Hey, bud.
This is Singapore's most famous stall for rojak, a salad that smothers fruits, vegetables, dough fritters, and dried tofu in a sweet-sour-spicy sauce. The original proprietor operated from a street cart in the Toa Payoh ("big swamp") district of Singapore. When redevelopment shuffled vendors off the streets and into government-run hawker centers — this was some decades ago — many branded themselves with the name of their better-known, outdoor location. Today, as you'd expect, it's increasingly unlikely that a current customer would also have patronized Toa Payoh Rojak on its old territory. The original proprietor himself has passed the mantle to his son-in-law, though on my latest visit he was on hand to offer the occasional word of counsel.
For my rojak (small, S$3, about US$2.25 at the time), the fritters seemed to have been reheated — I heard the repeated "ping" of a toaster-oven — but chunks of pineapple, cucumber, and "white turnip" (jicama) were fresh and crisp, and the prawn-paste sauce was certainly blended from scratch for each customer. Other ingredients included calamansi, kangkong, chili, tamarind, sugar, shavings from a torch ginger bud (above), and crushed peanut.
Toa Payoh Rojak
Old Airport Road Cooked Food Centre, stall 01-108, Singapore
Closed Sunday
(From a summer 2010 visit)
