Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs Maliki Osman visited Urban Hawker in New York and enjoyed the "incredible" Singaporean cuisine whipped up at the stalls there.
Urban Hawker is the first Singapore-style hawker food centre in New York.
The stalls at Urban Hawker had been curated by MakanSutra founder K.F. Seetoh to resemble the design of Singapore's beloved hawker food centres. Seetoh first had the idea of opening a Singapore-style hawker food hall in New York through the late renowned celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain.
In his Facebook post, Maliki wrote about and shared a video of his food "adventure", which came up to a whopping total of US$186.50 (S$254.73).
'Very proud to be a Singaporean to eat Singapore food here'
In the video, as Maliki stepped into Urban Hawker, he gave a big smile when he saw a stall named Padi. He put a thumbs-up sign upon seeing the halal certification at the stall.
Back in Singapore, Padi is a restaurant along Bussorah Street in Kampong Glam that sells Malay local dishes.
In the next scene of the video, Maliki walked to a prata stall, with the captions reading, "Prata... without you... I feel so kosong!"
Speaking to one of the chefs running the prata stall, Maliki sounded surprised to hear that she is a Latina.
Noting that the sights and smells were "familiar", Maliki commended the place for having a wide range of food, as well as a "nice and interesting" concept.
After touring the stalls, Maliki and his colleagues ordered some popular local hawker fare which included satay, char kway teow, hokkien mee, mee rebus, and teh tarik.
Most of the meals cost between US$16 and US$20.
Here is the breakdown of each dish:
Sliced fish white beehoon: US$16 (S$21.85)
Char kway teow: US$18 (S$24.59)
Hokkien mee: US$18 (S$24.59)
Mee rebus: US$16.50 (S$22.54)
Mee goreng mamak: US$18 (S$24.59)
Two plates of satay, each consisting of six sticks: US$40 (S$54.63)
Two bowls of mee bakso: US$36 (S$49.17)
Ayam gulai: US$18 (S$24.59)
Teh tarik: US$6 (S$8.20)
Satay in New York 'chunkier' than in S'pore: Maliki
Seemingly satisfied with the taste of mee rebus, Maliki rated it "5 stars".
Dipping the mutton satay into the peanut gravy, he said that the meat was "chunkier" than the satays that he had in Singapore.
'Same same but different': Maliki
For the mee goreng mamak, he felt that the noodle dish was "same same but different".
After taking a sip of teh tarik, he said, "Not bad la, [it has] teh tarik taste."
Maliki also spoke to a fellow Singaporean named Shukor Tahir, the owner of Padi and Mamak's Corner, who said it was challenging when he first started a year ago.
However, business is picking up, Shukor added.
Why is Maliki in New York
Maliki is in New York from Sep. 17 to 23 to attend the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) with Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan.
https://mothership.sg/2023/09/maliki-sporean-hawker-food-nyc/
