Maxwell Western pork cutlet ($10)!
Maxwell hawker Western — pork cutlet with chicken nuggets, French fries, dinner roll, mixed vegetables (peas/corn/carrots), tomato sauce. $10.
Lunch today: pork cutlet plate at a Maxwell hawker Western stall, $10. The full SG hawker-Western plate. 😋
What was on the plate ($10):
- A pork cutlet (panko-fried) on one side.
- Breaded chicken nuggets on the other.
- A pile of French fries.
- A dinner roll (white bun) at the back.
- Mixed vegetables: peas, corn and carrots.
- A pool of tomato sauce.
This is the classic Singapore hawker-Western plate, a genre all its own. The format, a fried main plus fries, a dinner roll, frozen mixed veg and a generous pour of tomato sauce, has barely changed since the 1980s, and that nostalgia is half the appeal. The pork cutlet is the centrepiece, pounded thin and panko-fried to a crisp, golden crust, while the chicken nuggets are the kid-friendly bonus that always seems to come on these plates.
Round the plate out with crunchy fries, the soft dinner roll for soaking up the tomato sauce, and the obligatory scoop of peas, corn and carrots. It’s not fine dining and it doesn’t pretend to be, just honest, filling, comforting hawker-Western at a fair $10.
Overall: 4.2 / 5. The pork cutlet was crispy, the nuggets a fun bonus, and the dinner roll soaked up the sauce nicely. Classic SG hawker-Western done right. 😋👍🏼
