Vol. 47 — Hawker Legends and the Kopi Hour
Singapore
From Tiong Bahru to Katong
Standfirst
A wok breathing fire under a tin roof. Crab shells cracked over sweet chilli gravy. Coffee pulled between two cups until it foams. Singapore is a small island that eats like four countries at once, and does it standing up.
Chapter One
Four kitchens, one street
Chinese, Malay, Indian and Peranakan cooking have shared these streets long enough that the borders have quietly dissolved. Curry meets wok hei, coconut milk meets soy, and dishes appear that belong to no single tradition and to all of them at once.
The hawker centre made that mixing permanent. Dozens of stalls under one roof, each one cooking a single dish for decades, each with a queue of people who will not eat it anywhere else. Dinner is not cooked at home so much as chosen from the neighbourhood.
Everyone has a stall they would defend in an argument. That is the whole culture in one sentence.
— On eating in Singapore
Chapter Two
The kopi hour
Mornings belong to the kopitiam. Charcoal-grilled bread, a cold slab of butter and pandan kaya, soft-boiled eggs splashed with dark soy and white pepper — eaten quickly, at a marble table, before the heat arrives.
The coffee has a language of its own: kopi sweet with condensed milk, kopi-o black, kopi-c with evaporated milk, kopi kosong without sugar. Teh tarik is pulled between two cups from a great height until the surface turns to foam. Ordering it correctly is a small act of belonging.
The Singapore blanket — chilli crab, laksa, chicken rice and chendol drawn as one illustrated hawker centre.
Chapter Three
Kitchen, wardrobe and wall
Pieces for people who queue for their stall, take their kopi-c strong, and know exactly where the best laksa is.
Poster — Tiong Bahru
Sweatshirt — Katong
Onesie — Geylang
Vol. 47 — Hawker Legends and the Kopi Hour — the pieces
Shop the Singapore pieces
Everything photographed in this issue that is currently in the studio.
Singapore · Apron
Singapore Food Apron
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Singapore · Baby onesie
Singapore Food Baby Onesie Black
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Singapore · Blanket
Singapore Food Blanket
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Singapore · Food poster
Singapore Food Poster Black
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Singapore · Sweatshirt
Singapore Food Sweatshirt
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Singapore · T-shirt
Singapore Food T-Shirt
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Singapore · Kids poster
Singapore Fun Explorer Kids Poster Black
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Singapore · Baby onesie
Singapore Food Baby Onesie White
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The Collection
The Singapore Collection
Chilli crab, laksa, Hainanese chicken rice, satay and kaya toast — the island's hawker table in one illustrated composition.
Keep exploring
Gifts & celebrations
Where Singapore belongs
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