'It's decent but meh': Malaysian influencer unimpressed with food at Newton Food Centre, sparks debate

As we all know, food can a pretty polarising topic in the region. So, it wasn't surprising when Malaysian content creator Ceddy Lopez sparked an online debate after critiquing the food from a Singapore hawker centre.

Ceddy, who has over 229,000 followers on TikTok, touched down in Singapore four days ago (March 21). 

One destination on his itinerary was the famous Newton Food Centre, which also happens to be one of the locations where Crazy Rich Asians was shot.

Unfortunately, unlike the movie's characters, Ceddy wasn't impressed. 

📍Newton Food Centre 🇸🇬

This is where they shot that scene in Crazy Rich Asian, Maybe I’m a lil bias, but the food here isn’t something that will make me go OMGOSH SO SEDAAAAP! It’s decent lah but meh.

They also have Muslim owned stalls but some tutup already when I arrived. pic.twitter.com/3CQbyORndC

— Ceddy (@CeddyOrNot) March 21, 2022

Admitting that could be a tad biased, he pronounced the food "decent lah but meh".

According to the photo he posted, he'd tried a huge spread of hawker food such as fried carrot cake and satay. 

The Singaporean hawker food he tried lacked flavour, Ceddy explained, adding that Malaysian food "is still supreme". 

However, he did commend Singaporeans for "making sure the food centre is clean". 

His tweets attracted plenty of attention, not all of it pleasant. 

One netizen hit back at Ceddy and said that there was no point for him to review Singapore food if his "mind is already set and bias [sic]". 

Meanwhile, others rushed to Ceddy's defence, saying he was simply being honest. 

 And then there were those who called for a ceasefire, saying that there was no need to pit the two countries against each other.

Others chimed in to tell Ceddy that he should have skipped Newton Food Centre, suggesting other places that are less frequented by tourists. 

 

Apart from Newton Food Centre, Ceddy also visited another famous hawker centre, Tiong Bahru Market. 

[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/CbeWxagvIB1/[/embed]

He seemed to have preferred it there — apart from the abundance of food options, he also appreciated how it was "very clean", with separate halal and non-halal trays and plates for Muslims to "dine in peace".  

This isn't the first time someone has compared Singaporean food to other cuisines. Just last month, Singapore was included in a controversial Southeast Asian food ranking where it was pitted against countries in the region, including Vietnam, Philippines and Thailand. 

melissateo@asiaone.com