92 LOR 4 TOA PAYOH HAWKER CENTER GUIDE

If you want a Singapore hawker center that is exclusively locals, then look no further than 92 Lor 4 Toa Payoh Hawker Center. I haven’t seen this place pop up on any non-Singaporean guides. From food bloggers to travel writers it seems I’ve found something fresh.

Ok, maybe I didn’t find it. It was actually referred to me by a Singaporean friend who lives nearby. While we met when I was living in Beijing, all it took was a quick Facebook message asking for a hawker center to get breakfast at during a layover to receive an immediate response. He told me this Toa Payoh hawker center would be perfect for me.

This place is not near the center so you will not have any airport hotel shuttles to take you there. The train does go this way, but there is a transfer which can be annoying. The easiest way is to just take a taxi. As soon as I got my bags in the beautiful The Jewel Changi Airport Terminal 1, I ordered a Grab Taxi to the hawker center. Taxi fare: 17 SGD

Bacon and eggs is an entirely Western breakfast philosophy so you will not find that here. What you will find are a ton of fantastic entries from lifelong food hawkers. Right at the entrance is a drinks vendor so you can pick up an ice bottled coffee or soft drink before you find your seat.

TOA PAYOH HAWKER CENTER RECOMMENDED FOODS

1) FRIED CARROT CAKE (菜头粿)

So this dish is actually not made of carrots, but rather radishes. Although I guess they are pretty similar root vegetables. It comes from Chinese immigrants but has been a popular Singapore staple for as long as the country has existed. The place to get this is right at the front and it is called Le Yi Shi Fried Carrot Cake.

The radish cakes are chopped up into cubes and stir fried with garlic and egg. They do a black, which means it is fried with dark soy sauce, or white which means it is cooked into an omelet. I recommend the black since…salt.

Prices here are by size so a “small” is 3 SGD and a large is 4 SGD. However if you plan on getting multiple dishes just stick with ordering smalls since they usually give a heaping amount of food.

2) MEE REBUS

This is a cross cultural dish in Singapore (which is not really hard to find due to the blending of so many cultures). It is essentially egg noodles in a curry like gravy/sauce. Be careful as the sauce can sometimes be spicy. I asked for just a little spicy which was a good amount for me and it meshed well with the inherent sweetness of the sauce.

The sauce itself is made from sweet potato, curry powder, salted soybeans, dried shrimp, and peanuts.  

The place to get Mee Rebus in 92 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh Hawker Center is…Ramlah Kitchen. Located right in the center, you’ll only drop 2.50 SGD for a healthy amount of well sauced noodles with a hard-boiled egg, bean sprouts, some limes, and chopped up chili pepper (if you want). All this is topped with some torn bread. Honestly an entire meal in itself.

3) KATONG LAKSA

This is a wonderful dish I had never even heard of before I went to this Toa Payoh Hawker Center. The dish comprises thick rice noodles with prawns in a coconut curry gravy. The noodles were chopped small (about 3cm in length) which was great to get “perfect bites” on the soup spoon.

The place to go for Katong Laksa is Lik Ming Toa Payoh Laksa. You’ll pay 3 SGD for a small and 4 SGD for the large. As always, if you plan on getting different foods, opt for the small.

Other than the noodles, prawns, and gravy there were other additions as well. It came with sliced fish cake, beancurd puffs known as tau pok, and a dried sambal for some kick. The vendor even added a spoonful of cockles which was nice of him as I’m a big fan. Lik Ming is behind Ramlah Kitchen so you’ll need to go to around the row to reach it, but it is well worth it.

OTHER THINGS TO GET

Two other recommended dishes to me by a local are the Prawn Noodles and the Wanton Noodles Dry. Unfortunately I was already too full to try them so sadly no picture, but as everything else recommended to me was delicious I’m sure these would be too.

If you end up going to 92 Lor 4 Toa Payoh hawker center and want to submit pictures to the site (with credit of course), feel free to contact me through the website, or leave a comment down below. For information on using my pictures please refer to the Cooking To Entertain Policy.

ADDRESS: 92 LOR 4 TOA PAYOH SINGAPORE 310092

This article originally appeared in Cooking To Entertain (Cody’s food blog)

92 LOR 4 TOA PAYOH HAWKER CENTER GUIDE