Singapore food vendors launch first hawker center in New York
Reuters
Published Sep 28, 2022 07:38PM ET
Updated Sep 29, 2022 02:13AM ET
By Roselle Chen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Singapore-style hawker center has opened in New York for the first time, bringing flavors from the Southeast Asian island's mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian and other cultures to an American food court.
Urban Hawker, in midtown Manhattan, features 17 vendors handpicked by the food hall's curator, KF Seetoh, with 11 coming directly from hawker centers in Singapore. Each stall specializes in a well-known dish such as chilli crab, oyster omelettes, Hainanese chicken rice or nasi lemak, a fragrant rice dish.
"I came across Singaporeans who had been living in the United States in New York for like 20, 30, 35 years, and they still miss Singapore food," said Seetoh.
"Street food in Singapore is not something you burn or deep fry. It's fairly complex. They take six hours just to prepare a meal to get it ready at 10 a.m. or 11 a.m."
The idea for the food hall was born when Seetoh met late U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain in 2013 in Singapore at a street food event. Bourdain was enthusiastic about the idea of a New York hawker market.
Seetoh later approached Eldon Scott, president of Urbanspace, a property manager who curates immersive public markets, who quickly agreed.
"The amazing thing about him saying yes was that he's never been to Singapore," Seetoh said.
Seetoh hopes that this hawker center will be the first of many in the country.
"It's just like exporting grandmother's deliciousness, the food that I grew up with," he said.
"Food was good but something was missing without plastic plates, cutlery, and sweltering heat," said Magdalene Sim, a Singaporean, on social media. "The queues were the same though."
Customer Julie Lee, on her third visit, raved about Hainan Jones' chicken over rice. "Everyone should give it a try. So much flavor, so tender," she said.
Get The News You Want
Written By: Reuters
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.