Hawker Food at Newton Circus Food Centre

My friend J hijacked her friend S from Sydney who was on holiday in Hong Kong to spend some time in Singapore. S who had been to Singapore before wanted to have some sambal stingray which she remembered fondly from her last trip.

J and I were trying to figure out where good sambal stingray was to be had at a location which was close to S's hotel which was at Robertson Quay. We settled for Newton Circus as it seemed to be the most likely place to have sambal stingray and was close to Robertson Quay.

I did not want to have to drink the tasteless beer on offer, so I packed a cooler of my lovely Belgians. Although I got teased by my friends and BH for being a snob, I was able to enjoy the beer I wanted to drink.

Petrus

BH and I got there early ( as always, we are always early or on time) and "choped" a seat. Immediately we had someone trying to push seafood onto us and the drinks auntie trying to get us to order a drink. As I had a cooler of beer, I didn't need to order any drinks, so I had to send her away without an order.

I had also done a little research and discovered that the Oyster Omelette from Hup Kee is supposed to very good, so I made a beeline for that and ordered some pork satay from the neighbouring stall to satisfy my porkasauras BH.

Oyster Omelette from Hup Kee

Pork Satay from R&B Stall

The Oyster Omelette was good but not as good as the one that I had had at Old Airport Road. The starchy bits were a little gluey and did not have the pleasant crunch from Old Airport Road. However, besides the Pork Satay, this was still the best dish on the table. I would rate it a 7/10. The pork satay was juicy and tender and we finished all of them. A worthy effort and rated at 7/10.

J ordered a load of seafood from a stall: BBQ Sambal Stingray, Crispy Squid, Clams in Chilli, Sambal Kang Kong. And with the exception of the Crispy Squid, it was all VERY bad. The sambal stingray was tasteless and limp. The Clams were overcooked and remarkably bland. The Kang Kong was ok.....but then again, how do you screw up Kang Kong? I would rate it a very dismal 4.5/10.

The carrot cake was unspectacular and scored only a 5/10 with me. The chicken wings were easily the worst dish we had. It did not have a crispy skin, nor any flavour. It was so bland, I had to wonder if they had even marinated the chicken wings. I would rate it a 3/10.

So this leads me to the question......what is happening in our hawker centres? Have the cost of operating become so prohibitive that only sub standard renditions of our hawker favourites can be served? Are hawkers cutting corners because that is the only way they can afford to stay in business? Singapore is being touted as the next food capital of Asia, but J and I were frankly embarrassed by the food at Newton Circus last night. It was not representative of the excellent hawker food that we have come to love and enjoy in Singapore. What makes me concerned is that Newton Circus is marketed to tourists as the place to go for good hawker food. And in my opinion, that was not the case.