Singaporean

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Har Cheong Gai (Prawn Paste Chicken)

Singapore's fried chicken: wings marinated overnight in Cantonese prawn paste, then flour and starch tipped straight into the same bowl to make the batter, and fried twice. There is no separate marinade and coating — the marinade becomes the coating. So the seasoning sits in the crust rather than in the meat, and the sharp smell of the paste is toasted into something savoury in the frying oil.

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Chilli Crab

Singapore's signature dish: a whole crab cut into pieces and tossed through a thick tomato and chilli sauce. Despite the name it is not very hot — it is sweet, sour and deeply savoury. What makes it what it is comes at the end, when beaten egg is trickled in to thicken the sauce into ribbons, and the fried mantou buns for mopping up what is left matter about as much as the crab does.

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Kaya Toast (Coconut Jam Toast with Cold Butter and Soft Eggs)

Kaya — a jam of coconut milk, egg and pandan — spread on thin bread toasted hard, with thick cold slabs of butter laid on top, eaten with soft-boiled eggs and coffee. This is Singapore's breakfast. Not spreading the butter is the point of the dish, and the kaya is a custard cooked over water: put it on direct heat and you have scrambled eggs.

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Hainanese Chicken Rice

Singapore's national dish: a whole chicken gently poached until silky, served with fragrant rice cooked in the chicken broth and its fat. Eaten with a trio of ginger, chili, and dark soy sauces and a bowl of the clear chicken soup.