I asked my roommate last night over dinner what her favorite meal was thus far in Singapore. Her answer, after a considerate hesitation, came to be ‘chili crab.’ I have yet to try chili crab, but now know that it is not to be missed. I asked her this question after I had asked it to myself, because the truth was it was sitting right in front of me on the table. Satay.
Chicken, Beef, and Mutton skewers grilled to lip-smacking perfection paired with a spicy yet sweet peanut sauce. They must marinate the meet because after it is grilled the meats’ crust takes on an almost caramelized tenderness.
We ate this incredible meal at the Lau Pa Sat hawker center, which happens to have been started in 1897. This open air Victorian style pagoda takes up about half a downtown block. Next to it are some of the tallest buildings in Singapore. At night the street surrounding the center is blocked off and transformed into an open-air barbeque Mecca. The street is filled with tables and those tables are full of hungry people.
It’s fair to say that the white Victorian building looks and feels a little out of place when experienced through Singapore’s combustible nightlife. But then as always here, that unexpectedness makes it fit in even more snugly.
