Page 33 - Our Hawker Stories

On a Saturday afternoon, my mother and I went to the
One Punggol Hawker Centre to a stall whose food caught
my attention. It was a dish that I had never seen before,
and neither had my mother. That must have been a sign
that I should try it!

After ordering the food, my mother handed me the
buzzer for the jjamppong I had requested.

‘Take your food carefully when the buzzer rings,’ she
reminded me before leaving to buy drinks for both of us.

I waited patiently for my food, my heart racing with
anticipation. Did you know jjamppong is a fiery korean
chinese noodle dish? This signature soup features a
bold red broth, made with either seafood or pork and
infused with chilli powder. Packed with ingredients
like squid, clams, pork, and fresh vegetables – onions, to be eaten and so spicy that steam exited through my
garlic, zucchini, carrots, and cabbage – it is a feast in mouth and nose. Still, the noodles were soft and chewy,
every bowl. The dish traces its roots to Incheon’s historic while the seafood was tangy and fresh.
Chinatown, where Chinese immigrants first created this
beloved fusion of Korean and Chinese flavours. It was like I visited Korea and experienced a steaming
hot bowl full of noodles during the cold winter!
Suddenly, the buzzer started beeping and dancing on the
table, which signified that my food was ready. I went to
the stall to pick up the steaming hot bowl full of noodles
with spicy seafood and carefully carried it to the table. “With just one bowl of jjamppong, I felt like I was
When I placed the food tray on my table, my mother in Korea — that’s the magic of hawker food in
had also returned and placed down the drinks she had Singapore.”
bought.

Just looking at it made me hungry. So, of course, before Troy Lawrence Lee
my mother could even take a picture of me with the food, P5.3
I had started to dig into the noodles. I scalded my tongue North Spring Primary School
almost immediately because the noodles were too hot

Our Hawker Stories 29