Glossary
Hawker Food Words: A Glossary of Singapore Hawker Lingo
Hawker centres have their own language, a mix of English, Malay, Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew and Tamil. Here are the words you will hear most often, and what they mean.
- Auntie / Uncle
- A friendly, respectful way to address older hawkers. Nobody minds, and they will often call you "boy" or "girl" back.
- Cai png / Economy rice
- Rice with your choice of dishes from a long counter. You point, they scoop, and the price depends on what you picked.
- Chope
- To reserve a seat, usually with a packet of tissues.
- Chinchalok
- A sour, salty fermented shrimp dip, served with BBQ stingray.
- Dry or soup?
- The question every noodle stall asks. Dry noodles are tossed in sauce, and the soup comes on the side.
- Ga dai / Siew dai
- More sweet / less sweet, for drinks. See our kopi ordering guide.
- Gao / Po
- Stronger / weaker, for coffee and tea.
- Ho jiak
- Hokkien for "good to eat". Say it to the hawker and watch them smile.
- Kosong
- Malay for "zero" or "empty". In drinks it means no sugar. You can also ask for rice or noodles "kosong", meaning plain.
- Makan
- Malay for "eat". "Let's go makan" means "let's go eat".
- Peng
- Iced, for drinks.
- Sambal
- A spicy chilli paste. Every stall has its own, and it is often the reason people queue.
- Shiok
- Delicious, satisfying, wonderful. The highest praise a dish can get.
- Tapao / Da bao
- Takeaway. "One chicken rice, tapao."
- Tau pok
- Fried tofu puffs that soak up gravy, found in kway chap, curry noodles and yong tau foo.
- Wok hei
- Cantonese for "breath of the wok". The smoky flavour that only a very hot wok can give. Essential in char kway teow and Hokkien mee.
- You tiao
- Long fried dough sticks, dipped in porridge or bak kut teh, or tossed in rojak.
- Zi char
- Cantonese-style "cook and fry" stalls with a big menu of dishes for sharing. See zi char.
Put it to use
Try this at your next visit: chope a seat, order one plate of char kway teow with extra wok hei, a kopi O siew dai peng, and tell the auntie it was shiok. You'll fit right in.
Hawker Fantasy is made in Singapore by a small team from the F&B industry who spend a lot of time in hawker centres. We never rank individual stalls. Every centre has its own favourites.
