Breakfast like a local: Influencer Aiken Chia brings New Zealand PM Luxon to Maxwell Food Centre

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is in Singapore for an official visit from April 14 to 16, and what better way to welcome him than with a hearty local feast?

Local content creator Aiken Chia posted an Instagram Story this morning (April 16) sharing that he was up early at 6.44am to "have breakfast with someone special", who turned out to be none other than Luxon.

Aiken, 35, told AsiaOne that he and his team were so excited that they woke up "at several points through the night" as they were afraid to oversleep.

"It didn't hit me that this was real till we sat down and started rolling, and I started perspiring because of the adrenaline (and humidity)!" he added.

Aiken brought Luxon, 53, to try a variety of local food at Maxwell Food Centre, including mee pok from Hock Lai Seng Teochew Fishball, puthu mayam and appam from Mr Appam, and kaya toast and teh c from Coffee Queen.

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He chose the dishes himself to showcase the diversity of food in Singapore that is "localised a bit", like pandan-flavoured appam.

Appam was also Luxon's favourite dish of the bunch, with Aiken praising it for its "sour notes, thin crispy edges for texture and sweetness from the sugar".

He added: "I also wanted to highlight Hock Lai Seng Teochew Fishball, which is run by a 23-year-old young hawkerpreneur who makes a delicious legitimate bowl of bak chor mee."

The stall was opened in 2023 by Marvin Kan, a fourth-generation hawker whose family runs Ah Ter Teochew Fishball Noodles at Amoy Street Food Centre.

Luxon also posted about the occasion on his Instagram, writing that eating at a hawker centre with Aiken was the "perfect way to start the day in Singapore".

"Thanks for eating local with me, Prime Minister!" Aiken commented.

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/C5zXzONvd5v/?hl=en[/embed]

Mr Appam a big hit for Vietnam foreign minister

Back in July 2023, Minister of Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan also gave his Vietnamese counterpart Minister Bui Thanh Son a taste of "local flavour" by bringing him to Maxwell Food Centre for lunch.

Mr Appam, which is run by Vietnamese-born Nguyen Thi Kieu Nahn, was once again a big hit.

"Today, I'm very happy for the ministers to come to my shop. I feel very good, because he (Bui) is from the same country as me," she said.

"He came here, he met me, he saw my shop, he ate my food. I really feel happy."

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drimac@asiaone.com

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