Chasing KF Seetoh

KF Seetoh is of course Singapore's reknowned street food guru and champion who founded Makansutra to celebrate Asian food, culture and lifestyles; my second favorite foodie after Anthony Boourdain, funny and serious at the same time, food photographer, and a natural at what he does (unlike Gordon Ramsay who is so trying hard with his National Geographic series).

And Singapore of course can claim to be Southeast Asia's foodie capital with 52 Michelin starred restaurants and 67 Michelin Bib Gourmand winners at the moment.

We came for the Bib Gourmands, a Michelin recognition of "friendly establishments that serve good food at moderate prices" or in other words, carinderias where regular people go to eat, and other culinary legends that made a name for themselves in offering good affordable food, like the Tong Ah Eating House that has been brewing kopi and toasting kaya bread since 1939, and Tong Heng who has been baking traditional pastries since 1935 including its famous diamond-shaped egg tarts.

Maxwell Food Center

Our goal is to sample as many past and current Bib Gourmands as possible, and our first Bib is a short 280-meter walk from our shitty room at Hotel Calmo Chinatown to the Maxwell Food Center, to a long line at the original stall of Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice that has been dubbed by Michelin as "a celebrity stall for celebrity diners" and Singapore's "most famous chicken rice stall" where we laid claim of having lunch there. 

Chinatown Complex

Our consolation for enduring 5 nights at the shitty Hotel Calmo Chinatown is it's just a 2-minute walk away to the Chinatown Complex, the beating heart of Chinatown with 260 food stalls including those who have acquired legendary status like The 1950’s Coffee where we had a "quintessential Singaporean breakfast" of toast, soft boiled eggs and Nanyang kopi; a dinner of Lian He Ben Ji Claypot Rice that is prepared from scratch and cooked with charcoal fire for almost an hour; and Stall #02-126 that earned Hawker Chan, formerly known as Liao Fan Soya Sauce Chicken Rice & Noodle, the distinction of being “The World's First Hawker Michelin-starred Meal” and “The Cheapest Michelin-starred Meal In The Word”.

Yes, we've been there and ate their famous food and sipped Nanyang Old Coffee while doing our laundry. 

Tekka Center

A 3.2-kilometer train ride away from our shitty hotel is the Tekka Center and Allauddin's Briyani, a Michelin Plate recipient that is reputed to serve one of the best biryanis in the Little India area.

A Michelin Plate is not a rating or award but an indication of “restaurants where the inspectors have discovered quality food”, and where we had the highly recommended mutton and chicken briyani for lunch.   

Lau Pa Sat

Our target Bibs at the Amoy Food Center is open only until supply lasts or up to 3 pm at most, and it was 6 pm when we came, which brought us to Lau Pa Sat (old market) as a fallback that actually is Singapore's oldest wet market and a heritage site, mainly for the satay of Stalls 7 & 8 along Boon Tat Link (AKA Satay Street) that will start grilling at 7 pm.

So we walked around and that's when we saw the Michellin sign at SHI HUI YUAN, a multiple Bib Gourmand recipient for what is reputed to be Singapore's original hor fun (wide flat rice noodles with chicken, duck and pork), our entree for a night of assorted satay (chicken, beef, mutton, prawns) that in my view deserved the 850-meter walk from our shitty hotel and should at least merit a Michelin Plate.

Hong Lim Market and Food Center

A 650-meter morning walk from shitty Hotel Calmo Chinatown is Hong Lim where we had the most Bibs in one sitting: Ah Heng Curry Chicken Bee Hon Mee (chicken with noodles in curry soup) and Ah Heng Duck Rice, Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee (stir-fried rice noodles), Granny's Pancake (chewy pancakes with sweet bean, peanut butter and coconut filling) and Tai Wah Pork Noodle who with Hawker Chan was the first street food location to receive a Michelin Star.

It was a delightfully heavy breakfast that was enough for us to miss a pricey lunch at the Universal Studios.   

ION Orchard

Kam's Roast's Michelin Star was actually for its Hong Kong restaurant but it was enough to make me order its signature roasted duck noodles at the food court of the ION Orchard, right after lining up for a bowl of Li Xin Teochew Fishball Noddles while contemplating how to spend the rest of the day.

These Bibs were not planned and I'm happy they came on our way before our foray to the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

On Christmas Day, the trail to KF Seetoh led us to Kuala Lumpur with the bragging rights of having sampled three Michelin Stars, 9 Bib Gourmands, one Michelin Plate and three culinary legends in Singapore, and high hopes of snaring some of KL's 15 Bibs.   

Jalan Alor

Our search for our first culinary experience in Malaysia took us to Jalan Alor, a former red light district that has become the epicenter of KL's food scene.

There are no Bibs to harvest here but there's the famous satay and barbecued chicken wings of Restoran Wong Ah Wah that we topped with the equally famous Sangkaya coconut ice cream.

Jalan Petaling

Almost at par with Jalan Alor is Jalan Petaling, KL's Chinatown where for the the third in as many visits to Malaysia, I paid homage to the Hokkien mee that is said to have been created at the Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee in 1927.

We also harvested a Bib in Petaling Jaya, the sublime lala bihun (rice noodles with seashells) of Lai Foong Lala Noodles, after missing it in our first attempt from our trip to Malacca.

Bukit Bintang

Tucked in a quite street corner somewhere in Bukit Bintang is Ah Hei Bak Kut Teh, a family owned restaurant whose famous braised pork ribs got a Bib that is actually our first on our last day in KL.

A Grab took us there which is the best way to find KL's Bibs but being our last day, we will try the rest in our next visit where hopefully, we will be able to catch up with KF Seetoh.