12,000km journey to try unique Singaporean food that can only be found in Niigata, Japan. “Singapore Shokudo”, literally meaning Singapore Cafeteria in Japanese, and it serves a “Singaporean” dish called “Occhai hoi”. I live in Singapore for 4 years and never heard of a dish called Occha Hoi. The restaurant seemed popular in Niigata (there’s even a Wikipedia page), so we decided to try it out. How does it taste like?
Go support the restaurant when you are in Niigata! https://goo.gl/maps/8ypmZtb2hLrRkVoz9
Chapters
00:00 intro
00:50 Singaporean food in Niigata
06:45 Origin of Occhahoi
08:45 Trying Local Niigata Food
🎥Watch Next: What Japanese NUS Students Think about Singapore https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_CWmk-ojM4
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42 Comments
fried kueh tiew white can be found in Malaysia
Nice Bro Ghib Ojibsan, I did ask my elderly collegue about the "Occhahoi" dish? He said yes, in the seventies he ever see before lol. Dam, I'm born 1976 haha. 🤭
Huh what kind of Singaporean dish is this? Looks scary
the soup one look like stir fry hor fun with gravy and pork slices
basically a healthier version of char kway teow.
Ochai i guess is because he remembered char kway tia..so he uses chai by adding o to form ochar ( burn)
When ordering Sg Char Kway Teow in SG u can request for white version without the sweet dark soya sauce.
Ah that is so interesting and unique dish.
Thank You for your beautiful video🌸❤️
Char kway teow with no dark sauce
I think it is a relative of the Teochew kway teow.
Hi Ghib,, wah that food really look like kwetiau , looks very simple , but oishi so,,, your ramen so nice , making me wanna eat ramen,, you should make a tour to japan n eat ramen 🤣,, Thanks for the nice ramen,, 😀,, Huat Ah, 👍
nagasaki's sara udon technically is very similar to Seletar's sheng mian…
焼うどんにミートソースをかけた意味不明な物をイタリアンと呼んで、それが本場イタリア料理だと信じているらしい新潟県の人には、オッチャホイも紛れもなくシンガポール料理なのだろう。知らんけど…
The Occha Hoi dish looks familiar in that the ingredients used are those commonly found in sg. Like the vegetables used in chap cai peng, the beansprouts used in char kway teow, and then the flat noodle look like the char kway teow one. You can call it the healthy version Char Kway Teow. Haha.
Hm. This Niigata eatery sure or not…. don't anyhow use SG name leh…🤔?? Many locals incl myself have never heard of occhahoi, whether it's dried or soup version. Could it be modified version of our morning bfast?? Currently, at the foodcourts or hawker centres, we still have fried bee hoon or kuay teow with ala carte add on selection of veg, sunny side eggs, fish cakes etc. The noodles and add-on dishes are not fried together into one dish.
I read the Wikipedia page which Ghib mentioned, which says one theory is that "Occhaihoi" is the Japanese mispronunciation of 干炒河(粉) (gōn cháau hó fán in Cantonese, gān chǎo hé fěn in Mandarin) which is a Cantonese dish. But I agree with the other poster who suggests that the food's lighter visual appearance & lots of bean sprouts/cabbage indicates that it may be a Putien/Xing Hwa variation instead. Or originally a homecooked recipe.
Also, strictly speaking, 河粉 (hor fun, or 沙河粉 shahe fen to give the full name) is a different type of rice noodle from 粿条 (kway teow). Stir-fried, they become 炒粉 (chow fun) & 炒粿條 (char kway teow) respectively.
I suspect Ochahoi came from the Chinese words 大杂烩. 大杂烩 simply means "big mix of stir-fry & gravy". Its a generic kind of home cook food but each Chinese restaurant have their own version/recipe for it.
This looks like Teochew Kway Teow which you can still find in Teochew restaurants in Singapore. It's usually fried with "chye poh" and it's always white.
Singapore have lost a lot of the dishes that used to be around during the time the owner's father was in Singapore. Perhaps we'd need to ask surviving grandparents whether they remember anything like that from their younger days. Just like the mee goreng that we see today (absolutely merah red) is a new thing, and the one grandparents knew of didn't have all that food colouring. Things looked different back then.
This sounds a lot like the horfun found in Malaysia.
Your wifey is right… looks like a home-cooked kway teow 😊
There isn't a dish called オッチャホイ in SG, but the ingredients look like one of the white variant of 炒果条 though some may call it white variant of 干炒河 . The soup version shown in this video here is kinda interesting.
For readers who are not in SG:
1. 干炒河 (stir fry (beef) kway teow) and 炒果条 (char kway teow) are two different dishes, but 河粉 and 果条 refers to the same thing (western world calls it kway teow) (The same way Elevator and Lift refers to the same transport).
2. For Char Kway Teow specifically, theres two primary variants. Dark : sweet dark soya sauce, Chinese sausage, hām (cockles). And White: fish sauce, light soya sauce, pork belly (sometimes)). White version is literally what the Indonesians call kwetiau goreng polos (except they might not add fish sauce).
3. Theres actually a lot more dishes that are just called Kway Teow, but I won't go through them. (i.e. guo tiao tang vs hor fan vs kway chap).
4. (more for SG people really) The reason why I say Char Kway Teow, is because of the width of the kway teow.
Now for オッチャホイ :
1. When you say soup version of 干炒河, I thought it would have been hor fan (he fen/ mui fan but the kway teow version), which is basically thickened egg sauce over the dry version. (I forgot whats the culinary term used in either English or Japanese to refer to the thick source)
2. If you try to sell me this dish under the name of Champloo チャンプルー, I would have believed you.
Regarding 干炒河 (which on the JP Wikipedia calls it as Gong Chao Hao), it could be possible. Since back then people spoke more dialects before the 'Speak Mandarin Campaign' or the person cooking it might have a strong accent or slurred his/her speech. And also if other Japanese asked other Japanese back then 'what is this dish called' they might have just pronounced it to what they heard, and spread among their community there back then. (Example: we still call Bukit Timah as Timah even though it is originally supposed to be Temak)
Edit:
A different user said that 果条 and 河粉 are technically two different rice noodles, but I guess people who are less sensitive and knowledgeable about it (like myself) would have said it interchangeably.
So fun to be traveling with you, always! Such a big treat! Thank you!
Check out: Teochew Kailan Cai Poh Fried Kway Tiao (潮汕芥蓝菜脯炒粿条. You can have this at any Teochew restaurants in Singapore. It's a traditional Teochew dish.
I Enjoy the Singapore restaurant hunts in other countries. It does remind me of when Americans travel to other countries to end up eating McDonald's but on a much higher level because of how unique these Singaporean dishes can be from these Singaporean Restaurants.
Looks like the noodle dishes are vegetarian 🙂
Not to diss any culture or so but out of pure curiosity…
To slurp noodles is a form of respect to a Japanese chef but to slurp in Singapore has not too much of a positive connotation to it.
So is it ok for a Japanese to slurp bah chor mee in a hawker centre in Singapore and vice versa is it ok for a Singaporean to slurp ramen in a hawker centre in Singapore
How many days of eating was this? lol Ghib had a nice buzz going after tasting at the sake brewery.
that dry hor fun is not rare in Singapore la… but the soup version should be rare
Hey Ghib, what's your view on the Japanese Occupation of Singapore and other countries during WW2, as a Japanese person? I understand it's not taught in Japanese schools and the Japanese authorities don't really like to bring it up. It's sort of the opposite approach from the Germans.
We definitely have this in Singapore, I've had various versions of white fried kway teow, the Teochew version with kailan and pork lard is my favourite
Best you hire a singapore chef and travel Japan and let japanese try authentic singapore food Or get a japanese chef let Singapore students try japanese food.
More like Penang char kway teow. Singapore version has mee inside and sweet sauce.
The story behind Occha Hoi's actually heartwarming. 💗
ベルギーで風になるを弾くという動画を昔見て久しぶりに帰ってきたら凄いBICになられててビックリΣ(ﾟдﾟ；)継続は力なりですね！！！これからも頑張って下さいね(*´ω｀*)
Cha in Cantonese dialect means to fry and Hoi actually is an abbreviation of Hoi Fun. The Japanese to add お is honorific in use. Perhaps this is called お cha hoi
Its more looking like Thailand cuisine Pad Thai
ここのシンガポール食堂、自分も行ったことがあります！
しかも、この新発田に十数年前に住んでいて、隣の聖籠町のサッカー専門学校からシンガポールのアルビレックス新潟シンガポールに留学しました。
相変わらず、新発田の商店街はシャッター街なのですね。。。
何かとシンガポールと新潟は縁があるのかもしれませんね。
Teochew Kway Teow
It kinda does reminds me of the Malaysia style of kuay teow goreng
なんだこれと思ったけど、どれも美味しそうｗ
The Cantonese name for the dried flat rice noodles is called gon chao hor (your pronunciation and spelling is wrong there 🤭) or the commonly seen one is dried stir fried beef hor fun (we call it gon chao gnao yuk hor). The Cantonese style is with dark soy.
There is a difference between the type of noodles – kuey tiao or guo tiao (thinner) and hor fun (thicker).