SINGAPORE: In the last instalment of Makansutra Friday on Kiss92 on Dec 29, KF Seetoh dished out his Top Eats of 2023, the top 12 foods and places he loved best this year. Makansutra founder Mr Seetoh, Singapore’s food guru, said his job is to discover the off-the-beaten-path bites and flavours.
“You won’t catch me sharing the same old popular (eateries) unless they are exceptionally good and have been on the die-die must-try list of Makansutra for the last 20 years,” he said, speaking from Seng House on Tanjong Katong, where he was having an East-meets-West breakfast.
Here are Mr Seetoh’s top 12 for the year:
1. Layer cake at Marie’s Lapis Café at Bedok North. While the kueh lapis is certifiably delicious at the café, the eatery also offers Nyonya cuisine and Western dishes. Mr Seetoh also liked its steamed cake with meat inside, which he described as sweet and savoury.
2. A private dining experience by Mary Silva Sundarason, which Mr Seetoh called a Kerala dinner unlike other Indian dishes. Find Ms Sundarason on IG at @homeprivatedining.
3. He also recommended a babi guling place in Bali, 45 minutes from the city. He showed a video clip of a suckling pig video roasting over a fire and praised the fare for being so local, affordable, and fresh.
4. Mr Seetoh’s next choice is a market in Hue, Vietnam, where primarily women work, Chợ làng Chuồn. He spoke of buying fresh ingredients at the market and handing them over to a woman, who promptly fried everything up in a pancake “so fresh and crispy that can be eaten like a tortilla or taco.”
5. Pork Stomach Chicken Soup at Yang Ming Seafood in Bishan. A whole chicken is stuffed into a pig’s stomach and then boiled in stock for a few hours. Mr Seetoh enjoyed their lobster dish as well.
6. Chef Chik on Haig Road, which the food guru said has Chinese restaurant quality food, but at mostly hawker prices. He especially praised the herbal soy braised escargot.
7. Prawn Noodle Soup at Prawn & Mee in Bedok North Food Centre is run by two young chefs from the Culinary Institute of America. Long queues made up of aunties who don’t mind waiting for their orders is a sign that they’ve made it, says Mr Seetoh.
8. Tong Heng egg tarts at Chinatown and Jurong Point. He said every other egg tart takes second place to these beauties, as they are made with a recipe passed down from the 1930s. When he was invited to visit the kitchen, he saw the family’s 90-year-old auntie still overseeing making the tarts, which use lard and not butter or margarine, to make a crunchy crust.
9. The omakase at Mizuya, a small Japanese sushi place on Cavan Road where KS took his lady love for her birthday. The current chefs are not Japanese, but the food, especially the nigiri, is delicious.
10. Mongkok Dim Sum at Lorong 8 Geylang, especially the crystal dumpling, which uses potato starch that makes it translucent, and the deep-fried pork leg tempura. Happily, it’s open 24 hours a day.
11. Coconut Club, under chef Daniel Sia, has fried chicken crispy with spicy bits that “hug” the chicken, said Mr Seetoh. The restaurant uses a marinating machine that works like a drum so that flavours go into the meat in 5 to 15 minutes, ensuring freshness.
12. Lastly, Mr Seetoh called the steamed carp head at Eat First! Geylang is “iconic.” But he also loved their steamed pork with salted fish, prawns and tofu, steamed chicken, and other dishes, while giving a shoutout to Sik Bao Sin, from the same family.
Watch the full episode below:
/TISG
Read also: ‘Why the hell do you still want to work as a hawker?’ — KF Seetoh reveals why hawkers are dying out