Big year for orh luak as it is named as one of New York Times' food of the year

It's a big year for the humble oyster omelette.

First, it was dish of choice among several politicians during the 2015 General Election.

Now, it has been named as one of New York Times' (NYT) food of 2015.

Yes, the delicious combination of egg, garlic and oysters has made it into the pages of NYT.

Well done, you calorie-laden omelette, you.

NYT's food critic Pete Wells recently included the dish from Chomp Chomp in his the list top 10 restaurant dishes of 2015.

 

 

If you are wondering, no, the Chomp Chomp that Wells visited is not the one at Serangoon Gardens but, rather, a restaurant in Greenwich Village, New York that is named after the hawker centre in Singapore.

Chomp Chomp's menu. PHOTO: INSTAGRAM/CHOMP CHOMP

Started by Mr Simpson Wong, a Malaysian ex-banker, Chomp Chomp sells Singaporean hawker food.

Any hawker centre-eating Singaporean, though, would probably balk at the US$12 (S$16.90) for their version of oyster omelette.

Other dishes on Chomp Chomp's menu include murtabak (US$9), cereal prawns (US$9) , char kway teow (US$14) and of course, roasted chicken rice (US$14).

This of course, is not the first time that the dish made it into the news this year.

There was a mini fry-up between members of the People's Action Party and the Workers' Party during the general election in September.

Before the elections, Workers' Party chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim, posted a picture of her eating the dish on her Instagram page with the caption: "Taste of Fengshan."

In response, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said: "Now we see the chairman of the town council saying that Fengshan SMC looks quite delicious. What's going to happen? You're going to swallow up Fengshan? For what purpose? To serve the residents of Fengshan? Or is Fengshan delicious because you want to add it to the pot? And help the town council with the deficit?"

Soon after, Mr Charles Chong, who was then the MP for Joo Chiat single-member constituency (SMC), posted on his Facebook page that he thought the oyster omelette in Aljunied tasted better.

Mr Chong competed in the Punggol East SMC after his constituency was subsumed under Marine Parade GRC.

Mr Chong won Punggol East SMC and edged out the incumbent, Workers' Party Lee Li Lian, by garnering 51.76 per cent of the votes.

If New York is too far to fly to get Orh Luak, where can you get the best oyster omelette in Singapore?

In 2013, Straits Times' food editor Tan Hsueh Yun called the crunchy version sold at Simon Road Oyster Omelette the best she's ever had.

Simon Road's Oyster Omelette. PHOTO: ST FILE
 

Meanwhile, in 2014, food critic K. F. Seetoh called Ah Orh Seafood's version of the oyster omelette as the best he ever had.

Ah Orh Seafood's oyster omelette. PHOTO: ST FILE

Whichever one you choose to eat, we are sure that if Singapore had an award for food of the year, Orh Luak would win 2015 by a long mile.

Source: Instagram, New York Times