Food, Glorious Food

It is not uncommon to smell a delightful aroma of freshly cooked local delicacies, and to jostle the hustle and bustle of food lovers, vying to purchase their choice of food at the streets of Clark Quay at this point of time. Yes, it is a well known fact that the annual Singapore Food Festival (SFF) is back.

The SFF, which began in 1994, has flourished over the years to become a recognized event in Singapore as local delicacies are brought to light at this festival where food lovers can purchase a small amount to sample at a cheaper price than normal.

This year, things are slightly different from the past, due to their collaboration with Kopitiam, a local food court which has several branches all over Singapore, as the stall vendors are not allowed to accept cash. Payment is made only by using a Kopitiam card, whereby food-goer has to go top up the card and tap when making payment. This did bring about some unhappiness among the customers as some of them who do not own the card have to queue for an hour before they can get a hold of one.

Alcinda Lee, a Ngee Ann Polytechnic student, was one of the many locals who were present at the event and she was not very pleased with the new system.

“I haven’t been to the Food Festivals for years because I kept missing out the dates for this event but when I finally managed to catch it this year, I ended up having to queue for almost an hour for some Kopitiam card which I have no need for,” she complained.

Despite having to queue for a Kopitiam card, this new system still helps to reduce queue lines at stalls as it is just a simple tap and go transaction.

‘‘I’ve been to almost every Food Festival that has been held in Singapore and this is by far the most troublesome one as this one required me to queue for a long time just to get the Kopitiam card. However, it also helped to reduce the queue for the food’’ commented food fanatic, Wong Xing Lei.

There were also tourists there and some of them have found the local delicacies interesting. Gerald, who was spending his holidays in Singapore, commented that he loved the chilli crab, which he bought at SGD$8 for one. The crab was about the size of a hand, but he felt it was too spicy for his taste buds. However, Gerald said he hated the durian ice-cream which was found at the first stall from the left as the smell was too pungent.

The Food Festival has 30 over stalls this year. It ends on 25th July and those who are interested to go should be advised to bring an umbrella along due to occasional flash floods in Singapore and be prepared to spend at least SGD$40 to try some of the more well-loved food such as the Carrot Cake and Durian treats.

Hui Zhen.T