A Little Like Being There

Ah, Singapore, city of the “hawker centers” and their famous food stalls. We could use something like a hawker center in these parts, and in Monterey Park we have it.

Physically, Singapore Cafe looks less like a hawker center than one of the new breed of Hong Kong-style coffee shops that have been springing up in the San Gabriel Valley. The dining area is a post-modern room with a rather Op Artish color scheme: somber blue neon lighting contrasting starkly with pale pink booths. The room is dominated by five blinding chrome columns running from floor to ceiling. A quartet of wall-mounted TVs furnishes the sound and fury of nonstop Chinese music videos as you dine.

But there’s a definite Singaporean presence all the same. The waiters wear the same colorful batik shirts as a Singapore Airlines cabin crew.

The lucky accident of geography positioned Singapore at the tip of a peninsula where Thai, Chinese, English, Dutch, Indonesian and Indian cultures meet. Eating is such an obsession there that the hawkers run newspaper ads. In this spirit, the menu at Singapore Cafe is huge, running more than 100 dishes.

A natural place to start is with the tiny shish kebabs called satays. The satay combination platter is four skewers of sweet glazed meats (chicken, pork, mutton and beef) plus a fried spring roll, sliced cucumbers and onions, a couple of the sticky Indonesian rice cakes called ketumpat and a deliciously spicy peanut dipping sauce.

Mee goreng, or fried noodles, is a dish originated by the Hokkien Chinese, who migrated to Singapore in giant waves. At Singapore Cafe, the dish consists of long, skinny egg noodles fried with pork, chopped leeks and slivers of dried tofu.

There are some fine rice dishes here, such as nasi goreng, the Indonesian version of fried rice. Imagine a mountain of rice fragrant with coriander and ginger, generously mixed with squid, shrimp and chicken and topped with a fried egg and puffy fried shrimp chips (kerumpuk). Nasi kuning is spiced yellow rice with chicken. Kway teow is rice noodles, best either stir-fried with beef or in duck soup.

Now we’re getting warmed up. But before the meat and seafood courses, try a plate of rojak, a bizarrely addictive combination of unexpected flavors: jicama, apples, cucumbers, pineapple, bean sprouts and tofu, all cut into bite-sized pieces to make a sweet, sticky salad sitting in a pool of dark soy dressing.

Roti perata (you may recognize the name as the Indian paratha) is a flaky bun, steamed and then fried, that comes apart in layers. Bakut teh is a pork rib soup renowned in Malaysia, where it comes to the table stocked with tree ear mushrooms, tofu, bamboo shoots and other exotic ingredients. Singapore Cafe’s version is simpler, a plain broth with pieces of pork, but quite satisfying.

Most visitors to Singapore have fond memories of chili crab, curry fish head, banana leaf chicken and asam prawn Indonesian. All these dishes are available here, at about the same price you’d pay in Singapore and almost as good.

The crab is sweet and spicy, coated with a thick chili paste. Order it if you don’t mind a bit of work, because it is a hassle to shell, particularly when piping hot. Curry fish head is made with catfish and a mild, complex curry sauce. It doesn’t consist of the head alone, by the way; there are abundant chunks of boneless fish in the sauce too.

Asam prawn Indonesian--prawns cooked with hot peppers and celery in an intense vinegar and tamarind reduction--is an acquired taste, but baked banana leaf chicken is sensational by anybody’s standards. The chicken is dark and crisp around the edges and redolent of coconut, ginger and galingale (a spice related to ginger).

Only a few dishes miss, but when they do, they miss by a mile. The cafe’s version of gado-gado, the famous Indonesian salad of cooked vegetables, is downright inedible because of a rancid-tasting peanut sauce. The Indonesian potted beef dish rendang, which should be tender chunks of beef coated in a thick spice rub, comes to the table soggy in an unappetizing pool of red oil. The beef ribs with black pepper sauce are fatty and tough.

On the other hand, Singapore is 17 hours by plane from Los Angeles. With a few breaks and no SigAlert, you can make Monterey Park from downtown in about 15 minutes. Do I have to spell it out?

BE THERE

Singapore Cafe, 429 W. Garvey Ave., Monterey Park. (818) 288- 6097. Open 11 a.m.-midnight daily. No alcohol. American Express, MasterCard and Visa accepted. Parking lot in rear. Takeout. Dinner for two, $23-$38.

What to Get: rojak; chili crab; satay combination; nasi goreng; baked banana leaf chicken.