He was to Mexican food in America what Jackie Chan was to kungfu in China. So I told him “I admire the great Mexican street food flavours you are championing in USA but you gotta have a go at what they are doing with hawker fare in Singapore.”. A month later, Rick Bayless was heading out to Singapore for a food stopover, his very first time here. To the uninformed and casual foodie, Rick is a judge on Top Chef television show as well as the winner in Top Chef Masters show in 2009. He is a well published chef, runs a string of award winning restaurants back home and his first 26 part series on Mexican cooking on America’s PBS channel in the late 70s was seen by some in the media as “the greatest contribution to the Mexican table imaginable”.

I first met Rick in 2009 at the Culinary Institute of America’s World Street Food Flavours conference in Napa Valley where we were both presenting our stories and food. He was, of course, the main draw at the show and I was just drawing on the main course he was presenting, like Jicama and Ceviche salads with some types of tacos and Escabeche (they all sound stranger than it tasted). So earlier in January, Rick, with his wife and business partner Deann and family, was all ready to be lifted off his fancy hotel lobby at Beach Road for some serious street chow. The problem was I had no idea what makan would float the boat of this 57 year old Master chef, so I laid it thick on him and went for whatever local glutton would swear by and at one of the makan stops below, Rick declared “it was the best meal I have ever had in my life”.

They don’t usually have noodles with soup or “pastas with broth” and when the yellow noodles came in a bowl of prawn soup, they wondered if it was a soup or a pasta dish. One quick look around at the other diners and it was clear- who cares! They wolfed it all down despite my warning of “don’t stuff up, we got a few stops to make”.

They never had anything like this and the mish mash of ingredients with crispy you tiao slices, pineapples, turnips, with hints of tamarind, sugar, lime and sweet prawn paste was strangely addictive for them. Rick was familiar with the grilled pulled cuttlefish or jue he slices. They use them in Mexican cuisine too.

The glaring eye and the sharp teeth of the huge snapper staring at them did not intimidate anyone at the table. He flooded his banana leaf rice with the tangy and spicy curry and polished it down with a sliver of fish cheek (he beat me to it) and papadums with some mutton stews and potato-fish cutlet.

Rick drinking half boiled eggs at Tong Ah Coffeeshop.

Deann was partial to the coffee and was reveling in the second cup with a “ the condensed and evaporated milk combination is wonderfully smooth.” They liked the thin kaya toast with the home made kaya and especially the French egg toast version. But what they truly marveled at and what made Deann, who runs the restaurants that Rick opens, was the perfect half boiled eggs, saying “I will make this back home for breakfast next time.”

Rick all happy and contented after his “best meal of my life”
at Old Airport Road food centre.

This Makansutra Hawker Legend served up both chilli and white pepper crabs done in his usual signature manner that made Rick gush with a “best meal of my life” comment. He made some comment about the sophistication of the sambal and the similarity in concept with some Mexican mole sauce. They did not sell mantou buns so we had to go buy toasted slices from the roti man which Rick used to mop up all the sauce with. This was the only stall and chef that Rick wanted to be photographed with.

By now, the family had given up on eating forever, but not Rick. The first mouthful of this spoon-only laksa made him reflect with a “this is very complex and I know there are tons of spices used. I can’t taste anyone of it. This is so well balanced and easy to like”. And he continued on to polish of this last meal of his day.