Steamed Society

Craving a taste of back-to-basics home-cooked meals? Hawker stall Steamed Society at People’s Park Food Centre has a tight selection of rice and soup dishes to satisfy your hunger at pocket-friendly prices.

The stall opened in October 2022 and the brand has since expanded to seven outlets, which have differing prices. Prices at this outlet and an outlet in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 are the lowest among the branches.

Steamed Society is a brand under food and beverage group Gao Ji Food, which also owns the Koo Kee Yong Tow Foo Mee chain of stalls.

Flavours are simple and old-school. For those who do not get to eat home-cooked fare often, this stall will get you reminiscing about grandma’s or mum’s cooking. 

My favourite is the Salted Egg Pork Pate Rice ($3.50), which comprises a steamed minced meat patty with salted egg served atop plain rice. The patty is speckled with bits of salted egg. The seasoning is not too salty, while the minced meat is firm and sweet-tasting.

The Salted Fish Pork Pate Rice ($3.50) is another item worth ingesting carbs for. Salted fish permeates the patty without any fishy odour.

The Chicken With Mushroom And Sausage Rice ($3.70) makes a tasty option, with succulent pieces of well-marinated chicken, Chinese mushroom and Chinese sausage slices. But watch for splinters of chicken bone, which is the only downside to the dish. 

Skip the Mui Choy Pork Pate Rice ($2.90) as the mui choy (preserved mustard greens) is bland and lacks the tea-like woody pungency that one expects. The patty also has a slight meaty odour.

Among the soups, I like the Szechuan Vegetable Soup With Pork Ribs ($2.90). It delivers good value for its price. The slices of vegetable impart their savoury flavour to the soup, and the two pieces of pork rib are not too fat. The clear soup is robust and similar to a home-cooked version.

Another sensible option is the Watercress Soup With Pork Ribs ($3.20). The peppery taste of the watercress hits the tongue and the soup has sweet notes from the use of red date. 

The most expensive soup is the Signature Ginseng Chicken Soup ($3.90). The actual dish looks nothing like the picture on the menu board, but it does not fail in taste. Ginseng yields a bitter edge, which is balanced by the sweetness from Solomon’s seal. Chunky pieces of chicken bulk up the soup. 

But the real winner at the stall is the side dish of Steamed Egg With Special Sauce ($1.50). While the rice and soup items come from a central kitchen, the steamed egg is freshly made at the stall. It has a silky smooth texture similar to chawanmushi. The seasoned soya sauce drizzled on it adds to its lusciousness.

Where: Steamed Society, 01-1112 People’s Park Food Centre, 32 New Market Road
MRT: Chinatown
Open: 10am to 10pm daily

Takashimaya Hello Korea 2024

Savour South Korean street food and buy fresh fruit at Takashimaya’s Hello Korea 2024, a fair which showcases the country’s food and fashion.

Head for the Mugung booth, which offers a selection of street eats. It is operated by South Korean bibimbap restaurant Mugung in Telok Ayer.

Get the signature Mugung Bibimbap ($15.20), a colourful bowl of plump grains of Korean rice, topped with stir-fried radish strips, tender carrot, marinated napa cabbage, spinach and braised mushroom.

The vegetables are aromatic from the use of sesame oil. A sunny-side-up crowns the dish. Add the gochujang sauce and mix everything together.

The booth also sells specially imported instant udon from Woobool Restaurant, a traditional udon restaurant located at Garak Market in Seoul. The Woobool Sikdang Instant Udon is available for $5.80 a packet, or buy four packets and get one free for $23.20. 

The booth also offers a cooked version of the instant udon at $10 a bowl, which comes with fish cake and a hard-boiled egg. The udon has a soya sauce soup base and an additional packet of spicy and savoury sauce. 

For a fun street food snack, try the egg-shaped bread from Eggseoul, also available at the Mugung booth.

Eggseoul bread ($13.95 for a box of four) comes in a few flavours: pizza, red bean custard, Nutella custard and apple pie. The bread has a waffle-like texture. If you do not have a sweet tooth, go for the one with pizza filling, which is savoury and slightly tangy.

For fresh South Korean produce, stop by the Taste K booth. Taste K is the new sister brand of premium online grocer SoGoodK. Its pop-up at the fair is supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea.

The brand, which celebrated its launch at the fair on April 25, focuses on introducing new varieties of South Korean produce in Singapore. 

A must-buy is the K3 Muskmelon, which retails for $35 (usual price $65) each at the fair. The melon is exceptionally juicy. Once you halve it, carefully pour the excess juice into a cup and drink it. It is too good to waste. 

The texture of the muskmelon has the mouthfeel of honeydew, with a slight crunch, similar to that of rock melon.

The melon is so addictive, I returned to the fair to buy another one.

I am not ashamed to say I visited the fair three days in a row just to savour the Jeju Morning Smile Hallabong Yogurt Ice Cream, available as a soft-serve at the booth.

It is a tad pricey at $7.80 a serving, but well worth the indulgence. Hallabong, a citrus hybrid, imparts its sweet refreshing tangerine flavour to the tangy yogurt.

For the adventurous, try Silbi Kimchi ($15 for 350g), a super spicy kimchi that delivers a fiery punchy hit. Those who are not up for such fearsome fieriness can go for the regular Korean Cabbage Kimchi ($12 for 300g). 

Where: Takashimaya Hello Korea 2024, Takashimaya Square, Basement 2 Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Road
MRT: Orchard
Open: Till May 6, 10am to 9.30pm daily