Story by Manos Angelakis
Photography by Barbara Penny Angelakis
 

Asia’s Night-Markets

In Asian cooking, the ingredients are always market-fresh, whether the cook practices his/her craft at home, in restaurants or night-market stalls. Street hawker centers or cooked food centers, is the name given to open-air complexes in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, housing many stalls that sell a variety of inexpensive but very tasty food. In ancient China, markets that operated at night were known as ghost markets; in Malaysia and Singapore, night markets are now commonly known as Pasar Malam by the locals, which literally means night market, "pasar" being related to "bazaar" a Persian word meaning “market”. Nowadays in Singapore, street hawker centers are increasingly being replaced by air conditioned food courts, which are indoor versions of the hawker centers located in shopping malls and other commercial venues.

Eating is a national pastime in Singapore. For good local food, head to hawker centers that are the slightly cheaper alternative to food courts, but for that dollar more, an air-conditioned food court might be a better choice in Singapore. But if food quality and variety are what you are really looking for, the hawker centre is the best option. To this day, Singapore has managed to maintain its reputation for being a top-notch culinary wonderland with a mix of Singapore's primary ethnic cuisines - Chinese, Malay and Indian.

Chinese foods can range in variety from spicy to bland, steamed to deep-fried, and the list goes on. The Malay and Peranakan food culture entails intense color, spices and flavor. Indian dishes can be Southern (hot and spicy rich) or Northern (milder and lighter). Indian Muslim food from the south is very popular in Singapore. One of the most famous is the Chinatown Night Market which extends to 200 stalls over four streets: Pagoda Street, Trengganu Street, Sago Street, and Smith Street and is particularly popular during the traditional Chinese holidays, when the streets fill with mirth, music, dance and different forms of entertainment.

Night markets in Taiwan are street markets that operate in urban or suburban areas. A few, such as Huaxi Street Tourist Night Market also known as Snake Alley, utilize purpose-built structures but most occupy either sidewalks or entire streets that are normal thoroughfares by day. The atmosphere is usually crowded and noisy with hawkers shouting and music playing over loudspeakers. These night markets have become famous for their xiaochi foods (xiaochi roughly translates to "small eats" i.e. finger foods). Cooked in small portions, these dishes are often taken as carry-out items, but some sellers occasionally provide folding tables with stools where customers can stop and consume their purchases. Though some of the xiaochi foods available will change from year to year, certain others such as oyster omelets, chicken shawarma, and stinky tofu endure and have become staples in many of the markets.

The Shilin Night Market that first opened in 1899 is centered around the Yangming Theater in the Shilin District of Taipei, and is often considered to be the largest and most famous night market in the city. The night market encompasses two distinct sections sharing a symbiotic relationship: a section formerly housed in the old Shilin Market building contains mostly food vendors and small eateries; and the surrounding businesses and shops are selling nonfood items. The food court holds 539 stalls, and the second floor serves as a parking lot for 400 cars.

Some of the most famous dishes:

Steamed xiaolongbao (often referred to as soup dumplings by English speakers) are cooked on a bed of cabbage and are one of the specialties the Shilin Market is known for. No trip to the night market would be complete without a bowl of oyster noodles; fresh oysters are added to red flour noodles and broth thickened with starch, then served with stewed sausage, black vinegar, and a special sauce, topped with cilantro. Another very popular item, an oyster omelet, is made from fresh oysters coated in potato or sweet potato starch and fried in a skillet with eggs and onions, then served with a special sweet and sour sauce. Stinky tofu is fermented tofu squares - the stinkier the better the taste is supposed to be - deep fried and served with pickled cabbage, carrots and chili sauce.

A Taiwanese popular dessert is pineapple cake, bite-sized morsels of a flaky shell that contains sweetened pineapple. Every bakery stall offers its own unique version.

© November 2011 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.