably the safer option of satisfying your laksa cravings if you are wearing white clothes!
