Many of us would pride ourselves on being well-acquainted with Singaporean dishes.
After all, Singaporeans do not play about their food.
However, when a Reddit user posted about otchahoi — a stir-fried noodle dish that is considered Singaporean cuisine in Japan — on May 20, many were stumped.
The post sparked a discussion regarding the origin of the dish, garnering hundreds of comments from opinionated netizens.
From a picture posted on the Reddit thread, the dish seems to comprise flat rice noodles as well as bean sprouts, cabbage and egg.
Netizens compared it to various hawker fare, with one comment saying: “This one looks like char kway teow without dark soy sauce.”
Other netizens suggested that otchahoi might be the original version of a Singapore street food which was preserved overseas while local recipes evolved over time.
One example of this is fried carrot cake, which was originally white but is now also prepared with dark sweet soy sauce.
While it is not known in Singapore, otchahoi has an interesting backstory dating back to World War II.
It even has a Wikipedia page which details the story of its creation.
It is understood that otchahoi was created by the founder of Niigata restaurant Singapore Shokudo, which translates to Singapore Cafeteria in Japanese.
He was born in Singapore and spent his childhood here before moving to Japan after the end of World War II.
He had created the dish based on his memories, as well as those of his father’s — who used to run a hotel for Japanese people in Singapore.
Singapore Shokudo is located within walking distance from Shibata station, which is 40 to 50 minutes away from Niigata by train. It opens from 11am to 2pm daily except for Wednesdays, when it is closed.
The quaint eatery offers original otchahoi for 650 yen, with the option to add shrimp, shitake mushrooms and meat for another 200 yen. It sells a soup version of the noodle dish for the same price as well.
There have also been mentions of otchahoi in previous broadcasts, books and newspaper reports. While many have speculated about how the dish was named, its true origin remains unclear.
Japanese version of Singapore noodles?
Some netizens who came across the Reddit post compared otchahoi to “Singapore noodles”, which can be found everywhere but Singapore.
One commenter recounted ordering the dish at a Chinese restaurant in Europe, only to be served a plate of noodles “heavily dosed with curry powder”, while another shared a similar experience they had in Australia.
Singapore noodles are seemingly a variation of sing chow beehoon, a Cantonese-style dish believed to have originated in Hong Kong.
According to comments on Reddit, Singapore noodles came about as someone obtained curry powder due to colonial trade and decided to try using it in Chinese cooking.
They then called the dish Singapore noodles to give it an exotic feel.
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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com
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