[dropcap size=small]”I[/dropcap]n Singapore, we are spoilt for choice with such a huge variety of food options. So if I have to pick my favourite local dish, it would be white carrot cake. It’s simple, and it’s comfort food that my dad would bring home as a supper snack when I was a kid,” says Lim Ee Jin, commercial marketing manager for IHG Resorts in Asia and Australasia.
Her favourite hawker stall is Chey Sua Carrot Cake at 127 Lorong 1 Toa Payoh. The meticulously fried carrot cake offers a welcome textural contrast between the crispy egg and soft carrot cake. She adds that this version is pan-fried and cut into neat rectangular blocks, with a thin layer of chilli paste spread on top. “My first time having this was almost two decades ago, on the recommendation of the earliest editions of the Makansutra food guide book. I was on a quest to try out as many hawker food recommendations as possible, and this turned out to be my favourite for white carrot cake. It has remained at the same location – the old run-down hawker centre that it was situated in is today a double-storey food centre – and the queue remains just as long. And the wonderful thing is, the same ladies are serving up this dish. The two sisters have carried on the tradition of the business started by their parents some 50 years ago,” Lim shares.
Whenever she has a craving for a good plate of white carrot cake, she visits this stall. Lim has brought her family and many friends to this place over the years, as she believes that good things must be shared. She says: “It’s always a pleasure to share the delights in life, and one of the biggest is food.”
Lim Ee Jin is commercial marketing manager for IHG Resorts. She was previously director of marcom and PR for Intercontinental Singapore, and area director marcom for IHG Singapore. Lim enjoys running, and spending time with family and friends over a good meal. Her grandmother who brought her up was one of the best cooks she’d known. “I always admired how capable she was in the kitchen, crafting festive foods such as rice dumplings and tang yuan.”
PHOTOGRAPHY TAN WEI TE ART DIRECTION DENISE REI LOW
