The City Hawker Food Hunt approaches its 7th year with great enthusiasm as it scours the island on its annual mission of searching out the best hawker fare in Singapore. Besides the addition of a new award category, the ‘Young Hawker Award’, a new initiative, the Win a hawker food party contest, has also been introduced this year to pique the interest of the public in Singapore.
At the opening ceremony, Guest of Honour, Minister of Parliament for Ang Mo Kio GRC Ang Hin Kee, mingled with residents and the Heartstrings needy senior citizens from Cheng San area for lunch. As the hunt kick started with a bang, four hawker dishes have been selected to add to the ranks of previous hawker food hunt categories – Roasted Meats Rice, Western Food, Indian Rojak and Double Boiled Soup.
In the upcoming months, the public will get to vote among 10 stalls for each food category that have been selected by a committee to emerge as the ‘Best of the Best’. This year, a new category has been included into the mix, the ‘Young Hawker Award’. This new award is open to public nomination and anyone can write in to share stories of Young Hawkers who have managed to impress them. Those who have despite their youth, managed to hold their own against seasoned veterans and stand out with their culinary skills and positive attitudes.
The public can vote for their favourite hawker stalls as well as their chosen hawker centre for the coveted ‘Favourite Hawker Centre Award’ at www.cityhawkerfoodhunt.com and via SMS from 16 April. In addition, City Hawker Food Hunt will also be presenting the following awards at its year end closing ceremony – ‘Cleanest Hawker Centre Award’, ‘Most Healthier Choice Award’ and the ‘Most Authentic Hawker Food’.
Accentuating on the theme, ‘I Love Hawker Food’, a new contest titled “Win a hawker food party” has been launched this year. City Gas will throw a hawker food party for one lucky contestant and his invited guests. From decorations, to finding an appropriate hawker centre and to getting their food, the team behind City Hawker Food Hunt will be in charge of preparing everything for the lucky contestants in a unique celebration like none other.
At the opening ceremony, Mr Ng Yong Hwee, President and CEO of City Gas Pte Ltd, said, “In a blink of an eye, we have once again entered another year of City Hawker Food Hunt. In the past 6 years, City Hawker Food Hunt has served as a reminder for Singaporeans to appreciate the hard work and effort which hawkers have put in to ensure excellence and consistency in the meals they have so intricately prepared for us. Through our efforts, City Gas wants to not only acknowledge and give the hawkers the due recognition they deserve, but also to preserve our Singapore hawker culture legacy by encouraging more young hawkers to join the trade.”
A donation of $2000 was presented by Mr Ng to Mr Ang Hin Kee and Mr Vincent Sim, the hawker representative of Cheng San Market Committee, for the Cheng San-Seletar CCC Community Development and Welfare Fund.
City Hawker Food Hunt is jointly organised by City Gas and Shin Min Daily News and supported by the National Environment Agency (NEA), Health Promotion Board (HPB) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).