S’pore Not In Top 50 Best Street Foods List, M’sia Second For Roti Canai

Singapore Ranked 99 On ‘Best Steet Foods In The World’ List

Singapore is widely known for the variety of good and affordable food available at our iconic hawker centres.

Our seemingly endless array of such cuisines was so popular that it even made its way to UNESCO’s List Of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020.

Then along comes TasteAtlas, an experiential travel guide for traditional food, which put Singapore in 99th place on their ‘Best Street Foods in the World’ list.

Source: TasteAtlas on Facebook

The company has curated several such lists, including the 50 best chicken dishes and cheeses, among others.

Singapore not in top 50 of ‘Best Street Foods in the World’

In TasteAtlas’ Feb 2023 edition of their ‘Best Street Foods in the World’ list, Singapore was visibly missing from the top 50.

TasteAtlas apparently curated the list through audience votes, and have been updating it occasionally with the latest votes.

Singapore also didn’t make it to the top 50 list in the Sep 2022 edition.

Source: TasteAtlas on Facebook

Malaysia’s roti canai comes in second

Unlike Singapore, Malaysia seems to be doing rather well on the list. In Sep 2022, roti canai ranked came out tops.

However, the dish dropped to second place in the Feb 2023 edition, with China’s guotie or pan-fried dumplings overtaking it.

Source: TasteAtlas

Even Indonesia’s pisang goreng or banana fritters made it to 41st place.

Source: TasteAtlas

Char Kuay Teow 99th on ‘Best Street Foods in the World’ list

Upset with Singapore’s omission from the list, a netizen took to Reddit to express their disappointment.

Several Redditors shared their two cents on the matter, with one suggesting that hawker food may not qualify as street food as they aren’t prepared by street vendors by roadsides.

Source: Reddit

However, others contested that many of the other food items on the list should not qualify either, under such a definition.

Source: Reddit

However, seeing that Singapore’s Char Kway Teow is 99 on the list, there may well be other reasons why we didn’t make it to the top 50.

Source: TasteAtlas

Even then, the description states that the dish is popular “in Malaysia and Singapore”.

While ranking so low is certainly disappointing, we’re still glad that our local dishes are getting some recognition. Perhaps in time, as more people get to try them, they’ll make their way further up the list.

Do you have any guesses as to why Singapore didn’t make the top 50? Share your theories with us in the comments.

Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.

Featured image adapted from TasteAtlas and Eatbook.